Genocide Blog 24 – The Israeli State - Intent to Commit Genocide

28.12.2023

There are some special things about the Genocide Treaty. Its very name tells you the first special thing, please excuse me using all-caps for the relevant word: “The Treaty for the PREVENTION and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”. That means you do not have to wait for a Court of Law to determine whether something is genocide before you open your mouth to take a stand. You act so as to prevent genocide. You act first, before any court case even begins. 

Then, if necessary, there is a court case afterwards for the punishment part of the Treaty, if a state is found guilty. If we wait for the Courts, well, by the time a bench of judges sits, ponders and judges, it is too late to PREVENT the genocide. 

So, by definition, all these pussy-footers like those in the in-bedded journalists of the mainstream media are not just pussy-footing legalists too hesitant to step on the toes of judges to be able say whether the Israeli State is, or is not, committing genocide are, themselves, potentially criminally responsible for not preventing genocide. You are not allowed to plead that you are waiting for a judge to decide. You have to PREVENT genocide. This is a special thing about the Treaty. It gives us all the responsibility to PREVENT genocide, not just to ensure those charged and found guilty are punished after the event. 

The second and third special things about the Genocide Treaty are that there are two ancillary crimes mentioned: INCITING genocide, and COLLUDING WITH genocide. These mean it is not just Israeli perpetrators who will be punishable and must be prevented, men like Netanyahu, his Defense Minister Gallant and President Herzog, who LALIT members have already reported to the International Criminal Court.

It is also men like Joe Biden and his lap-dogs that not only fail to prevent the genocide but that spread the genocide-inciting lies – like the supposed “decapitated babies”, a supposed “roasted in an oven” baby, supposed “mass rape”, supposed “burning people alive” when it turned out Israeli “hellfire missiles” from IDF Appache Helicopters literally fried them alive, a fetus supposedly “ripped from a mother’s womb”, all this created the mass hysteria that became the excuse for the genocide – who all need to be put on trial for INCITEMENT to commit genocide. There is evidence galore of their spreading these rumours and lies, the very kind notoriously used for colonial raids, lynching, and notorious genocides. 

And what fits the bill for COLLUSION better than supplying, and then re-supplying weapons, armaments, money for arms, military advice, before and even during the genocide? For this, there is not just Biden, but also Sunak, also Scholtz who collude. And Biden’s lackeys who represent the USA at the UN collude, too, by again and again abusing the UN veto, so as, intentionally, to allow the genocide to continue. And here, it is horrific to note that Prosecutor Karim Khan, so swift to act against Russia for war crimes and to issue a warrant of arrest against Putin, refuses to act against Israel even as it goes on killing according to its intent. Imagine if he, the Prosecutor of the ICC were to fall under the criticism that he failed to prevent, even colluded with genocide? His Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu should at once resign for her failure to act. Read her role carefully: “Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide.” What has she done? Nothing to our knowledge.

And that brings us to the fourth and last special feature of the Genocide Treaty: there must be INTENT. Usually, in other cases, it is difficult to prove intent.

In case anyone in Mauritius still hesitates to use the word “genocide” and persists with “war” instead, we will list the proof of intent. We appeal, in particular, of course to political parties, even if nearly all have already taken a position in favour of Palestine, to continue to work towards the total isolation of Israel, i.e. breaking off diplomatic ties with Israel, and cutting all contracts, like CEB and in Rodrigues CWA and all others we do not know about, with companies in Israel, and generally isolating Israel. The MSM and its allies, as government, must go further because they are in government. The Government has announced it will stand up and give oral evidence at the ICJ in favour of Palestine in February 2024. Good. But it needs to take the lead in Africa, together with South Africa, Mali, Niger, Algeria, Djibouti, Chad, the Comoros, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Mauritania and Tunisia, who have already either no ties or suspended ties, and to break ties and end all contracts with Israeli companies. But, we also appeal to others in Mauritius – all unions, all associations, all religious leaders, and all clubs, all individuals – to take a stand, a public stand. 

Then we can see who in Mauritius still stands with those committing the genocide. Silence, remember, when it comes to “prevention of genocide” is collusion.

