Facts Matter: Mathematician Rebukes Libelous Anti-Israeli Petition
A guest post by Professor Alexander B. Givental
A recent petition titled Mathematicians Against Genocide in Gaza has collected hundreds of signatures.
Mathematicians know that the correct use of terminology matters.
In 1939, there were almost 17 million Jews in the world; by 1945, this number dropped to 11 million. This is what genocides look like.
Hamas and its allies have long expressed their genocidal intent toward Jews. On October 7, they proved that it wasn't a figure of speech. With the exception of the hostages, whom they threaten to kill if their demands are not met, they murdered 100 (one hundred) percent of all they could. This is what genocidal acts look like.
It was a suicide attack; there was no way Israel was going to continue living next to a quasi-state ruled by this genocidal entity. Hamas as a military and governing structure must and will be dismantled. This is what the war of Israel in Gaza is about, and it can hardly end before this goal is achieved.
Yet, as long as Hamas’ Health Ministry continues to report its truthful casualty figures, it remains Hamas’ responsibility to evacuate Gaza's civilians from the battle zone. Failing to do so is a war crime.
Hamas is committing this and worse war crimes by sabotaging evacuation orders issued by the IDF; by using hospitals and other civilian facilities for military purposes; by hiding weapons in private residences, amassing explosives next to them, and using their military infrastructure built underneath them; by hiding hostages among civilians and sheltering militants inside the designated humanitarian zones; by launching rockets from these zones; by beating, shooting at, and extorting civilians attempting to evacuate; by stealing aid supplies; by deliberately sacrificing women and children to achieve their own PR goals.
It is tempting to say that the horrible plight of ordinary Gazans in this war is entirely the fault of Hamas. But mathematicians know that the total cannot exceed 100%, and there is one more party responsible. It is all those who chose to blame Israel for the crimes of Hamas. The blood of Gaza's civilians is on their hands too.
To wash off that blood, they had to openly say: “Hamas, you are a kleptocratic, theocratic, totalitarian tyranny; obsessed with your genocidal hatred of Jews, you brainwash and terrorize your own people, rob them of any chance for a dignifying and prosperous future. You don't represent Gazans, and the best thing you can do for them is to release the hostages and surrender.”
The authors and signatories of the petition failed to do so.
Shame on them!
Alexander B. Givental is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Thank you for standing up against this insanity. My mom worked at UC Berkeley for years and witnessed the level of antisemitism that became institutionalized there. It’s critically important for voices to stand against this rising tide. Kudos to you for doing so publicly.
I was a university professor for fifty years, and thought of universities as a source of truth and goodness. But now I am embarrassed by what I believed. I did not take history seriously. And you know what they say: those who do not know history, are bound to repeat it. I did not take seriously the part that university students and professors played in Nazi Germany. Now I see the antisemitic hate in our universities, in my own Department! Academics rush to hate Jews. Our postwar respite (1950-2000) is over. What a sad return to traditional European and Islamic ways.