Knesset speaker rejects genocide charges in speech to European parliamentary leaders

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, addressing European parliamentary leaders in Rome on Thursday, rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza and accused world leaders of spreading falsehoods for political gain, drawing some applause.

“Everyone in this room knows the truth — Israel is not committing genocide. Enough with this despicable lie,” Ohana, a senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, said in a speech at the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament.

The two-day summit brings together parliamentary leaders from the Council of Europe’s 46 member states and beyond to discuss threats to democracy and the future of the rules-based international order.

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The council is a human rights and democracy organization that is separate from the 27-member European Union. Israel is not a member of the Council of Europe, but holds observer status in the council’s Parliamentary Assembly.

Speaking at the conference, Ohana held up a copy of “And Every Single One Was Someone,” a 1,250-page book that contains the word “Jew” six million times to commemorate the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

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“This is what real genocide looks like,” Ohana said.

“Many world leaders proclaim the importance of their values, yet when the moment of truth arrives, only a few are willing to defend them,” he said, accusing some leaders of knowingly endorsing “false propaganda” to secure “fleeting electoral applause in their simmering streets.”

The war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, was “a global clash of civilizations, a battle between the forces of darkness, radicalism and extremism, and those of freedom, liberty and democracy,” Ohana said.

“Some of the member-states represented here have a deeply dark place in the history books. I urge you this time to stand on the right side of history, fighting for freedom with us,” he said.

Ohana’s remarks were met with applause, and Austrian lawmaker Petra Bayr, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, thanked him in Hebrew.

Israel has angrily rejected allegations that it is committing genocide in Gaza and says it takes steps to mitigate harm to civilians. Israel also accuses Hamas of deliberately embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including schools, mosques and hospitals.

South Africa brought genocide charges against Israel to the International Court of Justice in The Hague in late 2023. The case is still being adjudicated and is expected to take years.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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