Opinion

  • It is downright scandalous to accuse Israel of genocide

    It is downright scandalous to accuse Israel of genocide

    The Christian Post,

    This included the extermination of 3 million out of 3.3 million Polish Jews — more than 9 out of every 10.In Cambodia, Pol Pot exterminated almost a quarter of his country, targeting specific parts of the population deemed unworthy to live.How, then, can Israel be charged with practicing genocide against the Palestinians, specifically against the Palestinians of Gaza?The population of Gaza is roughly 2.1 million, and if the figures released by Hamas are to be taken at face value, then roughly 17,000 Gazans have been killed by the IDF since Israel began its military operations in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre. But to call such losses “genocide” is to mock the very meaning of the word and the suffering it represents.When you add in the fact that the IDF goes to unusual lengths to avoid civilian casualties, including dropping hundreds of thousands of leaflets warning civilians to flee, along with tens of thousands of automated texts and calls, the cry of “genocide” becomes all the more preposterous.The reality is that, if the IDF wanted to slaughter most of the population of Gaza, it could do so in a matter of days, if not hours, with virtually no Israeli losses. The dramatic growth of a people equals their “genocide”?In a previous article, I mentioned the interaction between a mother and her 15-year-old daughter after her daughter said that they should not eat at McDonald’s because of the company’s alleged support of Israel.The mother said, “Tell me what Israel is doing wrong without using the word genocide.”“But it is genocide,” her daughter replied.The same charge was raised when I recently interacted with university students from Gaza while in India.

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