'Not authorized': Family fights to regain Lemkin name from vehement Israel critic
Raphael Lemkin coined the very word “genocide,” but his legacy is now at the centre of a bitter fight over that term: Family members and Jewish leaders say the American institute bearing his name is betraying everything he stood for — by turning the charge of genocide against Israel itself.
“They seem to, what’s the word, be apologetic for what Hamas has done,” Joseph Lemkin, a cousin of Raphael’s, told the National Post, of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention. “This is what Raphael Lemkin would stand for? Being an apologist for Hamas? Attacking Israel for defending itself?”
In an Oct. 31 letter obtained by the National Post, the European Jewish Association (EJA) urged U.S. federal authorities to examine whether the institute’s words and actions were aligned with its non-profit status.
The Pennsylvania-based institute, named after Holocaust survivor and scholar Raphael Lemkin, is legally required to remain non-partisan and apolitical. Yet, the authors of the letter say it has “taken openly political positions.”
“This isn’t really an honest academic institute,” Lemkin told the Post. “It comes off as more of a political organization than any sort of legit research organization.”
Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer who lost 50 relatives in the Holocaust, introduced the world to the word “genocide” in 1944 by merging the Greek “genos” (race, tribe) and the Latin “cide” (killing), first mentioned in his book, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress.
His advocacy after the Second World War led to the incorporation of genocide as an international crime in the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, transforming how the world addresses and seeks justice for mass violence.
Meanwhile, The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention was founded in August 2021 as a non-profit. It was named after Raphael Lemkin without his family’s permission, according to the EJA. Its website says it is “nonpartisan,” and works globally to promote grassroots genocide prevention. Its website highlights coverage of trans issues and conflicts in Israel, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere in the world.
In March, it issued a “Letter to the American People” that suggested its worldview: “Many of you have reached out to the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security to ask what you can do in the face of what appears to be an authoritarian coup against the U.S. Constitutional order, driven and overseen by a President and a billionaire who gave the Nazi salute at the President’s inauguration, and deeply infected by the genocidal thinking of many conservatives and evangelicals, targeted mainly at immigrants of colour and trans people (for the time being). We have watched these developments with dismay, and like many of you, we’ve had some dark days. The disturbing political developments have impacted our U.S.-based team members in different ways depending on where they exist within the dynamics of oppression. So, we have been trying to figure out the same things as everyone else. We are with you.”
In its letter, EJA points to several statements made by the institute that they feel violate its obligation to be nonpartisan.
On Oct. 13, 2023, days after Hamas’s massacre of 1,200 Israelis and before Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, the institute issued a “Genocide Alert,” condemning what it said was an “endorsement” on the part of western leaders for Israel “to effectively commit genocide.”
On Oct. 18, 2023, also before Israel’s ground invasion, it called on the International Criminal Court to indict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for genocide.
EJA board member Harley Lippman, in the letter, said: “Why is this organization not speaking out for persecuted Christians, Yazidis, or other victims of real genocides? Why only Israel? Why promote narratives that fuel antisemitism instead of fighting genocide everywhere?”
Lemkin was a staunch Zionist, Lippman told the Post, as evidenced by him being an editor and columnist of Zionist World, a publication supportive of the State of Israel.
EJA’s latest warning follows a Sept. 7 letter to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and the Pennsylvania Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations, from the legal firm Sherman, Silverstein, Kohl, Rose and Podolsky, retained by EJA, and Joseph Lemkin.
The letter asserts that the Lemkin Institute is in violation of several laws, such as using Lemkin’s name and likeness in violation of both statutory and case law, and identity theft.
“The Lemkin Institute is not authorized by Raphael Lemkin’s family, his Estate, or any custodian of his legacy to rely upon his name for any purpose,” it said.
“The issue is not whether the Lemkin Institute’s attacks on Israel and the United States are based on incorrect facts and wrong conclusions, but whether the Lemkin Institute may make these arguments in Lemkin’s name. Under the law, it may not.” The letter asserts the institute caused reputational damages.
Alan Milstein, one of the firm’s attorneys, told the Post that the authors of the letter “have a valid claim that the use of the Lemkin name was inappropriate,” and suggested legal escalation is possible.
“Everyone in my immediate family, my sisters, brothers, my mom, everyone that we know that’s somewhat close and knowledgeable about Raphael, is very supportive of our effort to distance, and condemn” the institute, Joseph Lemkin, a New Jersey attorney, told the Post.
“Of course everyone has the right to say what they want, but then to hang your hat on someone’s name that absolutely wouldn’t agree with this, and tying our family to what they’re saying, was just so offensive.”
Last August, the institute condemned Israel for eliminating Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. In a statement, it said that, “Many analysts speculate that this was a purposeful attack by Israel to incite” what they believe would be “an all-out regional war in the Middle East.” In a Sept. 18 post on X , the institute said it “condemns Israel’s terrorist attacks against Lebanese people,” referring to targeted attacks against pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah, a designated terror entity by the U.S. and Canada.
According to the Lemkin Institute, Hezbollah is a “political party and a service provider for southern Lebanon,” while Israel is a “genocidal state that is completely out of control and supported by a western world that is, in large measure, too racist and Islamophobic to care.”
When reached by the National Post, The Lemkin Institute claimed to have not received the latest letter from EJA, but pointed to an Oct. 14 online response when asked about the controversy.
Its statements regarding media reports were “defamatory,” they said, adding it was “inflammatory language” to assert that their organization defends Hamas, backs Hezbollah, and targets America.
“We believe that this is a coordinated effort by genocide deniers who wish to bully and shut down free speech and genocide prevention work impacting Israel,” they said.
Benjamin Lemkin, Joseph’s older brother, told the Post from Jerusalem he is “not against people who want to criticize Israel.”
“Israelis, as you probably know, are the biggest critics of their own government. I champion that freedom of speech,” he said.
“It would appear they (the Institute) have whitewashed what Hamas is doing, and have done – a real genocide. They have accused Israel of all kinds of terrible, terrible things, in Raphael Lemkin’s name.”
If Raphael, who died in 1959, were alive today, he said, “he’d definitely would have been outraged. It is an abuse of his work, in this manner.
“It is a besmirching of what Raphael represented, that much is clear. This is a terrible thing that they’ve done to the Lemkin name. They distort, and present a false picture, of what Raphael Lemkin stood for.”
Benjamin Lemkin would like to see “the name disappear,” from the organization, as well as to receive compensation.
“We think that the law is clear,” Lemkin told the Post, “that you cannot hijack someone else’s name. Much less the one as revered as Raphael Lemkin, to raise money and peddle propaganda, mislead the public and foment antisemitism.”
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Unpublished Newswire
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