Genocide – The irreparable damage of a false word

In this rising environment of hatred for Jews and Israel, and a general rising of hatred including Islamophobia, which I also reject, a main reason is the word “Genocide” itself.

It has become the ‘go to’ word of the anti-Israel movement as evidenced by the words of President Lula in Brazil, South Africa’s case in the ICJ and in the streets worldwide (see Jeremy Corbyn’s X page and look closely to see the “From the River to the Sea” posters).

This word is being used deliberately due to its emotive power but is plainly nonsense and is being used irresponsibly. Below, I set out the reasons it is clearly untrue.

The stirring of the pot is leading to hate on a massive scale such as events I have written about in the UK. It is also leading to counter-reaction such as the massive counter-demonstration in Brazil yesterday.

What started as an act of terror against Israel is being manipulated using dangerous incendiary language. It is harming Jews, Muslims, and all of us! It has put us on the road to 1939.

My wish and prayers are we dial back from the invective and stop using these extreme words which are plainly wrong and carry harmful baggage.
*END*

*ANALYSIS*
Use of Genocide is nonsense for 2 reasons- Intent and fact.

Firstly ‘Intent’: The definition of Genocide requires ‘intent’ as per the convention – “genocide means … acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” – Israel did not start this action, Hamas did.

Israel has shown no intent in its history towards genocide. It’s Declaration of Independence says: …”it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

In an annual global ranking of 30 countries at highest risk of genocide worldwide in 2023/24, by percent risk (earlywarningproject – a reputable independent organization whose goal is to monitor risks of genocidal potential) Israel doesn’t even appear in the list. It ranks 96 below Canada. South Africa ranks at no 30!

Secondly ‘Facts’: Although I genuinely hate ALL innocent loss of life and grieve over the horrific pictures I see in the news, the statistics show no genocide. The percentage of civilians amongst the dead in Gaza is approximately 64-66%. This is less than modern averages in warfare – see chart below. This is despite the unbelievably difficult circumstances where Hamas has deliberately, unlike most wars, forced the fighting into densely populated areas shielded by civilians. As much as Israel makes mistakes it is simply not Genocide (if there was an intent by the IDF to commit genocide the numbers would be so different).