Palestinian officials are accusing Israeli forces of carrying out “execution-style” killings in Gaza after the discovery of a mass grave containing at least 30 decomposing bodies. Some of the victims were blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs with zip ties. The bodies were found on the grounds of a school in Beit Lahia. Al Jazeera spoke to one man who helped discover the bodies.
Palestinian man: “Inside the schoolyard, we were shocked to find the dead bodies. Those are Palestinian civilians, blindfolded and handcuffed at the back. The dead bodies were kept inside black plastic bags.”
The discovery of the mass grave comes as the death toll in Gaza has topped 27,000. At least another 66,000 have been injured. The group Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is now estimating that more than 25,000 Palestinian children have lost one or both parents in Gaza over the past four months.
No legitimate person is accusing Israel of extermination. My impression is most of you are accusing Israel of “cultural genocide” and not actual extermination. Am I wrong on that?
A disproprortionate response in war is not in the definition of genocide. Is your argument that Israel is committing war crimes or that they are specifically doing genocide, and are you aware that there is a legal difference?
How do you define progress when fighting a terrorist cell? Are you using the same rubric that the IDF is or are you defining progress differently? This point feels like it weakens your argument.
I would need to see the direct quote you reference. And seeing that Israel left Gaza in 2005, apartheid is a dishonest word to use in reference here. West Bank, sure, but I believe the argument made is that Israelis are genociding Gaza’s, not those currently in.the West Bank. If the rhetoric has changed, please inform me.
Point 5 is just point 2 repeated. Please reference that.
Hamas began as a human rights charity. Can you establish that Israel paid Hamas to attack Israel or is that conjecture? Are you also claiming that it’s the Israeli’s who support Hamas and not the Palestinian people? If so, doesn’t it make sense for the Palestinians to turn over the Israeli sleeper agents who govern them to the international courts as evidence of genocide? As we can see, this point, if what you are trying to make, is easily disproven by the fact that the Palestinians are not bringing down Hamas themselves.
Having a lot to work against doesn’t make you the victim of genocide. This point brings nothing to your argumentt.
Please provide the direct quotations, not reporting of the quotations. This point you might be correct on, but the ones I have seen were grossly mistranslated and the correct translations were clearly in reference to Hamas fighters, not all Palestinians.
I didn’t write this to attack, but because I think your post deserved a response instead of possibly getting lost.
I disagree with point 2, or maybe it needs to be clarified?
A disproportionate response is a war crime (not genocide) but deaths each side isn’t the measure of proportionality - neither is strength, tech, economic strength.
Proportionality is using only as much force as necessary to eliminate the threat and minimize civilian casualties. I haven’t seen the intel reports of the attacks on civilian structures that hamas are using, but proportional response does need to be called into question.
I think everybody is willing to have a conversation on the imbalance of power and whether Israel can show more restraint.
The people screaming genocide aren’t allowing us to have that conversation unless it is on their terms.