Is Israel committing genocide?

Is Israel committing genocide? Well. let’s see. Let’s give it the duck test. Does it walk like a duck? Does it quack like a duck? South Africa seems to think so. They are taking Israel to an international tribunal to seek justice for the Palestinians.

But just ask Israel’s, prime minister. He says, Genocide? What genocide. Who are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?

22,000 Palestinians dead. Mostly innocent civilians. Mostly children. Forced migration, displacement, starvation, and no clean drinking water. Destruction of homes and hospitals.

Winking Blinken and Nod is doing everything he can to slow down the hostilities but because he represents the Disunited Mistakes, which is Israel’s biggest defender, there is little he can do.

Let’s review, then. What is genocide?

The current definition of Genocide is set out in Article II of the Genocide Convention:

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated

to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. If it’s not genocide it is certainly murder and the God of the Jews is pretty clear about how He feels about murder. Thou Shat Not Kill, He says. Oh, but Israel has a right to defend herself you say. Yes, but this goes way beyond self-defense.

What happened to Jews during the holocaust was a horrible tragic event of epic proportions. One of the worst cases of genocide in human history. Never Again! What happened on October 7 was a tragic horrible event and a crime against humanity. But those events do not give Israel carte blanche to destroy an entire population in retribution. You don’t use an elephant gun to kill a mosquito. You don’t use a meat cleaver when a scalpel is appropriate. In Vietnam, we used to have a saying, “We have to burn down the village to save the village.” It was an absurd notion then and an absurd notion now. Israel needs to bring this war to a conclusion and cease the hostilities at once. Those responsible for war crimes must be held accountable.

Hamas knew exactly what it was doing when it acted in such an ignominious way. They knew Israel would attack Gaza with furious vengeance. In doing so, it has turned the world’s opinion against Israel and has garnered sympathy for the Palestinian Cause. That is exactly what Hamas wanted. And Israel fell into their honey trap.