UN Watch Response

What is happening in Gaza is not genocide, but the tragic consequences of war—a war that Israel did not start or want. As the International Court of Justice itself stated in a 1999 case brought by Yugoslavia in response to NATO bombings, “the threat or use of force against a State cannot in itself constitute an act of genocide within the meaning of Article II of the Genocide Convention.”[1]

The term genocide was coined in response to the Nazi Holocaust, the systematic pre-meditated murder of six million Jews as part of the Nazi plan to annihilate the Jewish people. As set forth in the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide requires “an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”[2] Israel has no such intention with respect to the Palestinian people. Indeed, Israel’s senior leaders have repeatedly explained that Israel’s goal is only to destroy Hamas.

• “The IDF operates against Hamas and not against the civilian population in Gaza.” IDF Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi, October 18, 2023.[3]
• “We are in the first phase, in which a military campaign is taking place with [airstrikes] and later with a [ground] maneuver with the purpose of destroying operatives and damaging infrastructure in order to defeat and destroy Hamas.” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, October 20, 2023.[4]
• “We will continue to fight until victory – until we destroy Hamas and bring our hostages back home… The first task: To achieve absolute victory, to destroy Hamas.” Prime Minister Netanyahu, November 18, 2023.[5]
• “Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized, and Palestinian society must be deradicalized. These are the three prerequisites for peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in Gaza.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, December 25, 2023.[6]
• “Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza. We acknowledge their suffering.” IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari, March 4, 2024.[7]
• “As we work to achieve the goals of this war, namely the destruction of Hamas and the return of the hostages, we recognize the importance of facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, April 7, 2024.[8]

In fact, Israel is fighting a defensive war against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza in response to Hamas’s genocidal October 7^th massacre of Israelis. On October 7^th, some 3,000 Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, committed horrific atrocities, including rape, murder, torture, burning people alive, and mutilating dead bodies. They slaughtered 1,200 people, including whole families, injured more than 5,500, and took over 240 hostages. This was the largest pre-mediated mass murder of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust.

These atrocities were the implementation of the genocidal Hamas Charter which speaks of “our struggle against the Jews,” states that “jihad” in response to “the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine” is “the duty of every Moslem,” and that Moslems should “confront the Zionist invasion and defeat it.”[9] Hamas’s genocidal intent on October 7^th was confirmed by senior Hamas member Ghazi Hamad in an October 24^th interview in which he vowed that Hamas would repeat the October 7^th attack “again and again” and that Hamas’s goal was “the annihilation of Israel.”[10] The terrorists themselves boasted of killing and capturing Jews and told their interrogators that the goal was to kill as many Jews as possible.[11]

Israel’s military response in Gaza represents necessary and lawful self-defense to protect its citizens and prevent further genocidal attacks by Hamas. Throughout the fighting, Israel has taken extensive measures to protect Gazan civilians, including by providing warnings,[12] facilitating evacuations from combat zones,[13] establishing humanitarian corridors,[14] taking humanitarian pauses from fighting,[15] and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid.[16]

On the other hand, Hamas has deliberately endangered Gazan civilians as part of its military strategy. Hamas embeds itself in the civilian infrastructure of Gaza, including in homes, hospitals, mosques, and schools, causing Palestinian civilians to be killed and injured.[17]

Therefore, Gaza casualty data published by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, even if taken at face value, does not indicate that genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza. Aside from the fact that the data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, it also does not account for deaths directly caused by Hamas aggression, whether from embedding itself in the civilian infrastructure, misfiring rockets,[18] shooting at evacuating civilians,[19] or shooting at civilians attempting to take humanitarian aid.[20] While all civilian deaths are tragic, sadly such deaths are an inevitable consequence of war.

Israel’s evacuation of Gazans to southern Gaza away from the most intense fighting also is not evidence of genocide. To the contrary, this shows Israel’s compliance with International Humanitarian Law, particularly the principle of precaution, which requires taking care to “avoid or minimize incidental civilian losses.”[21] Thus, even though Israel’s extensive evacuation warnings necessarily compromise Israel’s military advantage, the IDF nevertheless prioritizes protecting Gazan civilians. According to urban warfare expert John Spencer, Israel has “taken more care to prevent [civilian deaths in Gaza] than any other army in human history.”[22]

Finally, charging Israel with the heinous crime of genocide for conducting this defensive war against the Hamas terrorist organization is patently antisemitic because it transforms the Jews, who were the victims of both the worst genocide in history—the Holocaust—and the genocidal October 7^th Hamas attack, into perpetrators of those very same crimes. The countries behind these accusations, including Iran, Iraq, Qatar, and Cuba, completely ignore Hamas’s stated intent to pursue further attacks until Israel is “annihilated” and Israel’s legitimate security needs. This shows that what lies behind the accusation is not justice, but rather a desire to demonize and delegitimize Israel, which advances Hamas’ interests by restraining the ability of the world’s only Jewish state to defend itself.