9. In 2025, we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, whose recognition as a genocide has involved a long and complex process marked by legal and political tensions. What lessons can we draw from the case of Srebrenica today?
There are several things one can learn from the case of Srebrenica. But I would like to focus on two. First, the case of Srebrenica teaches how important the legal and international recognition that genocide took place is. It is not correct to say " genocide " is just a word and what difference does it make if we call the crimes this way or another( for example war crimes or crimes against humanity). The fact that Srebrenica was recognized as genocide forces us to think about the entire asymmetrical war between the Bosnian Serbs( with Serbia ' s military support) and the Bosniak Muslims in Bosnia in a clearer way. And although all sides committed terrible crimes, there is ultimately one side that committed genocide. Had the tribunal not issued its ruling, I think the entire image of violence in Bosnia would have been different. And the second thing that can be learned from Srebrenica is that often even after the end of the genocide and reaching some kind of arrangement, destructive ultra-nationalist tendencies do not stop operating. And to this day the Serbs of Republika Srpska under the leadership of Milorad Dodik continue to undermine the stability of Bosnia and strive to separate and join Serbia. Genocide continues to operate its destructive effect many years after its physical end.
10. According to a European Commission statement from November 2023, recorded levels of antisemitism in Europe reached extraordinary levels— a context that seems to have solidified since then. Beyond the obvious connection to the events of October 7, 2023, how do you interpret this increase? What strategies should be implemented to combat it?
According to all the data, there has been an increase in antisemitic incidents around the world since October 7. Some of the reported incidents are truly frightening. Israel has not only become the most unsafe place for Jews around the world, it also endangers Jews all over the world. However, the extent of the increase and its features are unclear. The bodies monitoring the phenomenon very often consider anti-Israeli or anti-Zionist criticism as antisemitic. In most( not all; sometimes they indeed overlap) such cases I do not see those utterances and acts as such, and therefore, these reports are not credible in my view. A very important monitoring body in Germany considered, for example, a speech by Professor Moshe Zimmermann, an Israeli professor of German Jewish history and an expert on antisemitism and the Holocaust from
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