More than 5,000 people, including former British prime minister, head of the ADL, former US antisemitism czar, sign letter expressing outrage over false accusations that Israel committed genocide in the Gaza Strip.By World Israel News StaffMore than 5,000 political figures, academics, entertainers, business leaders and Jewish community figures have signed an open letter rejecting allegations that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, arguing that the charge distorts the meaning of genocide and is fueling antisemitism around the world.The initiative, released Wednesday by Creative Community for Peace, includes former British prime minister Boris Johnson, former US antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt, historians Niall Ferguson and Benny Morris, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore.Entertainment and media figures signing the letter include Debra Messing, Mayim Bialik, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anthony Edwards, Patricia Heaton, Sharon Osbourne, Boy George and Disturbed frontman David Draiman.Media executives and producers including Haim Saban, Shari Redstone, Sherry Lansing, Jane Rosenthal and Lawrence Bender also joined the initiative.The Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee backed the statement, while individual Jewish communal signatories included ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, AJC CEO Ted Deutch, Conference of Presidents CEO William Daroff, South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein and former ADL national director Abe Foxman, who signed before his death in May.The letter was written by author Yossi Klein Halevi, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, Rabbi Micha Odenheimer and Binghamton University professor Jonathan Karp and released in partnership with Creative Community for Peace.Organizers said signatories were signing as individuals rather than on behalf of their employers or affiliated organizations.The signatories acknowledge that Israelis and Jews can legitimately disagree over the way the Gaza war was conducted and express sorrow over civilian deaths, but argue that such criticism is fundamentally different from accusing Israel of trying to destroy the Palestinian people.“A crucial difference between war as tragedy and war as genocide is intent,” the letter states. It argues that Hamas, rather than Israel, entered the conflict with genocidal intentions and says the October 7, 2023 massacre has been minimized in order to sustain the allegation against Israel.The letter points to Hamas’s extensive tunnel network, fighting from densely populated areas, booby-trapped buildings and Israel’s practice of issuing evacuation warnings as evidence, in the signatories’ view, that civilian casualties do not establish an Israeli intent to destroy Palestinians as a group.Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide requires acts committed with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The signatories argue that the accusations against Israel have blurred the distinction between destructive warfare resulting in large civilian casualties and the specific intent required for a legal finding of genocide.Lipstadt, who served as the US special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism under the Biden administration, said she signed because she believes the accusation is having consequences far beyond the debate over the war.“It’s an hour of crisis,” Lipstadt said, adding, “I think it’s a time when you have to try every avenue.” She said Jews are facing a “full-throated attack” that increasingly affects their everyday lives.Lipstadt pointed to Jewish students and job applicants becoming reluctant to identify Jewish studies work on their resumes, alongside the need for extensive security at Jewish institutions and public events. She also cited a series of violent attacks on Jewish targets in the United States, Canada and Britain.The letter arrives as the allegation of genocide has become increasingly prominent in international institutions and public debate.A UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded in 2025 that Israeli authorities and forces had committed genocide in Gaza, and in June 2026 issued another report accusing Israeli forces of deliberately targeting Palestinian children as part of conduct demonstrating genocidal intent. Israel rejected the commission’s findings, accusing it of bias and insisting that its operations were directed against Hamas rather than Gaza’s civilian population.The genocide allegation is also the subject of South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The ICJ has issued several sets of provisional measures during the proceedings, but the case remains pending and the court has not issued a final judgment finding Israel responsible for genocide.Israel says Hamas deliberately embeds military infrastructure and fighters among civilians and argues that large numbers of civilian casualties, however tragic, do not demonstrate genocidal intent. Critics of Israel point to the scale of Palestinian deaths and destruction in Gaza, restrictions on aid and statements by some Israeli officials as evidence supporting the charge.Creative Community for Peace executive director Ari Ingel said the group was particularly concerned about celebrities and other influential figures promoting the genocide allegation to large audiences. The campaign came amid renewed controversy surrounding actor Mark Ruffalo, who has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide and apartheid.The signatories argue that the accusation has increasingly been turned against Jews outside Israel, contributing to exclusion, harassment and violence under the banner of anti-Israel activism.The letter ends with a pledge to continue publicly challenging the charge.“We will not allow this lie to stand.”The post Former UK PM among thousands to sign letter blasting genocide accusations against Israel appeared first on World Israel News.