Israel in Gaza: War, Genocide, Both?
A War of Annihilation Is a Genocidal Act
History teaches that you can have genocide without war, you can have war without genocide, and you can have war and genocide together. In Gaza today, the right-wing Israeli government is clearly engaged in a war on the Palestinian people that amounts to a genocide.
Of course, Israeli leaders claim they are engaged in a war against Hamas, and Hamas alone. Events, however, prove they are engaged in a genocidal war of annihilation.
A few harrowing data points: Israeli forces have already killed or wounded 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Journalist Chris Hedges reports that Israel:
has damaged or destroyed all 12 of Gaza’s universities. Some 280 government schools and 65 UNRWA-run schools have also been destroyed or damaged, often resulting in dozens of fatalities. About 133 remaining schools are used to shelter those displaced by the assault. More than 85 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes amid continued Israeli ground and air offensive that has killed more than 25,000 [now more than 28,000] people, including 10,000 [now more than 12,000] children.
Clearly, Israeli leaders are using war as a means of genocide, an excuse for it, as well as a form of camouflage for it. Don’t be deceived. War and genocide can and do coexist and feed off each other, as did the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews during World War II. As Israeli leaders readily admit to war while dissembling about genocide, at least they can be justly accused of war crimes while being held to international agreements governing the conduct of war, such as the Geneva Conventions.
Israel’s genocidal war, if left unchecked, will eliminate Gaza and its people. That is the stated intent of the Netanyahu government, which spouts the worst kind of eliminationist rhetoric, rhetoric that amounts to a "final solution to the Palestinian question."
Any country that arms Israel in its genocidal war is complicit. Guess which country is clamoring to send another $14 billion in weaponry to Israel so it can pursue its war/genocide in Gaza? Yes: The United States of America.
In Gaza, both Hamas and Israel may act savagely and cruelly, but only one side truly has the means at its disposal to slaughter the other, and that side is Israel. Meanwhile, the mainstream media reserves words like “slaughter” for Hamas, even as Israeli forces kill Palestinians on a massive scale.
Clearly, the current strategy of the Israeli government is to destroy Gaza, making it uninhabitable, forcing the Palestinians in Gaza to leave or die.
When Israel is done in Gaza, they will turn to the West Bank. As Netanyahu said, Israel's goal is to dominate Palestine "from the river to the sea." Palestinians “in the way” are being killed, or starved, or expelled, or (if lucky) reduced to subjects under intolerable conditions of apartheid.
The Israeli government is getting away with this because it has the legal, military, and propaganda cover of the U.S. and much of Europe as well. The Biden administration complains about the worst excesses of Israel’s genocide while sending its leaders the weapons they need to continue the killing. Members of Congress like Nancy Pelosi suggest that earnest Americans calling for a ceasefire in Gaza are the useful idiots of Vladimir Putin.
It seemingly never occurs to Biden and Pelosi that they are the useful idiots of Bibi Netanyahu.
Stop the war in Gaza. Stop the genocide.
Postscript: The “Words About War” Team have posted ten suggestions for writing and talking more clearly, honestly, and accurately about Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. Please go to https://www.wordsaboutwar.org/gaza.html.
I stepped away from reading about this a little bit because it's so horrific and draining and it seems like the worst is yet to come. Now with Rafa, I mean what does Israel think is going to be the end game here? Let's say they wipe out all the Palestinians. Do they really think the Arab world will accept this? And what happens if all the hostages are returned or killed or they're no longer a factor in this? However it was never about the hostages in the first place. It's allegedly about just ridding themselves of Hamas, so, hostages aside, they're still going to continue on this path. Watching videos on Instagram is absolutely heartwrenching. I saw a woman and a small child lying in the street and people were trying to rescue them as they had already been sniped and they did not survive. How is that anything against Hamas? It is clearly civilians they are targeting intentionally. So much evidence of that. Very disappointed in Joe Biden and everybody else. I start to feel guilty when I have a meal sometimes, or turn on water. Just a simple thing that all these people can't come close to doing. I might have to step back again because it's very hard. You write so well, Bill. Thank you. Stay on course. Xo
Good, clear piece as per usual. One thing stands out starkly in this genocide. Israel has gone about its grisly business of slaughtering innocent Palestinians, destroying Gazan infrastructure, and leveling Palestinian cultural institutions in a highly systematic manner. So highly systematic, that it seems clear that this was a plan they had already drawn up. It was just sitting on the shelf ready for the opportune time to implement it.
I am not suggesting that Israel knew the October 7th. attack was coming or acquiesced in that attack. I am only suggesting that they were simply waiting for the cover of a war to implement their macabre plan to conquer all of Palestine, which has been the Israeli pattern from its modern inception.