A careful look in the mirror shows it's Hamas, not Israel, that supports genocide
Mirror politics is accusing your opponents of doing the very thing you yourself are doing or wish to do. That's what's going on in the Middle East right now when anti-Israel politicians, writers and academics accuse Israel of genocide.
The term genocide is thrown around a lot these days, but it's carefully defined by the United Nations 1948 Genocide Convention as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
In 1948, Israel's population was 82% Jewish and 18% non-Jewish citizens, overwhelmingly Arab. Today, it's 73% Jewish and 27% non-Jewish. Moreover, Arabs (including the ethnically Arab Druze minority) make up almost half of new doctors in Israel. The numbers of Arabs generally and Arab doctors particularly would hardly increase during a campaign of genocide by Israel.
The Gaza Strip was occupied by Israeli troops during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Gaza's population in 1970 was 345,000 people. Israeli troops withdrew in 2005. According to the CIA, its population is now 2.1 million. Despite this huge population growth, Israel is accused of genocide by politicians, journalists, governments and professors who should know better.
Gaza civilians and Hamas both understand Israel would prefer not to harm the innocent. That's why Gaza civilians knew they were safe as they moved through a humanitarian corridor protected by an Israeli army tank. That's why Hamas fires rockets from or near schools, hospitals and mosques. As a 2019 NATO report noted, any Israeli retaliation allows Hamas "to accuse (Israel) of committing war crimes."
Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan says President Joe Biden is supporting Israeli genocide. A writer for The New York Times signed an open letter accusing Israel of trying to "conduct genocide against the Palestinian people." A Yale professor deemed Israel a "murderous, genocidal settler state." Along with more than half a dozen other countries, South Africa has withdrawn its ambassador to Israel, calling its conduct "genocide."
This is all mirror politics. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 to allow its population self-determination. Last month, the Hamas rulers of Gaza sent terrorists into Israel where they brutally murdered 1,400 people and took another 240 hostage. Israel said first that it would delay sending troops into Gaza and then that it would support a cease-fire if the hostages were released. On Oct. 27, The New York Times ran a story headlined, "As Gazans Scrounge for Food and Water, Hamas Sits on a Rich Trove of Supplies." Hamas would rather let Arabs in Gaza die than move toward peace. Why? Because Hamas' paramount aim is genocide.
The Hamas Covenant calls for Islam to "obliterate" Israel and to "vanquish" all Jews. As Biden said of Hamas, "Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the state of Israel and the murder of Jewish people." Hamas does not deny it. When an interviewer on Lebanese TV asked senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad whether Hamas's war aims include the "annihilation of Israel," Hamad responded, "Yes, of course."
The Israeli war aim is to free the hostages and destroy Hamas. It is not to kill peaceful residents of Gaza for no reason.
Gaza is surrounded by Israel and Egypt. The latter's actions show it, too, supports the elimination of Hamas. The Economist, a British magazine with an international reputation for trustworthiness, recently wrote, "The only way out of the cycle of violence is to destroy Hamas's rule." As the legendary prime minister of Israel Golda Meir told American President Gerald Ford, "We can't negotiate with terrorists who just want us out."
When anti-Israel protesters shout, "From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free," they are chanting code words calling for genocide of 7 million Jewish citizens of a country established and recognized by the U.N. As a recently passed bipartisan resolution of the House of Representatives put it, the slogan is "widely recognized as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel and its people." And what about the 2.6 million (SET ITAL) non-Jewish (END ITAL) citizens of Israel? Polling shows 74% of them identify as Israeli or Arab-Israeli versus 7% who identify as Palestinian. What happens to them?
During the Cold War, those in the West who supported nuclear disarmament to bring about world peace were called "useful idiots" by the Soviet Union's KGB. Too many protesters who think they are supporting peace in the Middle East are the useful idiots of Hamas genocide.
It's possible to support a solution of two states, one majority Arab and one majority Jewish, without accusing Israel of genocide. It's possible to envision Palestinian Arabs setting forth on the road to justice and democracy without genocide. But a peaceful future is only possible if Hamas is defeated. Ongoing warfare, more deaths and potential genocide are the inevitable consequences of continued Hamas rule of Gaza.
For those who see Israel as the entity embracing genocide in the conflict, I suggest you look around. You may be walking down a hall of mirrors.
© Creators, 2023