B’nai B’rith International hosted Father Patrick Desbois, a preeminent global leader in promoting human rights and documenting mass atrocities, in Israel to mark one year since the Oct. 7th attacks. During his trip, Father Desbois spoke with the Times of Israel about his experiences, including touring terror sites, meeting with those impacted by the attacks, and engaging with key officials, analysts and civil society figures.

Read more about Father Desbois’ visit in the Times of Israel.

After a recent tour of Gaza border communities devastated by the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, pioneering Holocaust researcher Father Patrick Desbois said the Jewish state should bring the terrorists to trial.

“We have to show the crimes, but we [also] have to name the criminals,” said Desbois. “Without criminals, you have no crimes,” Desbois told The Times of Israel after returning home to France.

An internationally acclaimed expert on identifying modern-day genocide, the French-Catholic priest was in Israel to commemorate the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 Israelis were murdered and 251 people taken into captivity.

He is known for his innovative methods in bringing truth to light and seeking justice for victims of mass murder — from the Holocaust to Yazidis murdered by the Islamic State.

In 2008, Desbois published, “The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest’s Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews.” Since then, historians have adopted the term “Holocaust by Bullets” to refer to hundreds of open-air massacres perpetrated by the Nazis in eastern Europe before the construction of extermination camps in 1942.

Given his expertise in mass murder, Desbois said he is outraged by allegations that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza.

“I think the accusation of genocide is [anti-Israel] propaganda. Why does nobody ask if Bashar Assad in Damascus has committed genocide against his own people,” said Desbois.

In his investigations into modern genocides, Desbois conducts eye-witness interviews and gathers physical evidence. To pin down the location of some Holocaust massacre sites, for example, his researchers looked for spent bullet casings based on guidance from eyewitnesses to the massacres.

Using the same techniques in the mountains of northern Iraq, Desbois has so far located 30 mass graves of Yazidis murdered by the Islamic State.

Some of the evidence collected by Desbois in Iraq has been used in Belgium to prosecute Islamist militants after they return to Europe. He recorded numerous examples of Islamic State members indoctrinating boys as young as seven into terrorism, as well as young girls sold into slavery more than two dozen times each.

In total, Desbois and his organization — Yahad-In Unum (Together in One) — interviewed 450 Yazidi refugees. The priest noted that many Islamic militants return home to Europe from the Mideast and attempt to wash their hands of atrocities they committed abroad in the name of the Islamic State. He drew parallels with the Nazis.

“[The militants] come back now [to Europe] and say they did nothing, like the Nazis did [after the Holocaust],” said Desbois.

During a slew of meetings in Israel, Desbois urged officials to apply some of the lessons he’s learned in 25 years of investigations. Examples include identifying and naming perpetrators in public forums, as well as examining the motivations of “the neighbors,” a term Desbois uses to refer to bystanders and eyewitnesses.

According to Alan Schneider of B’nai B’rith International — which hosted Desbois in Israel — the meetings raised “new potential avenues for the prosecution of anti-Israel terrorists.”

‘I try to do what nobody does’

Earlier in his career, Desbois publicized the names of 150 German men who were SS officers in charge of the largest Holocaust massacre. At a ravine outside Kyiv, called Babyn Yar, the SS men and collaborators shot 33,770 Jews in the course of two days.

Desbois said there was significant pushback regarding his decision to publish the names of former SS officers. But not to publicize the names of Holocaust perpetrators “helps deniers,” he said.

In Iraq, many people believe that ISIS is an invention of the US or Israel, said Desbois. As such, identifying perpetrators in public forums helps prevent Islamist ideology from filling the vacuum, said Desbois.

One of his most disturbing visits in Israel, said Desbois, took place at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 132 Israelis were murdered. The priest walked through several homes that were burned to the ground by Hamas terrorists.

Spray-painted onto a wall in Arabic, Desbois saw the words, “Death to the Zionists under the name of Abu Ali,” he said.

“He signed it,” said Desbois, referring to the terrorist. “These people will be well-known in their families for generations for killing Jews,” he said.

In part through deploying social media on October 7, Hamas “advertised a lot of what they did, and they showed it was easy to do it,” said Desbois.

“There were large celebrations in Istanbul and Baghdad,” said Desbois. “Ideology is destroying the brains of people who do it. They think it’s a holy duty to kill Jews,” said Desbois.

Desbois has visited Israel before and works closely with Israel’s official Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem. He said he loves the Jewish state and is disturbed by the multitude of enemies aligned against it.

“We are in a dangerous time,” said Desbois.

Desbois said he would like to return to Israel to investigate the murder of Bedouin Israelis in the attacks of October 7.

“Fifty of them died that day. Hamas is killing not just the Jews,” said Desbois.

Asked why he wants to focus on Bedouin victims, Desbois said, “Nobody cares about them. I try to do what nobody does.”