Genocide and the truth: A calumny against Israel

Today, before 17 judges of the World Court sitting at the Peace Palace in The Hague, a lawyer representing South Africa will argue that Israel has been engaged in genocide during its military offensive against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

It is an an outrageous, libelous accusation, that Israel is seeking to destroy the Palestinian population, which is what the international crime of genocide is. The truth is that Hamas has the genocidal goal, to kill every Jew and which is why Israel must end Hamas’ rule over Gaza, freeing Israelis and Palestinians — Jews, Muslims and Christians — from the tyranny.

Hamas launched this war on Oct. 7, raiding Israel to murder 1,200 people and kidnap hundreds more, the vast majority of the victims civilians. That is a war crime to intentionally target civilians. Hamas also conducted an organized campaign of rape and sexual violence against Israeli women and girls. That is a war crime, and possibly a crime against humanity, in the eyes of UN investigators who, three months after the Oct. 7 attack, are finally labeling the atrocity for what it was.

The Islamist purists of Hamas swear that their holy warriors would never rape and sexually violate women and girls, that their faith forbids it. Perhaps so, but the documented evidence from the mostly dead victims is real. Where are the legal proceedings for these mass rapes? Who will bring that charge to the International Court of Justice?

The taking of hostages, as Hamas did, is a war crime. The firing of crude rockets at Israeli cities, as Hamas does every day, is a war crime. The refusal to let the Red Cross visit the hostages is a war crime committed by Hamas. The embedding of combatants in hospitals and mosques and schools, as Hamas does, is a war crime. Hamas also hides its fighters in underground tunnels, while the civilian population is left outside as the terrorists commandeer water, food, fuel and medicine for themselves.

Even the worst regimes throughout history didn’t desire that their civilian populations suffer from bombardment. Hamas wants the Palestinian casualties in Gaza to be as high as possible, to help them in their propaganda battle with Israel, like this case before the ICJ.

South Africa’s case, “garbage” as described to us by a leading expert on international human rights law, cannot be proved because there is no evidence that Israel is seeking, in the formulation of U.S. law, “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”

Since the Holocaust, the U.S. has found eight other instances of actual genocide: Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, Darfur, ISIS, the Uighurs, Armenia and Burma. Each time there was a policy to achieve eradication of a targeted population. That is not the situation in Gaza, which is a terribly destructive and brutal war, with very high casualties among the Palestinian people.

Israeli commanders are obligated to abide by the laws of armed conflict to protect civilians. Still, even a failure to do so does not constitute genocide.

Hateful and hyperbolic statements by Israeli politicians towards Palestinians are not policy. There is no intention to destroy the Palestinian population and no evidence that such actions have been carried out. Like in all courts, the evidence is what counts.