THE HAGUE, Netherlands\u00a0\u2014\u00a0A growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a U.N. body, have said Israel\u2019s offensive in the Gaza Strip amounts to genocide, deepening Israel\u2019s isolation and risking untold damage to the country\u2019s standing even among allies.<\/p>\n
The accusation is vehemently denied by Israel, which was established in part as a refuge for Jews after the Holocaust. Others have rejected it or said only a court can make that determination.<\/p>\n
Even so, global outrage over Israel\u2019s wartime conduct has mounted in recent months, as images of starving children emerged, adding to the humanitarian catastrophe of a 23-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and laid waste to much of Gaza.<\/p>\n
A current offensive in the territory\u2019s largest city further raised concern, with some of Israel\u2019s European allies condemning it.<\/p>\n
But the genocide accusation goes further, raising the question of whether a state forged in the aftermath of the crime is now committing it.<\/p>\n
Israeli leaders brand the argument as veiled antisemitism, saying the country abides by international law and urges Gaza\u2019s civilians to evacuate ahead of major military operations. They say Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war was itself a genocidal act.<\/p>\n
In that attack, Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, around 20 of whom Israel believes are alive.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s ensuing operation has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and led to famine in parts. Israeli leaders have also expressed support for the mass relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, a move Palestinians and others say would amount to forcible expulsion.<\/p>\n
Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry says over 65,000 Palestinians have been killed. The ministry \u2014 part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals \u2014 doesn\u2019t say how many were civilians or combatants, but says women and children make up around half.<\/p>\n
The definition of genocide<\/p>\n
Genocide was codified in a 1948 convention drawn up after the horrors of the Holocaust that defines it as acts \u201ccommitted with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the convention, genocidal acts include: killing; causing serious bodily or mental harm; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group\u2019s physical destruction in whole or in part.<\/p>\n
Experts and rights groups increasingly use the genocide label<\/p>\n
In a report last week, a team of independent experts commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council concluded the war has become an attempt by Israel to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza and constitutes genocide.<\/p>\n
The group, which doesn\u2019t speak for the U.N., said its determination was based on a pattern of behavior, including Israel\u2019s \u201ctotal siege\u201d of Gaza, killing or wounding vast numbers of Palestinians, and the destruction of health and educational facilities. Israel says Hamas uses such facilities for military purposes. It lifted a complete 2\u00bd-month blockade in May.<\/p>\n
Many of the world\u2019s leading experts on genocide have reached the same conclusion, with at least two dozen using the term publicly in the past year. Among them is Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University.<\/p>\n
Early in the war, Bartov, who grew up in Israel and served in its military, argued Israel\u2019s actions didn\u2019t amount to genocide.<\/p>\n
He changed his mind when Israel took over the city of Rafah, driving out most of its population. He now considers Israel\u2019s actions \u201ca genocidal operation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez called Israel\u2019s conduct genocide this month. \u201cThis is not self-defense, it\u2019s not even an attack \u2014 it\u2019s the extermination of a defenseless people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Two Israeli rights groups have also said it\u2019s genocide. While the groups are respected internationally, their views are not representative of the vast majority of Israelis.<\/p>\n
In December, Amnesty International used the term, citing similar findings as the U.N.-commissioned experts. \u201cLooking at the broader picture of Israel\u2019s military campaign and the cumulative impact of its policies and acts, genocidal intent is the only reasonable conclusion,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
Two weeks later, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of intentionally depriving Gaza of water, saying that amounted to \u201can act of genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others do not see genocide \u2014 or say it\u2019s for a court to decide<\/p>\n
Israel \u2014 where the Holocaust plays a critical role in national identity \u2014 casts such allegations as an assault on its very legitimacy. It says Hamas, which doesn\u2019t accept Israel\u2019s right to exist, is prolonging the war by not surrendering and releasing the hostages.<\/p>\n
The Foreign Ministry dismissed the report by the U.N.-commissioned experts as \u201cdistorted and false.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel could have committed genocide \u201cin one afternoon\u201d if it wanted, implying it has acted with restraint. Experts say there\u2019s no numerical threshold for the crime.<\/p>\n
Responding to a question in August, President Trump, whose country is Israel\u2019s staunchest backer, said he didn\u2019t think he\u2019d seen evidence to support the accusation.<\/p>\n
The Elie Wiesel Foundation, established by the Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor, also rejected the characterization.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael\u2019s actions in Gaza do not constitute genocide \u2014 they are legitimate acts of self-defense against an organization that seeks Israel\u2019s destruction,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Norman Goda, a professor of Holocaust studies at the University of Florida, sees the use of the word as part of \u201ca long-standing effort to delegitimize Israel,\u201d saying the accusations are \u201claced with antisemitic tropes.\u201d <\/p>\n
U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres and others say it\u2019s not for politicians or scholars to make the determination.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have always been clear that that is a decision for international courts,\u201d then-British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Sky News in May.<\/p>\n
The European Union has made a similar argument, as has the Auschwitz memorial, dedicated to the victims at the largest Nazi concentration camp, most of them Jews.<\/p>\n
The top U.N. court has been asked to rule<\/p>\n
In late 2023, South Africa accused Israel of genocide at the U.N.\u2019s top court, the International Court of Justice. About a dozen countries have joined the case. A final ruling could take years.<\/p>\n
To prove its case, South Africa must establish intent.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for the country have already pointed to comments by Israeli leaders, including then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant saying Israel was \u201cfighting human animals,\u201d and Deputy Knesset Speaker Nissim Vaturi saying that Israelis shared the goal of \u201cerasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israeli leaders have downplayed the comments and argued they were taken out of context or directed at Hamas.<\/p>\n
Even if it rules for South Africa, the court has no way to stop any genocide or punish perpetrators. Only the U.N. Security Council can do that \u2014 including through sanctions or authorizing military action. The U.S. has a long history of using its veto power there to block resolutions against Israel.<\/p>\n
The International Criminal Court, meanwhile, has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, but neither faces genocide charges. They are accused of using starvation as a method of warfare, allegations they deny.<\/p>\n
Israel faces increasing pressure<\/p>\n
Israel faces increasing pressure, even from countries not calling its actions genocide. There have been calls for exclusion in the cultural and sports sectors, and protests in several European cities.<\/p>\n
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, one of Israel\u2019s staunchest backers, has called for partially suspending trade ties with the country. Germany and the U.K., both strong supporters of Israel, have suspended or restricted some military exports.<\/p>\n
Goda, the academic who doesn\u2019t think Israel is committing genocide, acknowledged the term has ramifications beyond the legal realm.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Genocide\u2019 is a legal term, but it also carries a very heavy political and cultural weight,\u201d he said. \u201cA country committing genocide can never outrun the legacy of that crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corder and Quell write for the Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE HAGUE, Netherlands\u00a0\u2014\u00a0A growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a U.N. body, have said Israel\u2019s offensive…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":249558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[132309,132311,11030,9958,4641,70,132308,18890,4527,14446,99,132310,50,31235,5996,2241],"class_list":{"0":"post-249557","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-23-month-war","9":"tag-accusation","10":"tag-action","11":"tag-country","12":"tag-expert","13":"tag-gaza","14":"tag-genocidal-act","15":"tag-genocide","16":"tag-hamas","17":"tag-holocaust","18":"tag-israel","19":"tag-israeli-leader","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-palestinians","22":"tag-part","23":"tag-south-africa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115254971994395920","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}