A commentary by Andrew Tucker, founder of Thinc., translated from English and edited by CSI
We live in a world where truth is presented as a lie and lies as truth. Below, we examine why Israel is accused of genocide against the Palestinians and whether this claim is justified.
Many states, including Israel, signed the Genocide Convention in 1948 to ensure that a Holocaust would never happen again. The Genocide Convention defines genocide as follows: "The killing or serious harm of members of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group with the intent to destroy, or attempt to destroy, all or part of that group as such." The essence of genocide, therefore, is the intent to destroy a group as such. Many deaths or widespread destruction—however tragic—do not necessarily constitute genocide.
threat
On October 7, 2023, terrorists from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) invaded Israel. Hamas and PIJ, like their financial backer Iran, have a clear genocidal goal: the extermination of the Jewish people as a nation. They have been trying to achieve this for decades. Since October 7, Hamas leaders have repeatedly stated their intention to continue killing Jews simply because they are Jewish.
Israel is trying to eliminate this threat. Tragically, this has led to massive destruction in the Gaza Strip and the loss of thousands of innocent Palestinian lives. But that does not make Israel's actions genocide. In fact, Israel has shown in recent months that it does not intend to annihilate the Palestinians as such. According to experts, the efforts of the Israeli army (IDF) to protect Palestinian lives surpass those of any other army in a comparable conflict—while Hamas is trying to cause as many Palestinian casualties as possible.
Judgment of the International Court of Justice
And yet, it is Israel, and not Hamas, that the UN claims is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. As Israeli judge Aharon Barak stated, this "attributes Cain's crime to Abel." How can this be? Just as the Nazis claimed that the Jews were evil and deserved to be punished and annihilated, many UN member states portray Israel as an inherently evil country that deserves to be punished and annihilated.
These antisemitic states gained momentum when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced its decision on interim measures in the case brought by South Africa against Israel on January 26, 2024. South Africa argued that Israel was committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Israel claimed that it was merely exercising its right to self-defense. The court ruled that it was "plausible" that the Palestinians had rights protected by the Genocide Convention. Many have interpreted this ruling as the court deciding that Israel is committing, or could commit, genocide.
The ICJ did not, however, rule that Israel is committing genocide; not even that it is likely Israel is committing genocide. The Court merely ruled that it was “plausible” that the Palestinians’ rights to protection from genocide were covered by the Convention – a very low threshold. The Court made it very clear that its decision meant that it had not yet been proven that Israel was committing genocide. It was therefore a procedural, not a substantive, ruling.
Non-existent reality
Nevertheless, this statement has been used by UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to claim that Israel is committing genocide. Governments are being pressured by NGOs such as Amnesty International and The Rights Forum to halt arms shipments to Israel and demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, recently submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council stating that there is clear evidence that Israel is committing genocide. Nicaragua has sued Germany before the International Court of Justice, arguing that Germany, by supplying weapons to Israel, is also complicit in genocide. This is happening because a legal and factual reality has been created within the UN that does not actually exist.
Preconceived conclusions
The UN is dominated by Arab and Islamic countries that maintain that Israel should not exist. UN bodies therefore develop legal arguments and gather all the evidence they can find to support their preconceived conclusion: namely, that Israel is a rogue state that violates international law. For example, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has established a permanent commission of inquiry whose sole purpose is to investigate and prosecute Israel for war crimes and other violations of international law. Or UNRWA, a UN organization that ultimately exists only to keep the Palestinians in a perpetual state of victimhood.
The International Court of Justice is part of this system. It relies solely on evidence presented by the UNHRC, UNRWA, and other UN organizations. But all these UN organizations, in turn, rely only on information supplied by Hamas and other enemies of Israel. They deliberately ignore evidence presented by Israel and argue that Israel is unreliable. And so, together, they create their own reality. In reality, however, it is Hamas—not Israel—that is guilty of genocide.
