That "G" Word (Genocide)

As the Israeli assault on Hamas and thus Gaza continues, the word “genocide” is increasingly getting used by those critical of Israeli actions. And since Israeli actions are only possible due to America’s support in both military and diplomatic terms, within the US, some accuse Biden of “funding Netanyahu’s genocide” and the term “Genocide Joe” (Joe Biden) has some traction.

 

A UN official quit over the powerlessness of the organization and wrote:

“In just 4 weeks, Israel with US backing has cut off food, water, power & then brutally exterminated more than 10,000 imprisoned civilian men, women & children in Gaza, destroyed their homes, churches, mosques, schools & hospitals because they are Palestinians. Name it? #Genocide.”

 

While specific incidents can be questioned and individual photos may be faked, it is hard to argue with the big picture truth of what is being described. Unless you are a Westerner. (I understand Israel’s fury, though I wonder what their plan is).

 

Some of the Western defences are laughable. Like nitpicking over the meaning of the word “genocide”. Take this one by Andrew Sullivan:

“The key, defining thing here is the aim. Horrifying massacres may or may not be genocidal, depending on the intention. The Hiroshima bomb, for example, was devastating, but it was aimed at ending the war, not obliterating the Japanese people as a race.”

So let us get this straight – dropping the nuke on Japan was not genocide (I agree), and since the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed far more people, therefore Gaza isn’t a genocide either. Really? Wow!

 

Another popular Western argument goes like this:

“If Israel were interested in the “genocide” of Palestinian Arabs, it has had the means to accomplish it for a very long time.”

By this “logic”, since Jews lived in Germany for almost 2,000 years without an attempted genocide (just the usual-for-Europe persecution), therefore, what the Nazis didn’t did wasn’t genocide either because, hey, Jews had been living in Germany for 1,900+ years. See how nonsensical that sounds?

 

I feel the West is unwilling to use the genocide word to refer to anything other than what the Nazis did to the Jews. With very few exceptions, like Rwanda and Darfur. Even what Pakistan did in Bangladesh in 1971 doesn’t count because the West supported the murderous Pakistani regime of the era.

 

I personally don’t think that what’s happening in Gaza qualifies as genocide. The scale of the deaths is nowhere near that big; nor is the intention to kill every Palestinian who breathes. But I consider the West to be unqualified, biased, and self-serving and thus don’t accept their assessment of the topic, not just in Gaza but anywhere else in the world.