John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds Crossing. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com
I have witnessed and read many reports of the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli occupation and the war in Gaza. Even so, I have been reluctant to describe Israel’s military actions against Palestinians as genocide. It is a term that easily creates controversy over the strict definition and results in a defensive posture by Israel.
But then, in November, The United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices released a report declaring that Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with “the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians.”
The report supported its findings explaining, “Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life — food, water, and fuel.”
Furthermore, I have now read an article in the New York Review by Arueh Heier. He writes, “I thought then, and continue to believe, that Israel had a right to retaliate against Hamas for the murderous rampage it carried out on October 7… It is not genocide for Israel to defend itself.”
However, toward the end of the article he reveals, “I am now persuaded that Israel is engaged in genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. What has changed my mind is its sustained policy of obstructing the movement of humanitarian assistance into the territory.”
Finally, in the New York Times we read, “To many people … the war flashes by … headlines and casualty tolls and photos of screaming children, the bloody shreds of somebody else’s anguish. But the true scale of death and destruction (in Gaza) is impossible to grasp, the details hazy and shrouded by internet and cellphone blackouts that obstruct communication, restrictions barring international journalists and the extreme, often life-threatening challenges of reporting as a local journalist from Gaza.”
It now has become obvious to me that Israeli violations of humanitarian law and rules of warfare warrant the claim of genocide, even as it is acknowledged to be a very serious charge that invokes anger and accusations of antisemitism.
Palestinians have been stripped of the very necessities required to sustain life: food, water, and fuel. On Dec. 19, a report from Doctors Without Borders described repeated Israeli military attacks on Gaza’s civilians and medical infrastructure, along with the “systematic denial of humanitarian assistance.” Dignity and justice have been taken from the Palestinians.
Israel’s practice of genocide has more implications than just a judgment on the Israeli administration of the Palestinian occupied territory and the war in Gaza. The United States has continued military aid to Israel, some of which is used to enforce the policy of genocide. Giving this aid makes the U.S. complicit with Israel’s policy.
A spokesperson for the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations said, “the United States veto in the Security Council on 20 November of a text demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in Gaza demonstrates its complicity with Israel’s actions in Gaza…”
The last thing we should want is to have our country complicit in any way with actions of genocide. It violates the commitment to equal justice for all people. And every day that it continues, real people are killed and injured.
As citizens of the United States, it is an embarrassment. There is no time to be cavalier about a few more daily deaths while debates over definitions and just war continue. The United States has the leverage and the moral mandate to withhold any more military aid to Israel until Israel agrees to honor international humanitarian law and end the actions of genocide.
It is said that the United States and Israel are bound together by common values. It’s time to insist that our friendship with Israel includes sharing the value of human dignity for all people.