The Genocide Libel

Pay any attention to the social media chatter regarding the Israel-Hamas war, and you're bound to encounter the word "genocide" sooner or later. As in, the Israelis are committing genocide against the Palestinians.

This is risible - an accusation as vile and as false as the "blood libel" that has been pointed at Jews for over a millennium, and as devoid of meaning as the “apartheid” accusation that often adjoins it.

It is also debunked with absurd ease.

Around 1950 or so, after the establishment of Israel, there remained about 150,000 Palestinians within her borders. Today, there are about 1.6 million Palestinian citizens of Israel living there.

In 1967, the population of Gaza was about 380K. Today, it's estimated at 2.05M. Today, 3M Palestinians live in the West Bank, up from 900K in 1967.

About half of Jordan's population of 11.3M is Palestinian. That they are treated as second-class citizens there rarely gets commented on, but set that aside.

All this I figured out in just a couple minutes of Internet search.

Either Israel, which carved a thriving nation out of sand, which has a supremely competent military, and which is armed to the teeth, is pathetically bad at "genocide," or the assertion of genocide is false.

You decide.

Why does it persist, then?

The simplest answer, and thanks to a Franciscan friar named William of Ockham the most likely correct one, is antisemitism. Or, if you prefer the plainer form of expression, Jew-hatred.

That it has reared its head most prominently from the corner of the political sandbox that has long purported to championing the oppressed is the surprise. Though in hindsight, it shouldn't be. The "dynamic" of modern elite tertiary education laid the foundation, and old bigotries die hard.

It's also a cheap, cop-out substitute for actual argument. It serves as a mantra, both absolving the chanter from having to process the message and steering the debate away from the cold, hard truth of antisemitism.

The proper response should be, "you mean, the Islamists' desire to exterminate the Jews, right?"

See how that plays out.

I'm reminded of an old Jello commercial.

Watch that wobble.
See that wiggle.

Getting people who are trying to mask their hate with righteousness to squirm and fumfer can be quite satisfying.

And, to those that continue to assert that Israel’s response to the 10/7 massacre is a “genocide,” I dare them to consider that the Israelis are trying far, far harder to avoid civilian casualties than any of the Palestinian terrorists and war-mongers did or would, and that Hamas literally put Palestinians in harm’s way as human shields. The hundreds of miles of tunnels under Gaza aren’t there to protect Gazans from Israeli attack, they’re there to use the Gazans as buffers, obstacles, sacrificial pawns, and propaganda opportunities. Per the Geneva Convention, Hamas bears responsibility for “human shield” deaths. If there’s “genocide,” it’s by Palestinians against Jew and Palestinian.

Anything short of Hamas being eradicated is a victory for Hamas and for the “kill all the Jews” side of this war. And, yes it is a war. With war comes propaganda, and this “genocide” libel fits that bill.