Israeli Jewish Holocaust and Genocide Scholar Explains How What's Happening in Gaza Amounts to Genocide

[Ohlalalalala]

Raz Segal is an associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies and endowed professor in the study of modern genocide at Stockton University in New Jersey.

[...] an expert declaration by three leading Holocaust and genocide studies scholars: Victoria Sanford, Barry Trachtenberg and John Cox. Sanford has written extensively on genocide and state violence in Latin America, especially in the case of Guatemala. Trachtenberg and Cox have published widely on the Holocaust.

They stress in their report that the “levels of destruction and killings in just over one month, together with the annihilatory language expressed by Israeli state leaders and senior army officers, point not to targeting of individual Hamas militants or Hamas military targets, but to the unleashing of deadly violence against Palestinians in Gaza ‘as such,’ in the language of the UN Genocide Convention.”

The assessment of the three senior Holocaust and genocide studies scholars is accurate. Gaza now resembles Ukrainian cities after Russian bombings and invasions, but with levels of destruction and killings that have surpassed in less than a month what we have seen in Ukraine in nearly two years: Official U.N. figures from early September note that Russian attacks killed slightly fewer than 10,000 civilians since February 2022, and injured just above 17,500. Israel has so far killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, wounding nearly 30,000. It is important that Biden described Russia’s attack on Ukraine as “genocide” on April 12, 2022, commenting that “we’ll let the lawyers decide, internationally, whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me.” In the same way, Gallant’s “total siege” policy, together with the forced displacement of more than 1.5 million of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, has created what sure seems like genocide.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-11-19/israel-hostages-gaza-bombing-civilians-genocide-holocaust-studies

These unfolding horrors render it extremely difficult to imagine possible futures beyond the violence. I spoke about this last weekend at Kol Tzedek, my Jewish congregation in Philadelphia, from my perspective as an Israeli and Jewish Holocaust and genocide studies scholar. I noted that Israel’s mass violence against Palestinians stems from a new Jewish identity, tied to the creation of Israel in 1948: Jewish supremacy. I also noted that white supremacists in Europe and the U.S. find Israeli state practices of Jewish supremacy inspiring — even as they hate Jews in Europe and the U.S. deeply. While Israel and its allies strive to portray any criticism of Israeli policies and violence against Palestinians as antisemitism, some of Israel’s greatest supporters, such as American white supremacist Richard Spencer or Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, are fierce antisemites.

This terrible fact should direct us to the roots of the historical struggle against antisemitism before the creation of Israel in 1948. It was a struggle that aimed to protect a powerless group from powerful states, not to defend a powerful state in its attack against a powerless group. It was a struggle for a people to live in dignity in a society where everyone’s humanity is recognized, not to legitimize a state where leaders, politicians and TV anchors call openly to wipe out places and people.

Serious question: what do,/would they think that this the below amounts to?

And part 1

There is little doubt that the Palestinians who participated in the mass murder of more than 1,200 Israelis and migrant workers on Oct. 7 did not see their victims as humans, and that decades of Israeli military occupation, siege, oppression and repeated attacks motivated this dehumanization. There is also little doubt about the dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli society well before Oct. 7. Shirts printed by Israeli army units have depicted pregnant Palestinian women and children as military targets; calls of “death to the Arabs” have characterized the annual settler Flag March through the Old City in Jerusalem; and students as young as 13 in Israel sing anti-Palestinian songs, “hoping that your village burns down.”

You always post that onlyonetime. That was a hideous terror attack. It does not warrant a genocide however horrible it was, I was onlyonetime and most of the people that did it were killed on the spot no need to go and slaughter all those Palestinian families in a bloody revenge.

Now, Israeli politics, society and media are awash with annihilatory language against Palestinians in Gaza, from the dehumanizing language of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s “total siege” order, where he referred to Palestinians as “human animals,” and journalists who have called to turn Gaza “into a slaughterhouse,” to banners on bridges in Tel Aviv that call “to annihilate Gaza.” Israeli state leaders, ministers in the war cabinet and senior army officers — people with command authority — have used such language dozens of times since Oct. 7 in a way that constitutes clear “intent to destroy,” according to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Imagining possible futures, beyond Israel’s Jewish supremacy, then, is for me a political act rooted in Jewish histories and Jewish identities that are not far removed from us. They point to the urgent need to forefront Palestinian voices and experiences, to humanize Palestinians in the face of attempts to demonize and silence them, to call for a cease-fire and the return of all the hostages held in Gaza and the political prisoners held in Israel and to insist on truth, justice and equality for everyone between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

This is an excellent article by an expert in holocaust and genocide. I recommend strongly reading it as it explains in very simple terms why what's happening in Gaza at the hands of Israel is genocide.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-11-19/israel-hostages-gaza-bombing-civilians-genocide-holocaust-studies

Here are some Palestinian voices

https://www.awrad.org/files/server/polls/polls2023/Public%20Opinion%20Poll%20-%20Gaza%20War%202023%20-%20Tables%20of%20Results.pdf

Three quarters of them supported Hamas’ actions on October 7th.

