Dr. Lee Mordechai

January 16, 2025

An Israeli Historian's Witnessing of the Gaza War

Soon after Israel’s war on Gaza following the Oct. 7 massacres, Lee–as an Israeli citizen experiencing a gap between aspirations for Israel as he has grown up with and what he saw in reality, and as a historian with tools to collect and assess sources and piece a bigger picture, and given the dearth of reporting in Israel on any of these (until very recently)–began piecing together a picture of the progression of the war,  to understand the extent of Palestinian civilian death toll and injuries; extent of dehumanization of Palesitnians by Israel (government, military, individuals); acts and omissions by the government with respect to the hostages; the role of the media (both propaganda and non-reporting); measures toward ethnic cleansing; rules of engagement; situation of humanitarian aid; US support; and other. This information is provided as a ‘public service’ through Lee’s constantly updated website (Heb/Eng): https://witnessing-the-gaza-war.com/. Based on the massive body of evidence he has collected, Lee shared his judgment (shared by many other organizations, experts, public figures, in Israel and abroad) that Israel has been committing severe war crimes against the Palestinians. His call on those viewing these materials is to pursue knowledge–whether his data and information or others’. In his judgment, knowing what is happening must lead to opposition to it. In the first few months there was hardly coverage of this in Israel’s media, no reporting and no opposition. In the last few months some of this is changing, more reporting, more people speaking out, very small islands of opposition. Much of what is happening is a result of no one being held accountable for many many preceding actions, and next steps according to Lee must include accountability.