US President Joe Biden strongly defended Israel on Monday, saying Israeli forces are not committing genocide in their military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Yeah on one hand I understand the argument that the term used to describe what’s being done to the populace in Gaza doesn’t really materially matter in terms of the moral argument and that “genocide” is exploited to bog down discussion into semantics, but I also see the value in expanding people’s understanding of what genocide is and how it can manifest.
Up to this point it’s kind of had this aura about it that if it’s not literally the Holocaust and the perpetrators aren’t explicitly saying “We want to kill every single member of X ethnicity” it’s not genocide. But that’s not true, and if the general public comes to understand that I think it gives less rhetorical cover for genocidal regimes to hide behind.
Genocide applies to more than literally the Holocaust, but that doesn’t mean it applies to every brutal war.
The ICC is responsible for prosecuting genocide. They charged the leader of Sudan with genocide, but not the leader of Israel. This suggests that what happened in the Holocaust and Sudan is not the same as what is happening in Gaza.
The ICC has three general categories of charges. The most serious is Article 6, “Genocide”. This is how the leader of Sudan was charged.
The leaders of Israel and Hamas were all charged only under Articles 7 and 8, which are less serious. Article 7 is “Crimes against humanity”. Article 8 is “War crimes”.
Yeah on one hand I understand the argument that the term used to describe what’s being done to the populace in Gaza doesn’t really materially matter in terms of the moral argument and that “genocide” is exploited to bog down discussion into semantics, but I also see the value in expanding people’s understanding of what genocide is and how it can manifest.
Up to this point it’s kind of had this aura about it that if it’s not literally the Holocaust and the perpetrators aren’t explicitly saying “We want to kill every single member of X ethnicity” it’s not genocide. But that’s not true, and if the general public comes to understand that I think it gives less rhetorical cover for genocidal regimes to hide behind.
Genocide applies to more than literally the Holocaust, but that doesn’t mean it applies to every brutal war.
The ICC is responsible for prosecuting genocide. They charged the leader of Sudan with genocide, but not the leader of Israel. This suggests that what happened in the Holocaust and Sudan is not the same as what is happening in Gaza.
Alright, I must be missing something here.
Didn’t they just charge Bibi? Is he not the leader of Israel?
The ICC has three general categories of charges. The most serious is Article 6, “Genocide”. This is how the leader of Sudan was charged.
The leaders of Israel and Hamas were all charged only under Articles 7 and 8, which are less serious. Article 7 is “Crimes against humanity”. Article 8 is “War crimes”.