This year marks three decades since the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a war in which nearly 100,000 people were killed.
The war culminated in the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, where Bosnian Serb forces, led by General Ratko Mladic, known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” committed a massacre of more than 8,000 men and boys inside a “safe zone,” according to the United Nations classification.
In the following decades, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia heard hundreds of testimonies and issued convictions for dozens of Bosnian Serb political and military leaders, including those convicted of genocide.
Meanwhile, the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with foreign donors, invested significant funds in studying the genocide, recovering the victims and commemorating them.
Voices of conscience
As the genocide began in Gaza, many Bosnian survivors of the 1992-1995 war saw striking similarities between their experiences and the suffering of Palestinians. Many took to the streets and spoke out against the genocidal war in Palestine.
But a large number of Bosnian intellectuals, especially those specializing in war crimes and genocide, chose silence. This silence not only harms efforts to achieve justice for Gaza, but also undermines the field of genocide studies.
Before we review the reasons why Gaza has become a taboo topic for some Bosnian researchers, we must point out that not everyone is silent. A small group of Bosnian academics, who are also active in defending Palestine and human rights, chose to speak out.
Among them are university professors and researchers – such as: Lejla Kreževljaković, Sanla Šekişbašić, Gorana Mlinarevic, Jasna Vitahović, and Sanla Kapetanović – emphasized that there is a moral responsibility that imposes not silence. They have set an example by participating in protests and making public statements.
Belma Bolgobašić, a professor at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Sarajevo, also criticized European political leaders and others who show sympathy for Srebrenica, but at the same time justify Israel’s actions in Gaza as “self-defense.” She considered that this duality reveals a disturbing pragmatism that undermines both solidarity and accountability.
In a recent interview, Adina Pečerević, a specialist in genocide studies at the University of Sarajevo – Faculty of Criminology and Security, stated that the ongoing genocide in Gaza clearly reflects the same dynamics that occurred in Srebrenica: from the dehumanization of people, to ideological mobilization, and then international complicity.
Ahmet Alibašić, director of the Center for Advanced Studies and professor at the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the University of Sarajevo, was also frank in his positions. Last year, he co-organized a symposium entitled: From the Balkans to Gaza: A Critical Analysis of Genocide, which discussed contemporary dynamics of mass violence by comparing the Srebrenica massacre, the Siege of Sarajevo, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
For her part, Nedzara Ahmetashević, a journalist and media researcher based in Sarajevo, did not hesitate to draw comparisons between Gaza and the experiences of Bosnian survivors from besieged Sarajevo and Srebrenica.
For several months, members of the Sarajevo Anti-Militarism Feminist Collective organized vigils in the city center, reading the names of children killed in Gaza, drawing connections between war crimes in Palestine and the atrocities that Sarajevo experienced.
These individuals responded – each in their own way – to the call of the late Palestinian thinker Edward Said, who always called on intellectuals to “speak the truth to power,” link local memory to global justice, and resist selective truth narratives.
Silence, as Said pointed out, is not a neutral position, but rather a political choice that keeps the harm alive.
The Palestinian community in Bosnia expressed its surprise at the lack of solidarity from Srebrenica with Gaza, and wondered whether the center’s relations with the “World Jewish Congress” were the reason for this silence. Suliaggic responded by accusing them of “anti-Semitism.”
This is not our battle!
But Saeed’s call did not move everyone. The irony is that many Bosnian genocide researchers remained remarkably silent, even while their fellow genocide researchers abroad – including Israelis Omer Bartov, Amos Goldberg, and Shmuel Lederman – publicly accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
This position did not change even after the International Society of Genocide Scholars – the largest academic body specialized in the field – issued a resolution last August, classifying Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.
However, many researchers at the University of Sarajevo’s Institute for Research on Crimes against Humanity and International Law, professors at the Faculty of Law, and researchers at the Institute of Bosniak Islamic Traditions continued to avoid commenting on Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
At the institutional level, the Crimes Against Humanity Research Institute did not issue a statement on Gaza until after the ceasefire approached, specifically on October 8.
The statement was evasive and did not mention Israel as the party that committed the atrocities, prompting some observers to accuse the institute – led by Muammar Jananovic – of a calculated and opportunistic approach.
But perhaps the most prominent case remains that of Emir Suliajdzic, a genocide survivor and director of the Srebrenica Memorial Centre.
When asked about his position on Gaza in late 2023, he told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, saying: “This is not our battle.”
His statements were met with widespread condemnation from observers, pointing out the contradiction of his position, especially since only a year ago he published an article urging Ukrainians “not to lay down arms.”
Moreover, the center he runs has produced multiple case studies with support from the British government, focusing on Ukraine, Syria, South Sudan, and Ethiopia, highlighting signs of mass violence and genocide there.
When the Palestinian community in Bosnia expressed its surprise at the lack of solidarity from Srebrenica with Gaza, and wondered whether the center’s relations with the “World Jewish Congress” were the reason for this silence, Suliajdzic responded by accusing them of “anti-Semitism.”
He even went so far as to liken Hamas fighters to “Chetniks.” They are nationalist and royalist Serb militias that cooperated with German, Italian, and Croat fascists during World War II, and committed mass atrocities against Bosnian Muslims.
Their ideology, half a century later, fueled new war crimes and genocide in the Bosnian War.
The price of silence
The silence of many Bosnian scholars in genocide studies is not accidental.
Some of them fear professional repercussions in Western academic circles, and feel that accusing Israel of genocide may harm their academic future.
Many are reluctant to jeopardize their sources of external funding, especially funds coming from Western embassies – American, British and European Union – that feed their “side” projects and organizations.
Others fear the loss of diplomatic relations, which still play a role in Bosnia’s fragile stability.
But none of this excuses the silence of researchers working in institutions funded by Bosnian taxpayers.
As genocide researchers, they live off public funds and have a responsibility to serve the public good, including: maintaining scientific integrity, defending the truth, and contributing to global academic consensus without fear of professional repercussions.
When academics, genocide specialists, and public sector workers fail to talk about war crimes or humanitarian crises, they contribute to legitimizing narratives that conceal the crime.
These narratives frame acts of mass violence as unworthy of investigation or condemnation, creating a hierarchy of “victim rights” that serves political interests at the expense of universal principles and academic integrity.
Edward Said’s call for intellectuals to speak is still current and urgent.
It reminds us of the need to move beyond the silence of comfort, expose the distortions of power, and stand up for justice, transparency and accountability.
In his view, silence is a form of complicity, destroying the foundation of the pursuit of truth that academia claims to protect.
In this sense, intellectuals must not allow themselves to slide into political bargaining, where silence about one genocide is exchanged for recognition of another.
If their struggle becomes selective, they will turn genocide studies into a political tool, thereby losing their academic independence, and turning into an interest group devoid of those moral values that they have always claimed to defend.
By highlighting Gaza in the Bosnian context, we call for a new ethic of responsibility and intellectual integrity, balancing scientific distinction with public accountability and human justice.
The opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera Network.