We will forward this Blog, as an attachment to Open Letters that we will send to fellow political parties and other organizations that we believe need to stand up and be counted in the move to isolate Israel, and also the USA. In Mauritius many organizations, in addition to all SOMALP members, have taken a stand: Immedia at its annual book launch at Ebene, the CTSP at a big Press Conference in Rose Hill, as well as the FTUCWMS, FTUCS and FPSSOU. “Together for Palestine” at its forum at Bell Village, the ATD Quart Monde at its event at Caudan, the LPT during its October Colloquium, the Alzheimer Association at its end-of-the-year event with family members in Belle-Rose, the MLF in its end-of-the-year gathering, the “Friends of Al Aqsa” at its forum, the MLC federation, the FPBOU, and from Rodrigues, the RGEA, RPIAWU and RWF. 

Let us make this list get longer and longer. And individuals can still sign up, of course, to the Common Declaration on our website, as dozens already have.

We must stop this genocide

Israel is killing civilian Palestinians by the following intentional means: 

- Bombardment from airplanes.

- Bombardment from drones.

- Bombardment from the sea.

- Artillery fire from tanks.

- Shooting by snipers.

- By starvation.

- By a long and tight state-of-occupation by siege, depriving people of food, water, medicine necessary for life.

- By destroying water supplies, risking causing death from dehydration.

- By destroying sewerage systems, risking causing death from disease.

- By forcibly making people move by the million to over-crowded places, without sewerage or water or health care, thus causing them to die from disease.

- Bombing hospitals, thus causing people to die from insufficient health care, infection and medical neglect.

- Bombing electrical supplies, thus causing death of babies when their incubators no longer work, and of adults on dialysis.

- Bombing the infrastructure that allows “a people” to exist as a society – bombing schools, UN centres, shelters for refugees, cemeteries, mosques, road and streets necessary for movement, churches, art galleries and museums. The Israeli State even caused the animals in the zoo, usually a place of comfort for little children, to die.

All this is “genocide” in ordinary English. So, we must call it by its name. Every day we witness it.

This is why we in LALIT blame not just the Israeli leaders for genocide, but also the US and its Western allies, as well as the Western press.

Here is the proof, researched by LALIT member Kisna Kistnasamy, of some of the Israeli statements of INTENT to commit genocide, as well as on Israel and other States and even the media on incitement to commit genocide and other states in complicity with genocide. 

So, here is why we, in LALIT, call what is happening “genocide” not “a war”. 

Lindsey Collen for LALIT

***

Elements of research 

What the first three sections of the “Treaty on the PREVENTION and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” says:

Article I

The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to PREVENT and to punish.

Article II

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with 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.

Article III
The following acts shall be punishable:
(a) GENOCIDE;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public INCITEMENT to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) COMPLICITY in genocide. (The all caps are ours.)

On “Intent” to commit genocide

Here are some statements of people who have “command authority”: Israeli leaders, Ministers in the war cabinet, and senior army officers, who have, since 7 October expressed an “intent to destroy” Palestinians “as such,” to use the language of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The last statement is by an influential former General, known to be an “intellectual”.

1. Israeli President Isaac Herzog suggested that civilians in Gaza are legitimate targets: “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true, this rhetoric about civilians were not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true.” (13 October)

2. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his official press briefing cites a biblical reference to Amalek: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you says our Holy Bible. We do remember. And we are fighting.” The verse in reference, 1 Samuel 15:3, states, “Now go and smite Amalek, utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” (27 October)

3. Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant: “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Gallant says. And, following an assessment at the IDF Southern Command in Beersheba ... “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” He also threatens “to bomb those attempting to provide aid to the Gaza Strip.” (9 October).

4. IDF spokesperson Right Admiral Daniel Hagari, “made the startling admission that ‘thousands of tonnes of munitions’ had already been dropped on the tiny strip, adding that ‘while balancing accuracy with the scope of damage, right now we’re focused on what causes maximum damage’”. The Guardian 10 October, as amended on 5 December.

