No, Israel Is Not Committing Genocide in Gaza

[Ken Dayenu]

Some readers may say that even if the war in Gaza isn’t genocide, it has gone on too long and needs to end. That’s a fair point of view, shared by a majority of Israelis. So why does the argument over the word “genocide” matter? Two reasons.

First, while some pundits and scholars may sincerely believe the genocide charge, it is also used by anti-Zionists and antisemites to equate modern Israel with Nazi Germany. The effect is to license a new wave of Jew hatred, stirring enmity not only for the Israeli government but also for any Jew who supports Israel as a genocide supporter. It’s a tactic Israel haters have pursued for years with inflated or bogus charges of Israeli massacres or war crimes that, on close inspection, weren’t. The genocide charge is more of the same but with deadlier effects.

Second, if genocide — a word that was coined only in the 1940s — is to retain its status as a uniquely horrific crime, then the term can’t be promiscuously applied to any military situation we don’t like. Wars are awful enough. But the abuse of the term “genocide” runs the risk of ultimately blinding us to real ones when they unfold.

The war in Gaza should be brought to an end in a way that ensures it is never repeated. To call it a genocide does nothing to advance that aim, except to dilute the meaning of a word we cannot afford to cheapen.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/opinion/no-israel-is-not-committing-genocide-in-gaza.html

[brush]

1. One person's genocide is another's ethnic cleansing.

Who are you kidding? It's both and it's making Israel a pariah nation whose PM has to be careful that his plane doesn't travel over non-aligned nation's air space when traveling so as not to risk arrest in case of a plane emergency landing that may lead to an arrest for genocide/war crimes/ethnc cleansing.

Guess the definition of genocide and war crimes depend on the person denying its existence is viewing the reality of starving Palestinians continually being gunned down by IDF troops as they gather for food aide is wearing rose-colored glasses.

[brush]

4. Please. What's going on in Gaza is genocide.

It's evident Netanyahu wants Gaza cleared of Palestinians, whether by killing them all by bomb strikes, troop gunfire, starvation or another Nakba...whatever it is, he wants them gone from the enclave.

That realty may nof be to the definition/liking of some, but it's what's going on.

If your position is the same as mine, you didn't make that very clear.

[LymphocyteLover]

7. how do you define genocide?

[brush]

8. You really don't know? Come on. We're no innocent know nothings here.

[LymphocyteLover]

13. I know what the basic definition is. I was asking the person who posted this

[LymphocyteLover]

14. yes... of course it is easier to see something is a genocide after the fact

how about when it is ongoing?

[LymphocyteLover]

16. OK, thanks

[Gimpyknee]

3. Well said brush.

[brush]

5. Thank you, GK.

[LymphocyteLover]

6. well said.

[Buzz cook]

9. Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza

There are far too many parts of the definition of genocide being ticked off by Israel in Gaza.

As to promoting antisemitism, the actions of the state of Israel are the greatest drivers of that.
Some people horrified at the carnage in Gaza will say Jew when they mean Israel, and the Nazis are waiting for those people with open arms.

[AloeVera]

11. Not to worry, Bret Stephens of the NYT.

Mouthpieces for Israel such as yourself, your paper, and most of the Western press, have ensured that the genocide, though televised, continues to be denied or ignored by still far too many.

Talk about blinding us to a real genocide unfolding...

I suspect the usual suspects trotted out Stephens to respond to this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/opinion/israel-gaza-holocaust-genocide-palestinians.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XE8.cWEd.pnyuFpNwdv5F&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

https://archive.is/mVnaY

When even the NYT dares to run an opinion piece by a genocide scholar calling it a genocide - it's for damn sure a genocide.