The Accountability Archive is an online anti-Israel archive project that describes itself as a crowdsourced project collecting pro-Israel stances in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The group does not share which individuals are behind the project but describes itself as a “group of middle east experts, researchers, and concerned citizens.” ¹ The project’s aim is to highlight pro-Israel voices and alleges that governments throughout the world are complicit in genocide against the Palestinians. The group states that the final archive aims to be a “public resource to be used by future historians, and researchers, helping understand how power holders attempted to manufacture consent for the genocidal aggression towards the Palestinian people.” As of late 2024, the group had not published the archive, stating that it is in the collection phase of the project. ^{2 1}

Background

The Accountability Archive is a crowd-sourced project that promotes extreme anti-Israel views in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The group does not identify any individuals associated with the project, identifying those involved as “a group of middle east experts, researchers, and concerned citizens who have banded together to create the Accountability Archive… We are brought together by a deep sense of shame of our governments’ complicity in the current slaughter and a sense of duty to the Palestinians to hold our leaders to account.” ²

The group states that it has a vision “of a public resource to be used by future historians, and researchers, helping understand how power holders attempted to manufacture consent for the genocidal aggression towards the Palestinian people. We hope this resource will serve to hold them to account.” ²

Activity

As of late 2024, the Accountability Archive had not published any content, stating on its frequently asked questions page that the project has three phases and was in the initial collection phase. The group states that following the collection phase they “then need time to comb through and translate the data in the analysis phase, and finally there will be a publication phase.” ¹

The group alleges that Israel is committing genocide on Palestinians. The group also states that it is not looking for evidence of war crimes but rather “We are looking for evidence of support of the genocide, not the genocide itself.” Evidence the group asks the public to submit via its website include “Justification of the targeting of civilian infrastructure, Defamation of individual pro-Palestinian activists and protesters, [and] Defamatory statements about demonstrations and protests.” ¹

In discussing how the archive will be used, the group states that “It will be available to future historians and researchers to understand how this type of mass killing can take place through research. It will also potentially be a resource for lawyers looking for supporting evidence in trying defamation and war crime cases.” ¹

Leadership

Despite not sharing information on its leadership on its website, the Accountability Archive co-founders appeared on an episode of the pro-Palestinian Occupied Thoughts podcast. The co-founders of the group are Philip Proudfoot, a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, and Mahdi Zaidan, also a researcher at the Institute of Development Studies and a doctoral candidate at King’s College London’s Department of Geography, studying the political economy and ecology of post-oil infrastructure in the Middle East. ³

1. ““FAQs.” Accountability Archive. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://accountabilityarchive.org/faqs
2. “Home.” Accountability Archive. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://accountabilityarchive.org/
3. “The Accountability Archive.” Foundation for Middle East Peace. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://fmep.org/resource/the-accountability-archive/