Is a Genocide Being Committed in Gaza? What Narrative is Used to Justify it?
UN Experts Assessment
UN experts remain “convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide,” (UNHR Office of the Commissioner, “Gaza is ‘running out of time’ UN experts warn, demanding a ceasefire to prevent genocide” 02 November 2023 press release). Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory Occupied since 1967, had already warned on October 14 “of crimes against humanity” committed by Israel in Gaza.
But the thinking seems to be changing towards allegations of genocide. For Craig Mokhiber, a top United Nations human who resigned to protest the alleged on-going genocide, “the current wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist settler colonial ideology, in continuation of decades of their systematic persecution and purging, based entirely upon their status as Arabs, and coupled with explicit statements of intent by leaders in the Israeli government and military, leaves no room for doubt or debate. In Gaza, civilian homes, schools, churches, mosques, and medical institutions are wantonly attacked as thousands of civilians are massacred. In the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, homes are seized and reassigned based entirely on race, and violent settler pogroms are accompanied by Israeli military units.” Mohiker concludes, “Across the land, Apartheid rules. This is a text-book case of genocide.”
Fisrt-Hand Witness of the Context Prior to October 7
A first-hand witness of the plight of Palestinians also gives a scathing and scary description of what has been happening prior to October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The American radio hostess and journalist (who does the Rumble Exclusive Kim Evenson Show) Kim Evenson writes on X on November 1, 2023:
“Every American I know who has spent time in Palestine comes back angry, disgusted and traumatized. I’ve yet to meet someone who says “it’s not that bad. It’s their fault and they deserve it”. I’ve met many who went believing Israel were the good guys and Palestinians screwed themselves over only to come back with an entirely disgusted view of Israel.”
Evenson adds:
“I came back in a state of shock. I witnessed in real life things I had only read about in history books. Things I never believed a government could do in modern times. I had a neutral view of Israel prior to my trip. During my trip I was extremely skeptical and even pissed off several Palestinians with my lines of questioning. When I came back to the States and began processing everything… I couldn’t turn on the lights or get myself out of bed for a week. What I saw was unimaginable. It was a cruelty aimed at a group of generous and warm people with a very very clear intent- to get rid of them. And I couldn’t believe the group doing it to these people had it done to them not long ago. They took similar tactics and weaponized them against others. That is what I saw and I can’t unsee it. The children in the schools would stop me and beg me to come home and tell America to stop. They know it’s us allowing this abuse.”
And then she concludes:
“Myself and everyone I know comes back disgusted with Israel. And many of us weren’t even in Gaza witnessing war. Everyday normal life for Palestinians is cruel and it’s 100% controlled by Israel. And despite what we’ve been spoon fed our whole lives, it’s not done because the Palestinians are violent and dangerous, it’s done to rid the region of them. To make their lives so miserable they either leave or violently rise up giving Israel an excuse to take more land. And the Israelis are not shy about this when you speak to them. Some might couch it with statements like “well we tried peace but they didn’t accept it”. It doesn’t matter how they phrase it, they still end up in the same place which is “they can’t stay” and “we want them gone”.”
Evenson adds in a following Tweet: “I want to add that the cruelty was aimed at all Palestinians no matter their religion or politics. Christian Palestinians, American Palestinians (there trying to rebuild) Jewish Palestinians (yes, they exist!), Muslim Palestinians and Agnostic Palestinians. It made no difference. The cruelty against them is the same. Settlers attack and even kill, IDF does nothing. Settlers steal, IDF does nothing. On the other hand, a Palestinian fights back, their mother’s home gets destroyed as punishment. Palestinians were ALL in unison about who is their greatest oppressor. It was shocking to see.”
Genocide: A Grave Accusation
Genocide is a serious and grave thing and can be and has been used for political purposes. But what is taking place in Gaza is horrendous and unseen by the scale of deliberate destruction and indiscriminate killing that so many human rights voices and organizations are not hesitating to call it “genocide”. I know it is quite disturbing to invoke this term in relation to Israel whose Jewish people had to go through one of the most atrocious genocides in history; but it is incumbent upon us, as responsible world citizens, and human rights promoters, to name a “wrong” even in relation to historical victims of anti-Semitism, and descendants of the victims of the sinister Holocaust.
The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines Genocide in its Article II as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
- Killing members of the group.
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
Does any of the Definitions of Genocide apply to Gaza?
Is any of the acts committed by the Israeli Army in its continuous bombardment of the Palestinian population in Gaza acts of genocide per the definition contained in the Convention? Is killing members of the “Palestinian group” an act of genocide? For some, it is mere collateral damage; but targeting whole families, different age groups, whole neighborhoods, buildings housing a whole community, refugee camps, hospitals, schools, amounts to an attempt or an intent to kill a whole group. The International Criminal Court (ICC) must investigate and determine whether there was/is genocide, but the facts do not look good for the deniers.
“Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group”: that is where evidence on the ground seems to be irrefutable: Palestinians are killed, wounded, maimed, psychologically terrorized and all of it is documented by UN agencies, Human Rights groups and watchdogs, medical staff in hospitals, media and private individuals using their mobile phones. The ICC will have ample information to sift through to establish evidence in this regard.
“Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” is where the general policy of ethnic cleansing, apartheid practices, harassment, land grabbing, settlement (all in the West Bank) and blockading, talked about by so many and documented by first eyewitnesses, including Craig Monicker and Kim Everson (cited above) and various others. The ICC will have to establish if the mass killing in Gaza is a continuation of the plight of Palestinians under occupation and blockade and if that is part of a general policy by the Israeli Government to wipe the Palestinians off their land.
Is there Intent to Commit Genocide?
The most important element in a genocide accusation is the intent. Is there intent? Has there been an official endorsement of these practices on the part of the Israeli government?
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shocked everyone when he justified the killing of innocent women and children in Gaza by citing the Torah and “invoking the destruction of Amlak. The Old Testament 1 Samuel 15:30 reads: ‘Now go and smite Amlak and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.’" (Daily Sabah, “West's Double Standards on Israeli Hate Speech” November 1, 2023.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described Palestinians as “human animals.”
“We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” he said, emphasizing that he ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip. He also announced that Palestinians will be deprived of food, electricity, and fuel. “Everything is closed,” he stressed. (Morocco World News, October 9, 2023.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had “openly admitted that his right to move around unimpeded is superior to the freedom of movement for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, sparking outrage. ‘My right, the right of my wife and my children to move around Judea and Samaria is more important than freedom of movement for the Arabs,’ he said in an interview with Channel 12 News, using the biblical term for the occupied territory.
Directly addressing journalist Mohammad Magadli, who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, Ben-Gvir said, “Sorry, Mohammad, but that’s the reality.’” (Al Jazeera August 23. 2023.)
The recognition of Apartheid in the West Bank by Itamar Ben-Gvir pales in relation to his statement on Gaza: “hundreds of tons of explosives should enter the region instead of aid to the besieged Gaza Strip." (ANews, “Israeli Minister's Inhumane Comment after 'Hospital Massacre': Only One Thing Should Enter Gaza, Tons of Explosives”, October 17, 2023).
Amichai Eliyahu, Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, literally recognized what could be described as Genocide: “Commenting on army bulldozers demolishing Palestinian homes in the northern Gaza Strip: ‘Northern Gaza is more beautiful than ever, what a pleasure for the eye. When we finish, we will distribute the lands of Gaza to the fighting soldiers and settlers who left Gush Katif.’” (Tweet by “Palestina Hoy” Nov 1 (in Spanish)).
What is the Narrative Used to Justify the Alleged Genocide?
From the chat I heard and read on social media and from Western mainstream media one-sided coverage of the Israeli war on Gaza, I have attempted to reconstruct the narrative that is used to justify the mass killing of Palestinian civilians, that experts qualify as “Genocide”.
- “Palestinians revel in death anyway. They teach their kids that the best things that could happen to them is martyrdom (shahada). They love death. It is part of their culture to want to die to go to a better place in heaven. So, we give them what they want anyway.”
- “Gaza is a nest for Hamas. Babies and children are future Hamas fighters; women give birth to Hamas fighters; families provide human shields to Hamas fighters; neighborhoods, hospitals, and other social infrastructure contain Hamas terrorist logistical capabilities. By killing Gazans off and destroying their houses and neighborhoods we are ridding the World of the Cancer called Hamas.”
- “An Israeli life is worth hundreds of Palestinian lives because Israel is biblically and historically destined to exist and re-exist but Palestine is a hindrance, a nuisance in front of this self-fulfilling prophecy! It is not a question of finding a home for the survivors of the Nazi genocide but a biblical and messianic rebirth of a nation that has always already been there. It is a moral calling amid barbarity and chaos. Palestinians are a detail; in fact, they do not exist; at best they are Arabs that could exist as happy second rate citizens in a Jewish state. There is no balance; there is no equation between Israelis and Palestinians. The moral high ground lies with Israelis because they are victims of terror, have been victims of genocide and are part of the Judeo-Christian fabric i.e. civilization.
- “Israel has the right to defend itself. Although it occupies, displaces, dispossesses, jails, puts blockades, encourages settlements—all of it (what people call ‘occupation’) is anticipation to keep terrorists at bay. What people call ‘apartheid” is people management to control infiltration of killers and evil persons. What people call settlements are Jewish buffers against Arab threats…Therefore, Israel is a victim that defends itself by keeping the enemy dispersed, confined, in jail, poor and dispossessed.”
Conclusion: Did Hamas also Commit an Act of Genocide?
Did Hamas also commit an act of genocide by targeting a specific group, namely the Israelis? Some have called for the investigation of both, Israel and Hamas (Cris McCreal, “Have war Crimes Been Committed in Israel and Gaza and What International Laws Apply?”, The Guardian, October 31, 2023). Others refer to the Charter of Hamas where it calls for the liberation of Palestine “from river to sea” which they see as genocidal intent to wipe off Jewish presence in Israel. The ICC will have to determine what amounts to an act of resistance against an occupier and what amounts to a deliberate act to harm and kill off a specific group or part of it. It is not an easy thing, but it is not excluded that the question will be posed.