The definition of genocide is quite clear: any of a set of acts (like killing) "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
Israel has done more to preserve the lives of the civilians of its enemies that perhaps any nation in history. A genocidal entity wouldn't carefully choose munitions so as not to cause collateral damage. It wouldn't ensure a lower ratio of civilian to militant deaths that in any urban conflict in history.
But when it comes to Hamas, it isn't even a question.
The Hamas covenant - which was never replaced - says, "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it."
It incites hatred against Jews with lies: "When the Jews conquered the Holy City in 1967, they stood on the threshold of the Aqsa Mosque and proclaimed that 'Mohammed is dead, and his descendants are all women.'
It doesn't differentiate between Israel and Jews: "Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people."
And this: "In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised."
And more antisemitism meant to dehumanize Jews:
The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him. (Article 7)The enemies have been scheming for a long time ... and have accumulated huge and influential material wealth. With their money, they took control of the world media... With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the globe... They stood behind the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution and most of the revolutions we hear about... With their money they formed secret organizations - such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs and the Lions - which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests... They stood behind World War I ... and formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains... There is no war going on anywhere without them having their finger in it. (Article 22)Zionism scheming has no end, and after Palestine, they will covet expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates River. When they have finished digesting the area on which they have laid their hand, they will look forward to more expansion. Their scheme has been laid out in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'. (Article 32)
The operative word in the definition of genocide in the Genocide Convention is "intent." Hamas has broadcast its clear intent to destroy Israel (as a national group) and Jews (as a religious group.) Therefore, every single terror attack since it was founded is an act of genocide by its definition.
All the more so the slaughter of October 7, where they made very clear from their tactics and actions, as well as evidence found afterwards, that the overarching goal was to kill as many Jews and Israelis as possible.
When Palestinians accuse Israel of "genocide," it is arguably one of many examples of their own psychological projection - ascribing to one's enemies your own mindset.
But when pundits, NGOs, and op-eds use the language against Israel it is something far more insidious. Projection is a reflection of how one views the world, but when people who don't think that way accuse Israel of genocide, especially after the worst attack on Jews since the paradigmatic genocide that spawned the term itself, it is not a psychological quirk. It is a deliberate attempt to excuse Hamas and attack Jews with the worst crime there is.
It is akin to comparing Israeli Jews to Nazis. It is pure antisemitism, pure hate, that is meant to incite others to hate Jews.
How can one tell that these people accusing Israel of genocide are dyed in the wool antisemites? Because they never use that word against Hamas, even after 10/7. Even though it is impossible to chart Hamas' actions against the Genocide Convention and not come to that conclusion.
They aren't soberly looking at Israeli actions and saying, "this fits." As with the false accusations of apartheid, they are shoehorning a very distorted view of Israel to fit some bizarre definition of the term and then using it as a means to incite against Jews.
This is part of a process to dehumanize Israel - subjecting it to standards no one else is judged by and demonizing the Jewish state when it doesn't reach these imaginary human rights levels.
And the same people who are accusing Israel of genocide are trying to lay the groundwork for another real genocide against Jews.
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