The former dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies on Wednesday boosted a claim that Israel is committing "genocide."
Vali Nasr, who served as the school's dean from 2012 to 2019 and now works as a professor at the school, shared on X a resignation letter from the head of the New York office of the United Nations' High Commission for Human Rights, the last paragraph of which, Nasr said, "best tells how international law & international rules based order are coming apart."
"This is a text-book case of genocide," the first sentence of the last paragraph of the letter reads. "The European, ethno-nationalist, settler colonial project in Palestine has entered its final phase, toward the expedited destruction of the last remnants of indigenous Palestinian life in Palestine."
Last paragraph best tells how international law & international rules based order are coming apart, w support of the very world powers that tout its values & claim to be defending it. The American-backed world order will not be able to easily reverse this blow to its… https://t.co/6mO0PnNByS
— Vali Nasr (@vali_nasr) November 1, 2023
The last paragraph of the letter, dated Oct. 28, also accused the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, and other European countries of being "wholly complicit in the horrific assault" and "actively arming the assault, providing economic intelligence and support, and giving political and diplomatic cover for Israel's atrocities."
"The American-backed world order will not be able to easily reverse this blow to its credibility," Nasr wrote on X as he shared the letter.
Nasr did not respond to a request for comment.
He is not the only college professor to make controversial statements about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Cornell professor Russell Rickford is on a leave of absence after giving a speech at a protest in which he called Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attacks "exhilarating" and "energizing." He later apologized for the comments and noted that, as he said in the speech, he abhors "the killing of civilians" and said he was referring to "in those first few hours, when they broke through the apartheid wall, that it seemed to be a symbol of resistance."