To anyone who support the "genocide in Gaza" narrative: make no mistake: by echoing this lie, you're playing right into the hands of a movement that has existed for many years.
Back in 2010, while writing my doctoral dissertation in London, I encountered, in the university's history department, a critical movement that accused Israel of being a continuation of Western colonialism and claimed it was committing genocide in Gaza. That's also why such accusations surfaced as early as October 8. This is an anti-Zionist and anti-Western movement that glorifies Hamas terrorists as freedom fighters.
What's astonishing is how many in Israel have joined this cheerleading squad. Let's be clear: one doesn't have to support the government's actions in Gaza. It's entirely legitimate to harshly criticize the death toll, the lack of urgency in rescuing hostages and ending the war, the idea of reoccupying the Strip, or the policies regarding food and humanitarian aid. But what do any of these criticisms have to do with genocide?
Let's keep it simple. The post-World War II definition of genocide was created for two main purposes: to enable the world to recognize and stop a genocide while it's happening, including rescuing the victims, and to ensure that those responsible are held accountable in court, as a deterrent to others.
There are many ways to prove that what's happening in Gaza is not genocide, but let's focus on two critical points with real-world implications:
A. In a genocide, the victims have no way of stopping their own slaughter. But since October 8, this war could have been halted at any moment. Had Hamas released the hostages and handed over its leadership to Israel, not a single hair on a Gazan child's head would have been harmed.
Hamas was the one that attempted to commit genocide against Israelis and has since embedded itself deliberately among civilians in Gaza to maximize Palestinian casualties. Do you think Jews during the Holocaust could have stopped their own murder? The Armenians in the Ottoman Empire? The Tutsi in Rwanda? Neither they nor their leaders had that power.
B. When genocide is happening, the world should focus on rescuing those at risk. But what do we see today? Hamas, the Palestinian leadership as a whole, Egypt, other Arab countries, European states, and the UN are all blocking any efforts to allow Gazans who wish to flee the Strip to do so.
To those who claim the people of Gaza don't want to leave: let's go back to the genocide accusation. Do you really think that Jews, Armenians or Tutsi would have willingly stayed in a death zone rather than try to escape?
Time and again, we see this pattern - a movement aimed at undermining Israel's legitimacy through genocide accusations. It's unbelievable that some Israelis, out of sheer hatred for the current government, are collaborating with such malevolence. And yes, had the global pressure, the protests, the sanctions, the diplomatic weight, been focused from day one on Hamas, Qatar, and to some extent Egypt, this war could already be over. And there certainly would have been fewer casualties in Gaza.
