Family of Holocaust Survivor Who Coined ‘Genocide’ Ramps Up Fight Against Institute They Say Exploits His Name to Attack Israel

A dispute is escalating between the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and relatives of the organization’s namesake, who say the group is appropriating the legacy of Raphael Lemkin — the Polish-Jewish lawyer and Holocaust survivor who coined the term “genocide” — to advance an anti-Israel agenda.The son of Raphael Lemkin’s first cousin, Joseph Lemkin, who is representing his mother, brothers, and cousins, formally requested in September that the Philadelphia-based institute change its name. Lawyers for the family sent a follow up letter this week stating that the group has ignored the family’s initial outreach. “We have not received a response to your letter and write now as a follow up,” the legal team wrote to the institute, copying Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro, and the state’s Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations. The letter called on the recipients to confirm whether an “investigation into whether the Lemkin Institute is improperly using Mr. Lemkin’s name and likeness under law has begun” and to provide “the results of your investigation, including what remedial actions have been taken.” The European Jewish Association has joined the family’s effort.The family has expressed particular outrage over the institute’s anti-Israel activism, given that Raphael Lemkin was not only a Holocaust survivor but also an ardent Zionist.“The Lemkin Institute, through its very name, as well as its marketing and other materials, represents itself as an embodiment of Mr. Lemkin’s ideology,” the family wrote in its initial letter. “In reality, the Lemkin Institute’s policies, positions, activities, and publications are anathema to Mr. Lemkin’s belief system.”The institute directed its activism toward the Middle East following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre. Less than two weeks after the attack, before Israel had launched a ground offensive in Gaza, the institute accused the Jewish state of committing genocide against Palestinians and compared the war to the Holocaust.Days later, the institute called on the International Criminal Court “to indict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the crime of #genocide in light of the siege and bombardment of #Gaza and the many expressions of genocidal intent.” They group has also dismissed evidence that Hamas committed sexual violence against Israeli civilians.“To me, it’s not an academic institute. If you go on their website, they’re selling mugs with Palestinian flags,” Joseph Lemkin tells the Sun. “They have a consistent agenda and it’s an anti-Israel agenda.” The institute maintains that it responded to the Lemkin family’s initial request, stating that “we were open to discussing the name, but we never heard from him or that law firm again.” Joseph Lemkin, however, says the family replied to the institution’s message and that it was the institute that dropped communications.The institute further suggested that “there was no effort on the part of Joseph Lemkin or the European Jewish Association to inform us” about this week’s letter, accusing them of being “interested in a political campaign against us rather than a resolution.”Joseph Lemkin and his family are focused now on reaching out to political figures like Mr. Shapiro and Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania to recruit them to their cause. Joseph Lemkin says legal action is “absolutely being considered” should those avenues fail to produce results.Their efforts are already gaining traction. Last week, more than 100 prominent Holocaust and genocide scholars penned a letter to the institute supporting the Lemkin family’s “concern about extremists exploiting Raphael Lemkin’s name to attack Israel.”“Israel’s counter-terror campaign in Gaza is not genocidal, either in intentions or actions,” the letter, spearheaded by the director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, Rafael Medoff, states. “The civilian deaths there are the result of Hamas embedding itself in residential areas and using the population as human shields. The fact the Lemkin Institute began accusing Israel of ‘genocide’ on October 17, 2023, before a single Israeli soldier had entered Gaza, further illustrates the absurdity of the accusation.”

Family of Holocaust Survivor Who Coined ‘Genocide’ Ramps Up Fight Against Institute They Say Exploits His Name to Attack Israel

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