The Man Who Rebranded “Zionism Is Racism” as “Israel Is Genocide”

Palestinian lawyer Raji Sourani is a celebrated figure in the international human rights community. His collection of honors spans more than three decades.

Before 2001:

1991: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, United States
1996: French Republic Human Rights Prize

Since 2001:

2002: Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Prize, Austria, awarded to his organization
2003: International Service Human Rights Award, United Kingdom
2013: Right Livelihood Award, Sweden
2026: International Hrant Dink Award, Turkey
2026: Jesús Vicente Chamorro Human Rights Award, Spain

French Consul General in Jerusalem Rene Troccaz decorates Palestinian human rights lawyer Raji Sourani with his county’s National Order of Merit, at the French Institute in Gaza City, on July 7, 2021. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

Sourani founded the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza in 1995. His work challenging Israeli authorities and pursuing international legal action has made him an influential voice in human rights circles. In 2024, he joined the legal effort supporting South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

But his organization’s embrace of the genocide accusation began more than two decades before the Gaza war.

In 1975, the United Nations declared Zionism a form of racism. The resolution was repealed in 1991, but the accusation resurfaced in a more sweeping form at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.

The conference’s NGO Forum adopted a declaration accusing Israel of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide. It portrayed genocide and ethnic cleansing not merely as military crimes, but as instruments for preserving an exclusively Jewish state with a Jewish majority.

The accusation was not that Israel was committing genocide but was committed to genocide – in September 2001 – just one week before jihadists attacked the United States.

Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, refused to endorse the declaration. She called its genocide language unacceptable and hurtful. PCHR demanded her resignation.

Its director was Raji Sourani.

Despite his invective that Israel is inherently an apartheid regime committed to genocide, the international recognition of Sourani and his organization continued. Austria and the United Kingdom were the first two honor this vilifier of Israel in 2002 and 2003.

Then there was a noticeable pause for a decade when Sweden awarded him the equivalent to a runner-up to the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. Then this year, 2026, the Hrant Dink Foundation in Turkey recognized Sourani, followed by an award from Spain’s Progressive Union of Prosecutors.

Sourani’s effort to smear Israel as a genocidal operation has been 25 years in the making. What began as “Zionism is racism” at the UN has evolved into “Israel is genocide,” reaching beyond the Global South to progressive Jews in the Global North and helping inspire a new generation of anti-Israel activists.