5. Former Israeli head of National Security Council Major General Giora Eiland said in an article entitled “Let’s not be intimidated by the world” that epidemics could help Israel. “The international community is warning us against a severe humanitarian disaster and severe epidemics. We must not shy away from this. After all, severe epidemics in the south of Gaza will bring victory closer.” Eiland said this in an article, published in Hebrew in Yedioth Ahronoth, and Gideon Levy denounced him for this in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

For a clear outline as to why we must call a genocide a genocide, please read the “Statement of Scholars in Holocaust and Genocide Studies”. It was coordinated by Israeli-born academic Raz Segal, Associate Professor of ‘Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ and ‘Endowed Professor in the Study of Modern Genocide’ at Stockton University. It is worth Googling the short 9 December statement. Just enter the words “statement of holocaust and genocide scholars”. 

For Prof Raz Segal, in a statement he made before the UN, Israel demonstrated genocidal intent according to three of the acts defining genocide in the Convention: 

(a) “killing members of the group”; 

(b) “causing serious bodily or mental harm”; and 

(c) “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”. 

He says: “The ‘total siege’ measures, together with the forced displacement of over 1.8 million of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, and the risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases, exacerbated by acute shortages of food, clean water, fuel, and medical supplies, met the conditions defined in the Convention.” He went on, “While forced displacement – or ‘ethnic cleansing’- was not in itself an act of genocide, it had historically figured in genocidal processes of pushing unwanted people into designated areas – that eventually escalated into genocide. The Nazis experimented from 1939 to 1942 with various schemes of forced displacement of Jews before reaching the ‘final solution of the Jewish question’.” Mr. Segal added that Israel’s statements about deporting Palestinians in Gaza to the Sinai desert were also alarming as deserts have been used historically as weapons of genocide, leaving entire populations to die from hunger and dehydration.  (12 December in Statement to UN. You can google it with the words “Chair Summary 2023 Gaza panel on responsibility to prevent genocide”.)

Committing genocide

The acts of genocide are defined under Article 6 of the Rome Statute of the ICC and in Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Let us look at the facts of what has been committed so far by the Israeli government and military.

“(a) Killing members of the group”.

The Israeli State has killed 21,110 people. Since 7 October until 26 December 21,110 people murdered by Israel in the Gaza Strip. Of these, 70% were women and children (Gaza Health Ministry).

* The Israeli State has killed 310 Palestinian medics. These are people who could have saved lives. (Gaza Health Ministry).

* 82 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed, mainly by airstrikes, since 7 October in Gaza. (Palestinian Journalist Syndicate.) This high number is important because the journalists are the people who gather the proof of the genocide being committed by the IDF that then kills them. 

* 4,037 students and 209 educational staff have been killed (Ministry of Education) in Gaza.

* At least 20 civil defense members have been killed since the start of hostilities (Palestinian Civil Defense).
* Antonio Guterres says 153 UN staff have been killed in Gaza.

All this shows not only INTENT, but also the reality of genocide.

Article II (b) Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 

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

* The Israeli State caused serious bodily harm to 55,243 people. This was between 7 October and 26 December, in Gaza. The constant bombardment in the context of a state of siege causes serious mental harm to all 2.3 million people of Gaza.
 

* The Israeli State has caused serious bodily harm to more than 7,259 students and 619 teachers in Gaza since 7 October. 

* According to WHO, as of 22 December, nine out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functional. There are none left functional in the North, which was the most densely populated part of Gaza. The WHO stated on 23 December that northern Gaza had been left without a functional hospital due to the lack of fuel, staff, and medical supplies. Those hospitals in the South that still operate, are having to deal with three times their capacity, while facing critical shortages of basic supplies and fuel, and workers. According to the MoH in Gaza, occupancy rates are now reaching 206% in inpatient departments and 250% in intensive care units. All this causes serious bodily harm, and mental harm. 

All this, too, shows not only INTENT, but also the reality of genocide.

Article II (c) Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

Displacement
(c) “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” 

Displacing people, together with killing, maiming, and obliterating infrastructure, means “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.

