Israeli student criticized for refusing to kill people in Srebrenica | Genocide Assassination Stories

On November 10, the German president is due to honor Israeli historian Gideon Greif and the Order of Merit at a ceremony in Israel for his contributions to the Holocaust, which focuses on the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

But following criticism of a report refusing to kill people in Srebrenica, led by Greif and under the control of Bosnia and Herzegovina Serb-run the Republic of Srpska, Germany suspended the ceremony until further notice and said it was looking into whether it could supply students. .

Although Greif’s support for the Holocaust investigation has not been sought, his research report released in July – the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Sufferings of All People in the state of Srebrenica between 1992 and 1995 – is an Islamophobic “piece of propaganda”, critics say. .

Amidst the crisis, the report reduces the number of deaths.

It reports that “no more than 3,000 military prisoners, including hundreds of ordinary men,” were executed in Srebrenica, protesting the decisions of the international courts. It also alleged that the court had discriminated against Serbs.

The former Yugoslavia International Criminal Tribunal (ICTY) and the now-defunct International Court of Justice (ICJ) have ruled that the assassination of nearly 8,000 men and young men by Serb soldiers in July 1995 was the worst massacre in Europe since then. . World War II.

Greif’s work on the issue has been criticized by many, including Menachem Rosensaft, a senior member of the World Jewish Congress, who. he said he was “astonished at the report which shamelessly distorted the truth”.

Emir Suljagic, director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, told Al Jazeera that the whole report “is a whole series of myths and rumors about Serbian atrocities that we have been hearing for years.

“It is unfortunate that Greif allowed people to distrust him and to distrust him with an apartheid government that wants to refuse to kill people as a rule.”

At the time of publication, German authorities had not yet responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Speaking to Haaretz recently, Greif said that banning the award could mean a German invasion of the Holocaust, and that Bosnian protests were fueled by anti-Semitism.

“I think the Holocaust monument is under attack – not just me – so I can’t imagine the German government thinking it wouldn’t give me the medal, which I deserve, because that would be interpreted as a denial of the Holocaust,” Greif said.

“Where does all this come from? … As far as I know, it comes from Islamic sects. Bosnia is an Islamic country and we can say that, if we examine it, it is an attack on Muslims by a Jewish scholar – you can find even anti-Semitic arguments. “

‘Section of propaganda’

Political groups and academics in Serbia and the Republic Srpska reject the decisions of the international courts and always refuse to kill people in Srebrenica.

Opinions come from above – Milorad Dodik, a Serb member from Bosnia in the presidency, denies the violence.

Denying genocide is part of a growing culture of non-racialism, success and division in the region, according to the Srebrenica Memorial Center, a dangerous situation for Bosnian people who have survived war and genocide.

According to American scholar Gregory H Stanton, the denial of genocide is one of the major indications that genocide is rampant.

Journalist Aleksandar Brezar, a Western Balkan correspondent, told Al Jazeera that the Greif report was “a platform for Bosniaks’ ideas.”

“[It’s] publicly against Islam in his assertion that the genocide in Srebrenica was the result of Bosniaks somehow provoking him. ”

Dodik also appointed Israeli professor Raphael Israel to head a similar committee on the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. The report, entitled On Sufferings of Serbs in Sarajevo between 1991 and 1995, released in October 2020, was also widely criticized for distorting the facts.

“Like his colleague Raphael Israel who led the similar work that took place in Sarajevo during the Bosnian war, as a Jewish Holocaust scholar, Greif is a good artist because he allows as Milorad Dodik – who assisted the two. if something is killed or not more than another local person who has suffered terribly? ‘”Brezar stated.

Marko Attila Hoare, a Balkan historian and an assistant professor at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, told Al Jazeera that Greif’s views represented “a lack of academic and student credibility for political and mercenary reasons”.

“It is a false story that serves the political goals of the militant regime of Milorad Dodik, who leads a republican-based republic of Srpska that is based on genocide,” Hoare said.

Initiating divisions and conflicts

Denying genocide is also used as a way to advance divisions and conflicts in Bosnia and the region.

The controversy over the expected reward of Greif comes as Bosnia faces the worst political and security crisis in 26 years, sparked by Dodik’s actions in destroying the country and the secession of the Republic of Srpska.

The crisis began in July when the outgoing attorney general denied denial of charges that had been filed in addition to the refusal to commit murder. Serbian representatives responded by boycotting the by-elections.

In October, Dodik announced that the Republic of Srpska would withdraw from the federal government and form its own army.

One month later Bosnian ambassador to the Christian Christian Schmidt warned in a United Nations Security Council report that if foreign powers do not intervene quickly, “the hope of division and conflict is real”.

On Monday, the Croat Nationalist HDZ, led by President Dragan Covic, expressed their support for Dodik by voting in parliament along with Bosnian Serb representatives to lift the ban on genocide.

However, with Bosniak representatives voting against it, their bid failed as there were no majority.

As Germany reconsider its decision to reward Greif, Suljagic said he did not know what was left to consider.

“The Greif was paid by terrorists who refuse to let the authorities spread lies and airbrush Bosniaks from their history, because they are also Muslims,” ​​Suljagic said. “And this is how he should be remembered for the rest of his life and for history.”