| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Pope calls for an immediate end to the barbarity in Palestine. | |
| Posted by: | Steven Rose | |
| Date/Time: | 27/07/25 11:31:00 |
| Ivonne I am afraid I don’t understand your exasperation or why you felt the need to look up the meaning of the word ‘genocide’. Everyone knows that it means the deliberate extermination of a race or nation. Unfortunately the critics of Israel on the Forum and elsewhere have improperly extended its meaning to include ethnic cleansing or even just colonising a territory, as can be seen in the extract from the UN Special Rapporteur quoted by Gerry Boyce. This is an abuse of language deliberately designed to libel Israel, in effect accusing the Israelis of committing the same crime as the Jewish people suffered during the Second World War when six million were murdered in gas chambers. Gratuitous comparisons between the Israelis and the Nazis are considered anti-Semitic under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance protocol, recognised by the UK and the EU. I don’t approve of the Israeli settlements on the West Bank. This kind of colonialism, which was widely practised by Britain and other European countries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is no longer acceptable. And ethic cleansing, whereby the indigenous population is expelled, is even worse. But there is no evidence that Israel plans to expel the Palestinians from the lands they now inhabit. And even if such a crime could be proved, it would still not amount to genocide, which is the worst crime known to mankind. There has undoubtedly been a tragic loss of life in Gaza, mainly because Hamas have chosen to shield behind the civilian population. I believe that the IDF have genuinely tried to reduce the number of civilians killed by giving warnings of impending attacks and moving people out of harm’s way, which is more than Coalition forces did in Iraq and Syria. Clearly people have the right to criticise the way Israel has conducted its campaign. Many Israelis are critical of Netanyahu’s conduct of the war. But critics of Israel should refrain from hysterical accusations of genocide, for which there is no evidence. |