Oddbean

"Joe Biden's genocide" all of a sudden? I'm no fan of the retirement home candidate, but you're giving him too much credit. Also, it's not a genocide. It's a disgusting, brutal war with many civilian casualties, but that doesn't make it a genocide.

From ZA's ICJ brief: Israeli Minister of Defence On 9 October 2023, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in an Israeli Army ‘situation update’ advised that Israel was “imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” He also informed troops on the Gaza border that he had “released all the restraints”, stating in terms that: “Gaza won’t return to what it was before. We will eliminate everything." https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20231228-app-01-00-en.pdf

That's some nice and juicy quotes, but it's not clear what "human animals" they're referring to are (HAMAS would be my guess), nor is it evidence of either actual genocide or genocidal intent. Considering that it's two days after the 7th October massacre, it's a fairly clear case of words that are heavily influenced by recent events.

Lets break the situation down: When HAMAS has set up shop in such a way that they have all of their facilities under the feet of civil society and indeed are known to use civilians and civilian facilities as shields from attacks, there is no preventing harm to civilians or civilian facilities, even treaty-protected facilities (like al-Shifa). This doesn't necessarily mean that they are targeting civilians, but it's a fact of the matter that HAMAS profits off the civilian dead and that it's impossible to wage warfare in an urban area without harm to civilians. Also, keep in mind that 1) The military response happened exactly as a response to the 7th of October attack. HAMAS knew that it would be coming, and didn't give a damn. Any school child could see it coming. 2) HAMAS has made NO civilian protection facilities in case of war; no bomb shelters, no emergency stockpiles of food, water or medical supplies - it's all been up to civilians themselves to stock up. They even dug up water mains that were laid down with foreign aid to make rockets out of them; shelling Israel is s higher priority than providing the Gazan population with essential infrastructure. 3) The tunnel network under Gaza is HAMAS use only - no civilians allowed to seek cover there. 4) Yes, the UN is very, /very/ focused on Gaza, with the hand-wringing cocksucker Guiterrez in the spotlight constantly, most likely because the UNRWA has been a money funnel for HAMAS for years and this has been going on on his watch. In fact, it's quite peculiar to contemplate that for a /global/ organisation, approximately half of the total UN budget goes to the UNRWA which purportedly services a population of 2 million vs the interests of the ~8 billion humans of the whole planet. A striking contrast in priorities. Now, it's not like I'm not aware that there is plenty wrong with Israelis and their doings and dealings over the past 75 years; there is lots to criticise Israel for and in fact I've done that a lot in the past, and still do. However, this current war is a clear cut case of justified warfare on the part of Israel. You don't sit with your hands in your lap after 1200 civilians were brutally slaughtered by insurgents from a hostile neighbour. The best possible liberation of the Palestinian people requires that all of the HAMAS rabid dogs face a bullet or the gallows, and the Gang of Four at the top of HAMAS that have enriched themselves at the expense of the Palestinians all should have their heads cut off and displayed on spikes at the Gaza city limits as a warning to others. As for Netanyahu, he is done, that is just a matter of time and he will also get what's coming to him. #israel #gaza

https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-netanyahu-propped-up-hamas-now-its-blown-up-in-our-faces/ https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-20/ty-article-opinion/.premium/a-brief-history-of-the-netanyahu-hamas-alliance/0000018b-47d9-d242-abef-57ff1be90000 Sure is convenient that the Israelis get to kill as many Palestinians as they want without it being a genocide, because the terror group that they supported (specifically because they were too radical for the rest of the world to take seriously) attacked them

Indeed, as I said Netanyahu has a thing or two coming to him, one way or the other. There's plenty that needs to be looked over on the Israeli side of the fence. And words have meanings, Genocide being one that has specific preconditions that have to be met before you can invoke that concept. That the circumstances for civilians are deplorable doesn't mean that you can throw any word in the dictionary at it in the hope that it all sticks.