NYT’s ad denial sparks more debate about Israel and ‘genocide’

A newspaper’s rejection of an advertisement calling Israel’s war in Gaza “genocide” underscores the debate over the term for intentionally attempting to destroy all or part of targeted people groups.

“The refusal of The New York Times to run paid digital ads that call for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza is an outrageous attempt to sidestep the truth,” said Joyce Ajlouny, general secretary for the American Friends Service Committee, the Quaker organization that tried to place the ads. “Palestinians and allies have been silenced and marginalized in the media for decades as these institutions choose silence over accountability. It is only by challenging this reality that we can hope to forge a path toward a more just and equitable world.”

The ad urged readers to contact the White House and federal lawmakers to oppose Israel’s ongoing military campaign against Hamas: “Tell Congress to stop arming Israel’s genocide in Gaza now! As a Quaker organization, we work for peace. Join us. Tell the President and Congress to stop the killing and starvation in Gaza.”

The group said it turned down the Times’ suggestion of replacing “genocide” with “war,” arguing each word has “an entirely different meaning both colloquially and under international law.”

According to AFSC, the newspaper explained various “international bodies, human rights organizations, and governments have differing views on the situation. In line with our commitment to factual accuracy and adherence to legal standards, we must ensure that all advertising content complies with these widely applied definitions.”

Gaza’s health ministry says more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began in October 2023.

Whatever term is used, Gaza’s health ministry says more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began in October 2023, the Associated Press reported Jan. 9. The ministry said more than half those fatalities were women and children, and more than 109,000 civilians have been wounded.

The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 Hamas militants during the conflict and tries to avoid harming civilians. Officials have said Hamas is to blame for collateral deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.

The legal definition of “genocide” is spelled out in the Genocide Convention, an international treaty signed by 153 countries including the U.S. and Israel. In effect since 1951, the agreement criminalizes any intent “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” whether by killing, causing serious bodily injury or mental harm, or by subjecting its members to conditions calculated to cause complete or partial physical destruction. Efforts to prevent births or forcibly removing children from the group also are considered acts of genocide.

International legal action can be taken against any nation or other actor guilty of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, incitement to commit genocide or complicity in genocide, according to the convention.

Two nations — South Africa and Ireland — have accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and are cooperating in a case against Israel filed with the International Court of Justice. Another 13 nations, including Belgium, Spain and Mexico, have signaled an intent to join the case, according to the United Nations.

Two nations — South Africa and Ireland — have accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.

As the first to file the action in December 2023, South Africa claimed “acts and omissions by Israel … are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.” The complaint goes on to say, “Israel, since Oct. 7, 2023, in particular, has failed to prevent genocide and has failed to prosecute the direct and public incitement to genocide.”

The court issued provisional measures in January 2024 requiring Israel to cease military operations in Gaza, prevent all forms of genocide against Palestinians and restart the flow of humanitarian assistance, food, water and other basic services to the territory. Israel has not complied with the demands and in October asked the U.S. Congress to pressure South Africa to withdraw its complaint with the court.

Separately, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and a former Hamas leader for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the U.N. said.

International human rights groups have been issuing blistering reports and statements about Israel’s Gaza operations since the first months of the war with Hamas.

Amnesty International released a study in December titled “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza.” The report describes the ethnic, cultural and linguistic attributes that make Palestinians a protected group under the Convention, including the fact Gazans make up 40% of the roughly 5.5 million Palestinian population.

“A state’s actions can serve the dual goal of achieving a military result and destroying a group as such.”

“A state’s actions can serve the dual goal of achieving a military result and destroying a group as such. Genocide can also be the means for achieving a military result. In other words, a finding of genocide may be drawn when the state intends to pursue the destruction of a protected group in order to achieve a certain military result, as a means to an end, or until it has achieved it,” Amnesty International said.

The Center for Constitutional Rights recently blamed the U.S. for providing financial, diplomatic and military support for Israel’s “ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Decades of U.S. and Israeli impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity have made this genocide not only possible, but inevitable.”

Human Rights Watch cited Israeli actions clearly intended to impose levels of hardship in Gaza so severe as to violate the Genocide Convention.

That group said: “Through the cutting off of electricity, the cutting off and subsequent restrictions of water, and restrictions on the entry of fuel; the destruction, sometimes clearly deliberate destruction, of water and sanitation infrastructure as well as repair materials; the targeting of water workers and other humanitarian aid workers; and the blocking of aid required for the production of safe drinking water, Israeli authorities have intentionally inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza ‘conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.’”

Yet others are adamant Israel has not committed war crimes in Gaza, including pro-Israel organizations like the American Jewish Committee.

“Israel’s many actions in Gaza that are clearly intended to allow it to fight Hamas while limiting incidental harm to civilians.”

“The term ‘genocide’ has a clear definition under international law, requiring intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part, and international courts have repeatedly affirmed that the bar to establish such intent is extremely high,” the group said. “Israel’s many actions in Gaza that are clearly intended to allow it to fight Hamas while limiting incidental harm to civilians should make it clear to all that its forces act with no such intent, in sharp contrast to Hamas’ deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians on and after October 7, 2023.”

The group chastised Amnesty International and other human rights groups for distorting what it said are the facts about Gaza and for ignoring the “genocidal” actions of Hamas.

“The modern-day Jewish state was created after the Nazis committed the genocide known as the Holocaust, murdering 6 million Jews who had nowhere to go and no place to call home because there was no Israel,” AJC has said. “Of course, the implied hypocrisy that the survivors of genocide are now committing one of their own makes for a powerful talking point in the war of words surrounding the conflict between Israel and Gaza. But it’s simply not true.”

Republicans in the U.S. Congress, meanwhile, have made statements and promised actions that would all but guarantee Israel a free hand in Gaza, especially with the return of Donald Trump to the White House.

In fact, Trump recently said “all hell will break out” if Jewish hostages taken by Hamas are not freed by the time he enters office. In June, he said President Joe Biden should let Israel “finish the job” in Gaza. In August he blasted then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Shumer, who is Jewish, for being a “proud member of Hamas” and for being “a Palestinian” for refusing to shake Netanyahu’s hand after a joint address to Congress.

And the man he chose to be his ambassador to Israel may indicate what Trump and his supporters think about genocide being an act against specific people groups. “There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian,” said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an avowed evangelical Zionist.

Another troubling sign for Palestinians came Jan. 9 when the U.S. House passed a bill sanctioning the International Criminal Court for issuing warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, CNN reported. The measure “would impose sanctions with respect to the court over ‘any effort to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies.’ The sanctions include prohibiting U.S. property transactions and blocking and revoking visas.”

 

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