As the casualty figures on both sides grow, Israel is facing the usual calls for a ceasefire.

Major Y [an American who went to Israel to fight] and other people on the ground I have spoken with say that they estimate about one in every two or three [civilian] homes in Gaza they go into has military weaponry, including AK47s, grenades and rocket launchers. And they routinely find entrances to Hamas’s terror tunnels inside civilian houses. And not just anywhere, but most often in the children’s bedrooms and even under cots.

Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20240118082318/https://nypost.com/2023/12/28/opinion/hamas-philosophy-all-civilians-all-children-are-tools-of-war/

  • speaker_hat@lemmy.oneOPEnglish
    02·
    8 months ago

    A mental element: the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”;

    Israel never showed intention to do so. So this is off.

    Killing members of the group

    Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group

    Hamas members are necessarily Palestinians, so these are off.

    Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part

    Israel never showed intention to do so. So this is also off.

    Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group

    Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

    Israel never showed intention to do so. And never forcibly transfered children. So this is also off.

    Hence, your argument of genocide is false.

    • alcyoneous@midwest.socialEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      Intent doesn’t need to be explicit, but in this case it is.

      https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/harsh-israeli-rhetoric-palestinians-central-south-africas-genocide-106471144

      In particular:

      “Deputy Knesset speaker Nissim Vaturi from the ruling Likud party wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Israelis had one common goal, “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth.” Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, from the far-right Jewish Power party, suggested that Israel drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza and said there were “no uninvolved civilians” in the territory.”

      Also the list of genocidal acts, as per the UN Genocide Convention, stipulates that any one of those acts is genocide, not that all 5 must be done. Acts 1 to 3 are very clearly being used in Gaza, and with Knesset members establishing intent it’s clearly a genocide, but arguably even without those statements the actions Israel has undertaken still fit the definition.

      • speaker_hat@lemmy.oneOPEnglish
        01·
        8 months ago

        Thanks for the detailed reply. I agree that the fact that the Israeli government is currently far-right is a problem, and it’s no making the war situation easier.

        Both politicians you quoted, Nissim Vaturi and Eliyahu, are far-right in their vision and views, as a result they say such an extreme sayings.

        However, they don’t have any military influence and cannot have because of their position.

        The ones who do have military power, didn’t show intentions to do so.