Displacement has been massive. According to UN’s UNRWA, 1.9 million people in Gaza, or nearly 85 per cent of the population, are estimated to be internally displaced (IDPs). This includes people who have been displaced multiple times, as families are forced to move repeatedly in search of safety. The genocide has been going on so long, that three-quarters of the people of Gaza were already refugees, either from 1948 Nakba genocide or from the 1967 war, when they were forcibly removed. Today, lack of food, basic survival items, and poor hygiene, further exacerbate the already dire living conditions of IDPs, amplify mental health issues, and increase the spread of disease. All this is a threat of physical destruction of Gazan society and amounts to clear genocide.

The acts of crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli government and military defined under

Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the ICC include:

Article 7(a)

(a) Murder;
* See (a) above

under Article 7(b) of the Rome Statute of the ICC

(b) Extermination;
* See (b) above

under Article 7(c) of the Rome Statute of the ICC

(d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
* See (c) above

The war crimes committed by the Israeli government and military as defined under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the ICCinclude: 

(a) Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention (“civilians”, specifically including “the sick and injured”, “journalists” and “medical workers”, and also “civilian objects”):

* See (c) above

And Prof Raz Segal added, in his UN statement, that Israel’s statements about deporting Palestinians in Gaza to the Sinai desert in Egypt were also particularly alarming as deserts have been used historically as weapons of genocide, leaving entire populations to die from hunger and dehydration.  

INCITEMENT to genocide, a separate crime under article 3 of the Genocide Convention

Prof Segal also noted that since 7 October, there was also ‘incitement to genocide’, a separate crime under article 3 of the Genocide Convention. This was, inter alia, in Israeli media, social media, politics, and other public spaces. The Israeli discourse promoted the notion that “there are no innocent civilians in Gaza”, “Palestinian children are terrorists,” and the Israeli army needs to “burn Gaza until nothing was left of it”, “flatten Gaza”. Taken with the statements by leaders in Israel is open confirmation of the “intent” – usually the most difficult element to prove.  

See above, and also this quotation below:
* Nissim Vaturi, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and member of the legislature's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, made the following call in his X social media account on 17 November: “All of this preoccupation with whether or not there is internet in Gaza shows that we have learned nothing. We are too humane. Burn Gaza now, nothing less!” He added, “Don’t allow fuel in, don’t allow water in until the hostages are returned back!”

* Eliyahu, a member of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, said in reply to a question in a radio interview on 4 November: “Your expectation is that tomorrow morning we’d drop what amounts to some kind a nuclear bomb on all of Gaza, flattening them, eliminating everybody there …?” the Radio Kol Berama interviewer asks. “That’s one way,” Eliyahu responded. “The second way is to work out what’s important to them, what scares them, what deters them … They’re not scared of death.”

COMPLICITY in Genocide

The USA provides Israel with its armaments. It spends billions of Dollars arming the genocide. The USA also uses and abuses its veto at the UN. It also gives Israel the authorization – in political terms – to do what it wants to, even genocide.

It is in particular, the USA that is guilty of complicity in genocide. See the Legal Brief that the Centre for Constitutional Rights has published on Israel’s Unfolding Crime of Genocide of the Palestinian People & U.S. Failure to Prevent and Complicity in Genocide. Here is a quote that concludes the brief that was published at a time (18 Oct) when Israel had killed 3,000 people, not yet 21,000:

“The United States has been obligated, from the instant of learning of the serious risk of genocide of the Palestinian people, to exercise its influence on Israel to prevent the crime. The United States is not only failing to uphold its obligation to prevent the commission of genocide, but there is a plausible and credible case to be made that the United States’ actions to further the Israeli military operation, closure, and campaign against the Palestinian population in Gaza rise to the level of complicity. The United States — and U.S. citizens, including and up to the President — can be held responsible for their role in furthering genocide.” Just Google “Israel’s unfolding crime of genocide” for the whole brief.

INCITEMENT to genocide

Not just heads of state all over the West, and their top civil servants, but all the newspapers, radios and TV networks in Israel and in the West that have aired the lies and rumours put out by the Israeli Authorities and by others about hideous crimes that Hamas supposedly committed – decapitation, mass rape, murdering babies – can be held responsible for the crime of incitement to genocide. 

Please help us in LALIT by sending us any other examples of genocidal “intent”, “collusion” or “incitement” that you come across in your reading or listening.