Falsely accusing Israel of the horrible crime of genocide in its defensive war with evil Hamas is a particularly cruel and odious blood libel.
Adm. John Kirby, White House National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, declared Israel is not committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
He also noted: "I heard this word 'genocide' tossed around. Hamas actually does have genocidal intentions against the people of Israel. They'd like to see it wiped off the map. They've said so on purpose. That's what's at stake here."
It is most distressing to see Hamas supporting protesters defacing a White House gate and shouting genocidal slogans calling for the elimination of Israel. They also chanted other repugnant slogans, including calling President Joe Biden, 'Genocidal Joe,' because of his support for Israel.
The crime of genocide is defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide approved by U.N. General Assembly Resolution 260 A (III) on Dec. 9, 1948, and entered into force on Jan. 12, 1951. It was adopted in response to the systematic murder of over six million Jews who were exterminated by the Nazis and their cohorts in the Holocaust.
The Nazis were intent on committing genuine genocide, in what they referred to as the 'Final Solution' to the Jewish problem (Endlösung der Judenfrage). This was a euphemism, meaning the extermination of the entire Jewish people.
The crime of genocide requires the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. It is patently absurd to impute such a horrible intent to Israel. Moreover, actual census data belies any such claim.
Indeed, the Muslim Arab population of Israel, the Palestine Authority (PA) controlled areas and Gaza have grown, not declined. Consider the population statistics of ethnically diverse Jerusalem, Israel's most populous city, as a pertinent example. Over the years since 1967, when the city was reunified, the population has grown — but the increase in the Muslim population has been proportionately greater.
Israel is also not ethnic cleansing. Although there is no precise legal definition of ethnic cleansing under international law, the term was used to describe the abhorrent conduct that occurred in the conflict that ensued among the constituent nations that emerged in the aftermath of the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
The UN Office on Genocide Prevention describes ethnic cleansing as "a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent or terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas." Employing the term ethnic cleansing against Israel instead of Hamas is not just preposterous, it's venal and cynically designed to evoke unrestrained furor.
Hamas caused the war by ruthlessly invading Israel, sadistically murdering over 1,200 people, maiming over 4,000 more and committing unspeakable atrocities, as well as kidnapping over 200 people and holding them hostage. Israel has been striving mightily to protect civilians in its efforts to eradicate the evil that is Hamas.
Use of these explosive and horrendous terms to vilify Israel in reference to some mythical misdeeds goes beyond merely being inappropriate and slanderous. It would appear like so many propaganda slogans and false narratives, the classic subterfuge of projecting unto others thine own flaws and sins may be at the heart of these meritless claims against Israel.
To this day, PA law prohibits land sales to Jews. Those breaking the law are subject to harsh penalties that the PA does not shirk from imposing. The PA and Hamas also spew classic antisemitism, incite and glorify terrorism and call for Israel's destruction. This includes promoting hateful antisemitic rhetoric in the media as well as teaching their children in school to hate Jews.
Hamas is a terrorist organization with the avowed goal, enshrined in its Charter, of destroying Israel. It also espouses antisemitic and genocidal doctrines directed against the Jews. It requires an armed Jihad against Israel to eliminate it.
The Palestinian National Charter also describes the entire Land of Israel, including the land within the cease-fire lines of 1948, as belonging to the Arab Palestinian people and calls for liberation through armed struggle. Despite assurances that it would be amended to recognize the State of Israel, this in fact never actually occurred.
Hamas and the PA, in their own words and actions, express their professed desire, in no uncertain terms, to commit the very crimes and evil deeds with which they speciously ascribe to Israel. In a typical propagandist fashion, they just contrive to accuse and impute their own criminal intent to Israel in a cynical attempt to distract. How unfortunate that many still fall prey to these contrived ruses and canards.
It is bracing to see so many embrace moral clarity and know in their hearts and souls that Hamas is evil and there are no two sides or equivalence. Hamas is officially designated — by the U.S., EU, U.K., Japan and Australia — as a terrorist organization. Israel must continue to be unequivocally supported in its efforts to root out the evil that is Hamas. This is no easy task, but Israel has no choice; it has the sovereign right and duty to protect its citizens.
May G-d grant Israel and the IDF success in their sacred mission, protect them and return the brave Israeli soldiers and hostages home safely.
Leonard Grunstein, a retired attorney and banker, founded and served as Chairman of Metropolitan National Bank and then Israel Discount Bank of NY. He also founded Project Ezrah and serves on the Board of Revel at Yeshiva University and the AIPAC National Council. He has published articles in the Banking Law Journal, Real Estate Finance Journal, and other publications. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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