Let’s Talk Genocide

Examining Israel's Claims on Targeting Hamas vs Palestinians in Gaza

Today, I want to look into the claim that Israel is committing genocide against the people of Gaza and/or Palestine. (You can watch the video version here.)

First, let’s define genocide.

“Genocide” consists of “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”

1. Acts

2. With intent

3. To destroy

4. A people

Intent is where most of the definition seems to live. So let’s start there.

Does Israel have intent?

Well, they’ve said as much.

A few months Netanyahu showed up at the UN with a map of the “New Middle East” that completely erased Palestine.

The Minister of Finance said there is “no such thing as Palestinians”.

Or look at what Israel has been doing in the West Bank—which is a different part of the country that is not controlled by Hamas. Even there, they are erasing Palestinians from their homes and land.

Since Oct 7, Israel's Defense Minister has said they are fighting “human animals” and they will “respond accordingly”, while also saying they would “eliminate everything.”

Netanyahu said they would turn Gaza into an “island of ruins”.

And the president of Israel said that the entire nation (of Palestinians) was responsible; implying that there are no innocents.

One of Netanyahu’s party leaders in the Knesset said their goal was a second Nakba, which is essentially a call to expunge the land of Palestinians.

Another Knesset member called for razing Gaza to the ground “without mercy”.

The army spokesperson explicitly said, “The emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy.”

So… yeah. There’s concern over genocidal intent.

OK, but do Israel’s actions back it up?

Anyone can get a little carried away in the aftermath of trauma. Means words alone cannot get you brought up on charges of genocide.

Are Israel’s actions consistent with the worst of their leadership’s promises and portrayals?

Israel will say that everything it does is “targeted”.

So, if we’re to believe Israel is not indiscriminately seeking to kill huge numbers of Palestinians—that their strikes are targeted—then we must look at their bombings of schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, border crossings, and UN facilities—as intentional.

Now a lot of people know the talking points by now that “Hamas is hiding in those locations”.

Really? Was the Orthodox Church that Israel bombed really giving sanctuary to Hamas and then carrying out a Christian mass for the dead the next day? If so, let me say that this is nothing like the ISIS we encountered in Iraq and Syria.

“Well, Israel said the church was not the intended target.”

Fair enough. So which is it?

Is Israel a highly competent military whose every action is targeted? Or is Israel dropping so many bombs that they are repeatedly missing their targets?

If they are precise and hitting their targets, then you can hardly blame many for concluding this is precision genocide.

And if they are repeatedly missing their targets and carrying on, you can hardly blame many for concluding this is mass genocide.

But regardless, international law requires states to take “all measures reasonably available to them” to prevent the risk of genocide from the moment they first learn about it.

So, Israel’s continued conduct is itself proof that it is not doing all it can to prevent the genocide it has been warned about.

But it’s not just the bombings.

It’s the collective punishment, the use of extraordinarily indiscriminate air-burst weapons in highly-concentrated civilian areas; the forced displacement; the caging-in; and the prevention of humanitarian escape routes.

If Israel wants to shed this perception of genocide and limit civilian death, let them set up a refugee camp in southern Israel, just like we did in Iraq and Syria over the last decade.

Yeah, you risk some militants among the population. But those are risks the powerful have to take to protect the most lives. They are certainly the risks that humanitarians and peacemakers are willing to take. Set up the camps. Jews, Christians, and Muslims the world over will come to help run them. All you have to do is open the door for innocent Palestinians to flee to safety.

You can call Gazans animals.

Apparently, you can even lock them in a big, open-air zoo.

And bomb that zoo.

But none of that makes it legal.

And it doesn’t mean it’s not repugnant.

(BTW, could you imagine if they really were bombing a zoo or a rainforest, how much worse the outrage would be!?)

Won’t calling it a genocide just hurt Jews?

For years, I’ve upheld a tradition of not calling the Israeli program a genocide, because whenever someone used the word, you’d often see a visceral reaction, as though a people who’ve experienced genocide couldn’t possibly carry out the same.

(Quick side note: my cofounders at HUMANITE Peace Collective have been the targets of two genocides. So, as an organization, we have some experience on this front.)

Some say you shouldn’t use the word genocide because it’ll lead to anti-Semitism and a rise in attacks on Jews.

First of all, I don’t want that. I want Jews everywhere to live fully, freely, and safely, without fear of personal attacks, attacks on their synagogues, or even verbal assaults. And I know that is not the reality right now. And that grieves me.

I think the message of almost everyone in the “smells like genocide” conversation is trying to say “No violence against civilians. Period. Not against Palestinians. Not against Jews. None.”

But the idea that we cannot call a thing what it is because some other people might do the thing they already wanted to do anyway… that’s just not good moral leadership.

And if it was, then we would uphold the principle for Palestinians, too. We wouldn’t criticize Hamas because it might lead to an increase in Islamophobic or anti-Arab attacks on Palestinians.

But we don’t do that, do we?

Instead, we have politicians and police explicitly connecting the flag of the Palestinian people to terrorism.

So, let’s just call the thing what it is, no matter who carries it out.

And then let’s put our own bodies in harm’s way to protect Jews and Palestinians everywhere from hate.

We don’t have to sacrifice the truth for security. In fact, we can’t. The Truth is the only thing that will set us free.

We have to tell the truth.

So where does this leave us?

Whether or not the word genocide is the best word here doesn’t have to be the hill we die on.

What Hamas did—killing civilians and taking civilian hostages—absolutely warrants a response.

But if the response looks like a genocide…

If it talks like a genocide…

If the mass graves are filling up like a genocide…

If it punishes innocent civilians collectively like a genocide…

Then, the response is probably, at a minimum, a war crime. Maybe even an ethnic cleansing. Is that really something you want to defend or to even stay silent on?

Here’s a basic principle of war and counter-insurgency that I’ve tried to remind government and military leaders of over two decades of this work:

It’s time to turn around.

Our goodness is not measured in how close either side comes to the next Auschwitz.

But on who we become in pursuit of justice.

Jeremy Courtney
CEO
HUMANITE

www.humanite.org

Helping Hannah (and 100+ More)

A few days ago we got an audio message from a little girl named Hannah whom our Gaza director had helped in the past. She said,

“I am very afraid. I don’t have food, drink, electricity, water. If you can come along and help us as you do every time, I will be very thankful for you.”

Her voice cracks…

“If we had never met you in this life we would be waiting for you in heaven [right now].”

She completely breaks down in tears and the message ends.

We appealed for help on social media and the clip garnered over a quarter million views.

And thanks to all who gave, we’ve been able to reach Hannah, her family, and more than 100 others with urgently needed material support, while continuing our work to help transport people further from the coming ground assault, working on major water deliveries to local hospitals, and running therapeutic play sessions for children to help ease their daily trauma.

(I wish you could see how many kids are playing “doctor” right now amidst the constant airstrikes and loss around them. Our team overheard one kid today saying, “When I grow up, I want to be a doctor, not a fighter.”)

And we’re just getting started.

HUMANITE is a community of donors and volunteers like you who refuse to play helpless while the world burns.

So if you’re looking for a way to put some of this angst to action, please consider this my personal invitation—my earnest plea: join us.

You may not be able to stop all the bombings. But you can get food, water, and other urgent help to people who would not get it otherwise.

Will you give something to help today?

Bombs Away

We can’t bomb our way to peace. If you’re looking to stand publicly for the peace and wholeness of Palestinians and Jews alike, let us suggest our new Bombs Away collection.