How to respond to the “genocide” accusation
Do you wish you could respond to accusations of “Israel committing genocide,” but feel stuck how to be productive? I want to help you. I’m going to tell you how I approach this challenge.
First, stay calm. Don’t attack them. Don’t call them antisemitic. Don’t go straight into Israel has the right to defend itself. Why? Because if someone’s using the word genocide, they’re reacting to real pain they’re seeing online. If you dismiss them or insult them, you’ll lose them.
Now I’m going to say something controversial: don’t jump into explaining the definition of genocide, how it requires INTENT to wipe out a people. Why is this controversial? Because this is the only thing I see Israel advocates saying online, but it doesn’t move the needle for me. Our strategy can’t be to leave the other person feeling like Israel is the bad guy who just wasn’t QUITE bad enough for a specific label. If our first defense is semantics and technicalities, we’ve lost.
Instead, start with this. Acknowledge the emotions. Say, “the situation for the people of Gaza has been unbearable. The images are horrific. I feel that too.” Relate to them on a human level.
Then, onto to the discussion. “War can be devastating and still not meet the threshold for genocide. A death toll that feels tragic does not necessarily merit the use of such a loaded word.”
Present the facts. “Every single day of the war, the IDF warned Gazans about upcoming attacks and where to go to avoid the danger zones. Where to go to get humanitarian aid. They were constantly giving away their plans, even at the expense of having strategic surprise over Hamas. Why? Because the IDF is committed to minimizing the number of civilian casualties as much as possible. And you know what? The combatant to civilian killed ratio in this war is the lowest of any war in modern history. That doesn’t sound like a genocide to me.”
Continue by pointing the finger of blame where it actually belongs: at Hamas. “It’s actually Hamas that orchestrates civilian deaths at every opportunity. You might have heard that Hamas operates in densely-populated civilian areas to put the target on the Gazans that surround them. But it’s worse than that. When Israel campaigned for Gazans to evacuate southward for over a month at the beginning of the war, Hamas set up road blocks and took people’s car keys so that they would be stuck in the danger zone. Why? Because Hamas wants civilians to die so that you’ll be angry at Israel.”
Finally, ask them questions to reflect on. “If Israel was truly interested in genocide, why would they warn civilians to get out of the way before every strike? Why would Israel facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza every single day, more aid than the UN even picks up? And last question – you know the capabilities of the Israeli Air Force. If Israel wanted to commit genocide, wouldn’t they have flattened Gaza on October 8th and saved itself two years of IDF soldiers being killed in battle?” Then actually wait for their answers.
If the person is still listening after all this, chances are you made some headway. If they’re not, that’s not your problem. I wish you the best of luck in your conversations — let me know how they go.
