So let's discuss. It's a very specific definition, involving both action and intent. And let's begin with Oct.7. It was clearly a genocidal act. Based on the Hamas charter, which adopts the most virulent of antisemitic tropes and speaks clearly about eliminating the Jews as a religious imperative, along with the handbook given to the terrorists as they set out on their murderous journey on October 7, this was a mission, quite simply, to kill Jews. In fact, Hamas committed each of those bulleted acts on that one day alone. The killing of pregnant women and ripping out their unborn children was even documented by the terrorists themselves in that disturbing video that I shared yesterday. If you add in all of Hamas's other atrocities committed over the decades, including some on their own people, there is no doubt that their actions have had genocidal intent and genocidal effect.
I direct your attention to a conversation between one of the Hamas terrorists and his parents, which was revealed to the world today at the U.N. As part of his speech to the UN Security Council, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen played this intercepted call. This appeared in Marc Schulman's Substack posting today. TERRORIST: Hello dad. Dad I am inside Mefalsim. Open your WhatsApp right now, and see all the killed. Look at how many I killed with my own hands, your son killed Jews. FATHER: Allahu Akhbar, Allahu Akhbar. May God protect you. TERRORIST: This is inside Mefalsim, father. I am talking to you from the phone of a Jew, I killed her and her husband, I killed ten with my own hands. FATHER: Allahu Akhbar. TERRORIST: Open your phone and see how many I killed, father. Open your phone, I am calling you on WhatsApp. FATHER: Crying (unintelligible). TERRORIST: I am in Meflasim, father. I killed ten. Ten! Ten with my own bare hands. Their blood is on my hands, let me talk to Mom. MOTHER: Oh, my son, may God protect you. TERRORIST: I killed ten all by myself, mother. FATHER: May God bring you home safely. TERRORIST: Father, go back to WhatsApp! I want to call you live from Mefalsim. MOTHER: I wish I was there with you. TERRORIST: Mother, your son is a hero. I was the first to enter under the guidance and with the help of Allah. Father, lift your head, lift your head. (Talking to terrorists on the scene: Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill them! Inside, inside, into the city.) BROTHER: Mahmoud, Mahmoud. Come back [to Gaza], that's enough, return. TERRORIST: Return? There is no return, it is victory or martyrdom. My mother gave birth to me for Islam, Alaa. Are you serious, how will I return? Look at WhatsApp, look at your phone, look at all the killed.
Why the world - and the Israeli government - has let this group continue to thrive for all these years is beyond belief. It is the highest level of governmental malpractice.
Send this to your nephew's girlfriend.
And just read some of these quotes from Hamas leaders and you tell me that their intent is not genocidal.
Now let's look at what Israel has done in response to Oct. 7. The genocide argument can't even be remotely attached to Israel's behavior in this war. One can quibble about some of this government's ongoing policies and practices on the West Bank, but, however you define it, it is not genocide. By the UN definition given here, what's happening in Gaza right now does not come close to genocide, and in fact, given the genocidal actions of October 7, Israel's response can easily be defended as morally justified. I say that with a shudder, because the suffering of innocent Palestinian does and should sadden me, but the warning given that they should relocate from the north is one designed to minimize the deaths of bystanders. It is that "knock on the roof" everyone's been asking for, only the roof is all of Gaza City. Hamas has caused this suffering and the sooner Hamas is out of the picture, the better the chance for the people's suffering to end. This is NOT genocide.
The accusation of genocide against Israel is a clear case of projection, intended to distract from the actual genocidal activities and intent of Hamas. It's like when Donald Trump calls someone else a liar or an "election stealer" when those are precisely the actions he is most closely associated with. If it weren't so serious, it would almost seem high schoolish, as if the Hamas supporters are joining in a sing-a-long chorus of "Anything you accuse I accuse better; I accuse genocide better than you." It's ludicrous to set this up as a contest: Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the genocid-iest of them all?" It is such an insult to accuse Jews of genocide, and an insult is precisely what it's intended to be.
Tell your nephew's girlfriend that. If you are going to accuse Jews of genocide, you might as well go all the way and accuse us of deicide,
On second thought, don't tell her that.
Sadly, there cannot be a ceasefire right now. Here's how I've tried to explain it to people who live in my neck of the woods. If 3,000 terrorists from Greenwich crossed into Stamford and killed, raped and took captive 1,500 people living on Westover Rd., including babies, and the whole Westover area had to be evacuated, no one would be demanding that we go back to a status quo antebellum. No one is going to sing Kumbaya over a campfire in Binney Park after this. A new reality would have to be forged, whereby the residents of the Westover area could go back to their homes with no fear of a future attack. That might involve a demilitarized buffer zone being created between the Mianus and Cos Cob. But one thing would have to happen for sure. There would need to be a new government in Greenwich not capable of posing a military threat.
What's happening in Gaza right now is not about revenge and it is certainly not genocidal. It's about restoring deterrence and safety to Israel's southern border, and to assure that October 7 can never happen again. The war won't be over until that occurs. European nations - and maybe some Arab ones too - should be stepping up their efforts to defeat Hamas as quickly and as soundly as possible, which is the only way to limit the suffering for the people of Gaza and Israel as well. A quick and decisive victory could also reshape the map of the Middle East and tip the balance away from Iran and Russia, but not even Shimon Peres would dare to express such an optimistic vision at this stage.
In case you're interested in more dinner table conversation with your nephew's live-in partner, here's the definition of Crimes Against Humanity, and below that, more on genocide from Yad Vashem's website. As you can see, what has been done to the Jews even goes beyond the standard, garden variety definition of genocide, both during the Holocaust and possibly now as well.
So that's my reply to the nephew's girlfriend. What do you think?
Write me at rabbi@tbe.org - and join the conversation on Wed. evening. |
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