Is the War in Gaza Genocidal?

In an op-ed in the Washington Post Norman J.W. Goda and Jeffrey Herf argue that Israel’s war in Gaza does not meet the definition of “genocide”:

Recent weeks have brought a flood of new genocide accusations against Israel. The trigger has been Israel’s recent blockade of aid to Gaza (now lifted), as well as its latest military actions there. But in fact, the charges of genocide began shortly after the Hamas massacres of Oct. 7, 2023. The accusations can be found everywhere, including in podcasts, TV interviews, op-eds and social media posts. Among the accusers are politicians, activists and influencers who hail from the Middle East, Europe and North America. Many today insist that it is critical — even morally required — that we use the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s war in Gaza. No other term will do. Those not joining the chorus are allegedly complicit in genocide. Those questioning the nature of the accusation are labeled genocide deniers.

Why this insistence? Efforts to delegitimize Israel as colonial and racist began before the state was declared in 1948. Genocide, meanwhile, is the crime of crimes; a state committing genocide is forever illegitimate. Given this history and gravity, we should pose some questions. Israel’s war against Hamas in the urban environments of Gaza has led to thousands of civilian casualties. But is genocide really the correct way to describe the war? Do the accusers define genocide accurately in terms of law, or have they stretched the definition of the crime? Is their evidence reliable? Finally, can we say that the genocide accusation, made against Israel and its supporters in this way, is antisemitic?

Their conclusion, rather obviously, is that it is not genocide. They do make one good point:

Those accusing Israel of genocide avoid describing Hamas’s exterminatory ideology and the genocide, commenced on Oct. 7 and then interrupted, that followed from it. They also avoid facing the now extensively documented facts regarding the genocidal nature of actions of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza on Oct. 7. Further, the genocide accusation made from the earliest days of the war was an effort to force Israel to end, Becker said, “operations against the ongoing attacks of an organization that pursues an actual genocidal agenda.” Becker further described Hamas’s cynical strategy of waging war amid civilians who were denied access to the safety of its massive underground tunnel system, and he observed that “the appalling suffering of civilians — both Israeli and Palestinian — is first and foremost the result of this despicable [Hamas] strategy; the horrible cost of Hamas not only failing to protect its civilians but actively sacrificing them for its own propaganda and military benefit. And if Hamas abandons this strategy, releases the hostages and lays down its arms, the hostilities and suffering would end.” Those accusing Israel of genocide fail to point to the responsibility of the aggressor, Hamas, for starting and continuing this war.

It’s certainly not a literal genocide. Genocide is from the Latin, gens, a nation in the sense of a people, plus occidere, to murder. In other words to kill a whole people. Neither the Gazans nor Hamas claim that the Gazans are a people; they claim that they are a part of the Arab nation and there is no evidence that the Israelis are trying to exterminate all Arabs. Note the Israelis’ amazing restraint with respect to the 20% of Israel’s population who are Arabs.

There is no question as to whether Hamas is genocidal; it is. Their hatred of the Israelis is in their founding manifesto.

It isn’t even a metaphorical genocide, e.g. “cultural genocide” since the Gazans are not a distinct culture.

But it’s a Humpty Dumpty world and words are just projectiles hurled at your opponents. It makes little difference whether the projectiles are suitable to task.

I agree that the war is homicidal and too many people are being killed. I also think that the Israelis have a right to live which distinguishes my view from those of Hamas.