Dan Hirschman
oatmealQuoting Daniel Blatman and Amos Goldberg (historians of the #Holocaust and genocide at the Hebrew University):
[…] No one gave the soldiers in the Netzarim Corridor, who are killing innocent people, an order to do so. But those who do it (certainly not all the soldiers) understand that no harm will come to them. A combination of hints from above (from politicians and army officers, such as Brigadier General Yehuda Vach) and murderous recklessness from below—this is how genocide is carried out.
Blatman and Goldberg, who specialize in the #Holocaust and genocide, argue that #Israel's actions in #Gaza constitute #genocide, emphasizing that while not identical to the Holocaust, the events share the same underlying crime of extermination.
They refute counterarguments by pointing to historical precedents where democratic nations committed atrocities deemed genocidal, such as during the #Algerian and #Vietnam wars. The scholars highlight the devastating impact of Israel's military operations, including the high number of civilian casualties, the destruction of infrastructure, and the dehumanizing rhetoric employed, concluding that these factors align with the definition of genocide as the destruction of a collective's ability to exist.
[…] Genocide is any action that causes the destruction of a collective's ability to exist, not necessarily its physical killing. It is estimated that nearly 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 110,000 have been wounded. The number of those who remain buried under the rubble is unknown, and may never be known. The vast majority of the victims are uninvolved civilians. 90% of the population in Gaza has been displaced from their homes and lives in dire conditions that increase mortality.
[…] The killing of children, starvation, the destruction of infrastructure, including the infrastructure of the medical system, the destruction of most homes, including the obliteration of entire neighborhoods and towns like Jabalia and Beit Lahia, the ethnic cleansing in the northern Gaza Strip, the destruction of all universities and most cultural institutions and mosques, the destruction of government and organizational infrastructure, mass graves, the destruction of local food production infrastructure and water reservoirs—all of these paint a clear genocidal picture. Gaza as a human, national-collective entity no longer exists. This is exactly what genocide looks like.
[…] In this context, it is worth noting that most acts of genocide are perceived by their perpetrators as an act of self-defense against their victims. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict undoubtedly belongs to this category; the genocide in Gaza is perceived by most Israelis as a defensive war that came after the horrific attack by Hamas on October 7th.
[…] Can intent be proven in the case of Gaza? Aside from the idea of using an atomic bomb, Israeli politicians, senior military officials, and media figures have made many statements indicating genocidal intent, and all of them have been documented: There are no innocents in Gaza; we will carry out a second Nakba; we must destroy Amalek, and more. And yet, the concept of intent is very problematic. William Schabas, one of the leading jurists on the subject of genocide, explains this in his important book, Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes, in which he analyzes the decisions of the special international tribunals that tried the perpetrators of the genocide in Rwanda and Yugoslavia.
[…] Schabas states that proving the intent required to convict a person or a state of genocide is much more demanding and complex than proving the intent required in a regular criminal murder trial. Especially when it comes to a state—after all, on what basis can the intent of a state be determined? If the murderers carry out their actions while making a declaration, instruction, speech, or the like, that has genocidal significance, it is of course easier to establish that intent. In the absence of such material, the prosecution must rely on evidence from the crime itself and the persistence with which the murderers carried out the killing, which indicates a clear desire to destroy the group.
[…] The appropriate definition for the atrocities that Israel is causing in Gaza is an issue that has been under discussion for over a year among researchers, jurists, political activists, journalists, and others—a discussion that most Israelis are not exposed to. Indeed, for the tens of thousands of children killed, wounded, and orphaned, and for the babies freezing to death in Gaza, it does not matter what definition will eventually be given to this crime by the International Court of Justice or by historians.
Note: order of quotes different than in the original article
@histodons
@israel
@palestine
#IsraelOccupation
#IsraelWarCrimes
#GazaGenocide
#Palestine
Martin Vermeer 86 47