Three quarters of them want a Palestinian state ‘from the river to the sea’. Only 5% show support for one state for “two peoples”.

That article seems interesting OP.

It's a shame the whataboutery has started so quickly on what could be an interesting thread.

Indeed.

I am fed up with the relentless attempts at detailing threads on MN.

This is such an interesting article by an expert in the field that it's worth reading by anyone wanting to understand the situation in Gaza.

Thanks OP. It’s sad that so many people want this slaughter to continue.

fot clarity, I absolutely don’t want the slaughter to continue. It just seems to me that both sides would be equally satisfied with slaughter, as long as it’s their side doing the slaughtering.

A Text Book Case of Genocide: Israeli Holocaust Scholar Raz Segal

Oh well that’s all right then. Go ahead Israel, kill Palestinians in their thousands.

Honestly, I just don’t understand the whataboutery on here about Israel.

I understand it. If you are Jewish you’ve likely been brought up as a Zionist (not necessarily right wing) and to know that you have a genetic history of being ethnically cleansed from various regions around the world.

so when people point out that Israeli actions are genocidal/ethnic cleansing, there is a defensiveness that has been ingrained since childhood, based on historical truths and backed up by present day narratives online. It’s a very deeply held belief of “kill them before they kill us”.

I believe Palestinian children are now being brought up the same way. It will always end in slaughter for someone, supported by people who are scared of the same thing happening to them.

it’s devastating.

400 lawyers urge professional bodies to break their silence on Israel-Gaza

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/400-lawyers-urge-professional-bodies-to-break-their-silence-on-israel-gaza/5117859.article

Thanks Op that’s really interesting. I’ll read out properly later but definitely the excerpts are saying what a lot of the Jewish voices at a lot of the American rallies have been saying.

Thanks for your input. I haven't said this before on here, but I absolutely recognize what you are saying, and I found women to be a lot more harsher than men. (In saying that I had more exposure to women). I can honestly say I didn't see the same about the Palestinians. They absolutely knew that the Israelis wanted to humiliate, abuse and even kill them, but they were quite resigned to it in a 'what can we do?' type of way, which was heartbreaking. The children knew it too. The most common response was "In God we trust".
A high number of Israelis have dual nationality and have choice about where to live, but the Palestinians don't. Some are even 'locked in' to their very local area. One form of self determination, albeit in a fairly localised way, was education. The Palestinians have very high literacy levels and they always have very top scores in the tawjeehi, which is the A level equivalent. They manage this with very frequent electricity cuts (particularly in Gaza) and every home has a candle designated to the child who is having exams so they can study by candlelight. The Israelis know this though and military disruption to education is a tactic. B'tSelem, Amnesty and other civil orgs report on this.

Agreed completely.

As always thanks for your very informative post.

It is encouraging and disheartening to hear of Palestinians pursuit of education in spite of the IDF attempts to thwart this.

Every act of violence seems to polarise people in a way that spirals into more. If Netanyahu withdrew from Gaza today, Hamas would declare victory and Netanyahu would lose support from his own country. The rest of the world will not forgive him either way. He doesn’t give a hoot about the hostages. How to entice him to stop. With sanctions?

On a related note, this article is a good read:

I Am the Grandchild of Holocaust Survivors, and I Am Calling for Ceasefire Now

https://truthout.org/articles/i-am-the-grandchild-of-holocaust-survivors-and-i-am-calling-for-ceasefire-now/

Thank you OP, informative post as always

Have you guys seen this interview with Candace Owen’s of Norm Finkelstein, Jewish political scientist. It is so amazing to see Jewish voices that shout so loud .

It is good to have a place to praise the efforts and dedication that these Jews are making. They are most likely risking their livelihoods to be these brave voices. And for no monetary or other gain. It is really commendable and we don’t appreciate it enough.