The Hague, Netherlands (AP) – The number of experts is growing, including experts commissioned by UN agencies. Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip It corresponds to genocide, deepens Israel’s isolation and puts harmless even among its allies that are independent of the status of the country.
The accusations have been vehemently denied by Israel. Israel was partially established as a shelter for the Jews after the Holocaust. Others refused it or said that only the court could make the decision.
Yet, global rage over Israel’s wartime actions has been in recent months. Images of hungry children appearedwhich killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and added to the humanitarian catastrophe of the 23-month war that put waste in most of Gaza.
a Current attacks in the largest city in the territory Several of Israel’s European allies condemned it and raised further concerns.
but, Genocide accusations Going further, we raise the question of whether a nation built in the aftermath of crime is now violating it.
Israeli leaders brand the debate as veiled in anti-Semitism, urging Gaza civilians to evacuate prior to major military operations, urging them to protect international law. They say Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 It caused the war itself to be a genocide.
The attack attracted about 1,200 Hamas-led extremists, mostly civilians, and 251. The 48 hostages remain in Gaza, and they believe that Israel is alive in the future.
Israel has the following actions: Reduced the majority of Gaza to tile rubs I was led to Some hunger. So does Israeli leaders He expressed support for the mass transfer of Palestinians from GazaPalestinians and others say it is equivalent to forced exile.
Gaza’s health ministry says more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed. The ministry, a member of Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, has not said how many civilians and combatants there are, but women and children make up about half of it.
Definition of genocide
Genocide has been codified It was a 1948 convention created after the horrors of the Holocaust, which defined it as “committed with the intention of destroying national, ethnic, racial or religious groups.”
According to the treaty, genocide includes: Causes serious physical or mental harm; and deliberately gives life conditions calculated to bring about, in whole or in part, physical destruction of the group.
Experts and rights groups are increasingly using genocide labels
in Please report last weeka team of independent experts commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council, concluded that the war became an Israeli attempt to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza, and constituted genocide.
A group that doesn’t speak for the UN said the decision was based on a “complete siege” of Gaza in Israel, killing or wounding a huge number of Palestinians, and the decision was based on patterns of action. Destruction of health Educational facilities. Israel says Hamas is using such facilities for military purposes. The two and a half months of lockdown was lifted in May.
Many of the world’s leading experts on genocide have come to the same conclusion, and have publicly used at least 20 terms over the past year. Among them is Omer Bartov, professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University.
Early in the war, Bartov, who grew up in Israel and served in the military, argued that Israel’s actions did not correspond to genocide.
When Israel took over, he changed his mind Rafa citykicks out most of its population. He now considers Israel’s actions to be “genocide surgery.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for a massive Israeli genocide this month. “This is not self-defense, it’s not even an attack. It’s the extinction of unprotected people,” he said.
There are also two Israeli rights groups. I said it was genocide. Although the group is respected internationally, their views do not represent the majority of Israelis.
December, Amnesty International I used this termcites similar findings to undelegated experts. “If you look at the broader picture of Israel’s military campaign and the cumulative impact of its policies and actions, the intention of the genocide is the only reasonable conclusion,” it said.
Two weeks later, Human Rights Watch denounced Israel Deliberately stealing water from Gazawhich was equivalent to the “act of genocide.”
Others don’t see genocide – or say it’s for the court to decide
Israel casts such allegations as an attack on its highly legitimacy when the Holocaust plays an important role in its national identity. It says Hamas – it does not accept Israel’s right to exist – It’s extending the war By surrendering and not releasing the hostages.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed the undelegated expert report as “distorted and false.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel could have implied that it had acted in restraint “on an afternoon” if it wanted. Experts say there is no numerical threshold for crime.
In response to questions from August, Israel’s most solid supporter, President Donald Trump, said he didn’t think he saw evidence to support the charges.
Founded by the Ellie Wiesel Foundation Nobel Prize winners and Holocaust SurvivorsThey also refused to characterize it.
“Israel’s actions in Gaza do not constitute genocide. They are legitimate actions of self-defense against organizations seeking to destroy Israel,” the statement said.
Norman Goda, professor of Holocaust studies at the University of Florida, said the charges were “closed with an anti-Semitic ratio trop” as part of “a long-standing effort to outlaw Israel.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and others have said that politicians and scholars will not make a decision.
“It was always clear that it was a decision by the International Court,” then British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Sky News in May.
The European Union has had similar discussions to the Auschwitz monument. The Auschwitz Memorial is the largest concentration camp of the Nazis, mostly dedicated to Jewish victims.
The highest courts of the United Nations are sought to rule
Later 2023, South Africa Israel accused of genocide The International Court of Justice, the United Nations Supreme Court. About 12 countries participated in the incident. The final verdict could take years.
South Africa must do to prove that claim Establish intent.
The country’s lawyers have already pointed to comments by Israeli leaders, including Israel’s Joab Garant saying that Israel is “fighting human animals.”
Israeli leaders dismissed the comments, claiming that they were out of context or directed towards Hamas.
Even if they control South Africa, the courts There’s no way to stop genocide Or punish the perpetrator. Only the UN Security Council can do that – through sanctions and approval of military action. The United States has a long history of using veto there to block solutions against Israel.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court has been issued Arrest letter In the case of Netanyahu and Gallant, however neither of them faces genocide accusations. They are accused of using hunger as a way of war.
Israel faces increased pressure
Israel faces higher pressures, even from countries that do not call its actions genocide. There was a call for exclusion In the cultural and sports sectorand protests in several European cities.
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is one of Israel’s solid supporters and calls for a partial halt of trade relations with the country. Germany and the UK, which are strong Israeli supporters, Paused or Limited Some military exports.
Goda, a scholar who doesn’t believe Israel is violating genocide, acknowledged that the term has implications beyond legal spheres.
“The term ‘genocide’ is a legal term, but it also carries a very heavy political and cultural weight,” he said. “A country commits genocide can never overtake the legacy of its crime.”
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