US President Joe Biden strongly defended Israel on Monday, saying Israeli forces are not committing genocide in their military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Yeah on one hand I understand the argument that the term used to describe what’s being done to the populace in Gaza doesn’t really materially matter in terms of the moral argument and that “genocide” is exploited to bog down discussion into semantics, but I also see the value in expanding people’s understanding of what genocide is and how it can manifest.
Up to this point it’s kind of had this aura about it that if it’s not literally the Holocaust and the perpetrators aren’t explicitly saying “We want to kill every single member of X ethnicity” it’s not genocide. But that’s not true, and if the general public comes to understand that I think it gives less rhetorical cover for genocidal regimes to hide behind.
Yeah on one hand I understand the argument that the term used to describe what’s being done to the populace in Gaza doesn’t really materially matter in terms of the moral argument and that “genocide” is exploited to bog down discussion into semantics, but I also see the value in expanding people’s understanding of what genocide is and how it can manifest.
Up to this point it’s kind of had this aura about it that if it’s not literally the Holocaust and the perpetrators aren’t explicitly saying “We want to kill every single member of X ethnicity” it’s not genocide. But that’s not true, and if the general public comes to understand that I think it gives less rhetorical cover for genocidal regimes to hide behind.