I recently saw a post on social media that made the claim that the Jewish people were committing “Genocide” against the innocents in Gaza. It also claimed that if you can’t recognize that, then you support it.
Those are strong claims using an emotionally charged word to stir up anger and sympathy. Let’s unpack this.
First of all, it is sadly true that thousands and thousands of innocent humans in Gaza have been killed during this war (approx. 16,000 at the time this was written). This is a horrifying truth that the world must accept. There is no denying that these innocents have died. As the saying goes, “a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic”. It is easy to let the deaths of thousands become just an idea or a statistic. But we must NOT allow their lives, or any innocent lives lost in this war to be forgotten.
Secondly, the claim of “genocide”. Is this an accurate accusation?
According to the Oxford dictionary, Genocide is described as: “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.”
Merriam-Webster defines it as “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group”
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum says, “Genocide is an internationally recognized crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”
To put it plainly and broadly, it is the intentional or deliberate killing of a group of people.
Nobody denies that thousands of innocents in a particular location have been killed in this war, but their deaths are not intentional or deliberate. The Israeli soldiers are not targeting the civilians and killing them. They are not trying to kill civilians. They are trying to kill the terrorists of Hamas.
It just so happens that Hamas has a long history of using innocent civilians as human shields to hide behind. It has been proved time and time again that they cowardly hide among civilians for 2 reasons: they feel safer because they don’t think their enemies will fire on them if they are behind civilians, and if the civilians they are hiding behind are killed, they can use that to stir up sympathy for their cause. They set up their bases in hospitals and schools and use a massive underground tunnel network that is hidden under civilians’ homes and other public places.
Former Hamas leader and son of one of Hamas’ co-founders, Mosab Hassan Yousef recently spoke about Hamas’ actions: “Many civilians are dying, I understand this. Their blood is on the hands of Hamas and Hamas only….It’s a fact that Hamas is using civilians as human shields. It’s a fact. Then it is a fact that Israel called and warned civilians to evacuate buildings before they strike them. But in the meantime, Hamas put roadblocks to stop civilians from evacuating to safe zones.”
The Israeli soldiers are trying to eliminate Hamas, and have been fighting against them for decades, but they are not intentionally or deliberately targeting and killing the Palestinian people in Gaza. If they were committing genocide and trying to wipe out the Palestinian people, they wouldn’t have warned them before they attacked and told them to leave. Those deaths are casualties of a war where their own “leaders” are using them as protection.
Yousef went on to say, “Hamas’ single misfire killed hundreds of refugees taking shelter at a hospital and they blamed Israel. Israel is a democracy, Israel is accountable, Israel is not thirsty for Palestinian blood. In the meantime, Israel is capable of wiping out Arab capitols in seconds. Why Israel doesn’t attempt to abuse its power? Why, when Arabs have just a little bit of power, a couple of missiles, they misuse power by launching them at civilians and kill them in their living rooms? We have a fundamental problem and we have to stop blaming Israel.”
Ever since Israel was declared a nation in 1948, they have allowed Palestinians to live peacefully alongside them. They even offered them big parts of land, but the Palestinian government rejected most of those offers multiple times. For their leaders it was all or nothing. If they couldn’t have all the land, then they wouldn’t take any of it. If Israel was trying to commit genocide, they wouldn’t be offering them land.
Now that we have established that Israel is not committing acts of genocide, let us look at the other side and their motives. Hamas has declared that they want Israel and all Jewish people to be completely wiped out and out of the land. They specifically target innocent Israeli civilians simply because they are Jewish. A popular chant from them is “from the river to the sea”, a rallying cry for terrorist groups and their sympathizers. It calls for the establishment of a nation of Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, erasing the State of Israel and its people through violence and killing. This IS genocide and genocidal language. It IS calling for the deliberate and intentional killing of a group of people based on their ethnicity and religion. It is horrifying that people in America have fallen into this genocidal viewpoint and are chanting genocidal slogans on college campuses. Recently the president of Harvard University said that calling for the genocide of Jewish people was acceptable depending on the context.
From the people I know and what I see posted online, there seems to be two camps: the first one supports Israel and their efforts to take out Hamas while also realizing the sad reality of the civilians killed on all sides. The second one claims to support “Palestine” and only focuses on the innocent civilians killed in Gaza and is against Israel. While not coming outright and admitting their support for Hamas, many in this camp adopt the anti-Semitic and genocidal slogans and views that Hamas has. They call for solutions that help Hamas regroup so they can attack again.
As a civilized society and especially for those in the Christian faith, we should acknowledge the horror of the war that is going on and the innocents killed in Israel and Gaza without resorting to racism, violent and genocidal languages and threats, and hatred.
Again, I’m not discounting the thousands killed in Gaza by the Israeli attacks, I’m simply calling for people to be factual and intellectually honest when talking about such big issues like this. We shouldn’t give into the sensationalism, we should be honest and true while admitting that there have been too many innocents killed in this war.
For more info on the inner workings of Hamas, I strongly suggest checking out “Son Of Hamas” by Mosab Hassan Yousef and watching the video interview below.
The View Point 