Srebrenica genocide: 30 years on, anger at western 'hypocrisy'

Friday, 11 July marks the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, where Bosnian Serb forces killed over 8,000 Muslim men and boys, in what is known to be the worst massacre in Europe since the Second World War.

As crowds gathered in the town of Srebrenica to mourn and honour those who were killed in 1995, many people took to social media to post in memory of Bosnian Muslims. 

"Thirty years but three hundred, and three hundred more, would not be enough to wash away the shame of executing children," wrote political scientist Jasmin Mujanović.

"The Srebrenica Genocide is the apex horror of a broader genocide of the Bosniak people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Remember - and educate. Today, tomorrow."

Another posted: "30 years since the genocide. May it not be forgotten, may their footsteps not stray and their traces not fade into meaninglessness and oblivion. Let us remember!"

Several social media users also reflected on the anniversary in light of Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza, which Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, UN experts, and dozens of other organisations and scholars call a genocide. 

"Yesterday Srebrenica, today Gaza, and tomorrow??" posted a Bosnian scholar. 

Another user said: "Marking the Srebrenica genocide in a time of genocide is a different kind of shattering. Why do we remember if the present demands we forget?"

'Vile hypocrisy'

As world leaders also posted about the Srebrenica genocide, many social media users denounced their statements as "hypocritical", highlighting many of the officials' denial that Israel is commiting the same crime in Gaza. 

Commenting on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s statement, in which he remembered the victims and vowed to double the efforts to “fight hatred and intolerance whenever it exists”, a user wrote on X: “Celebrating it by having enabled, covered for and refused to call out and stop another monstrous genocide in Gaza."

“Starmer rightly commemorating the Srebrenica massacre today at #PMQs. But such a vile hypocrisy from a government that is actively participating in an ongoing genocide in the Middle East,” another X user added.

Replying to the Council of Europe’s commerorative post on Srebrenica, a user wrote: “Remembering it should also mean to stop the today genocide in Gaza and you don’t.”

One X user, responding to a post by the German mission to the UN, said: “No need for those sending arms for the genocide in Gaza to show sympathy for Srebrenica, Bosnia."

Germany has remained one of Israel's staunchest backers, and one of its largest arms suppliers since October 2023. 

"We don't need that 'dirty' hypocrisy. We need leaders who will uphold international law and reject barbarism, for a better world for everyone," the user continued.