Tel Aviv, Israel (AP) – Two prominent Israeli rights groups on Monday said their country is committed to genocide GazaThe first time a local Jewish-led organization has made such accusations against Israel in a nearly 22-month war.
The claims by B’tselem and human rights Israeli doctors add to the explosive debate over whether Israeli military attacks in Gaza, launched in response to the attack on October 7, 2023, amount to a massacre.
Palestinians, their supporters, international human rights groups have made that claim, and the International Court of Justice Genocide Case It was submitted by South Africa against Israel.
But in Israel, founded in the wake of the Holocaust, even the government’s strongest critics have barely refrained from making such accusations.
It is because of the deep sensitivity and strong memory of the Nazi genocide of European Jews, and because many Israel view the war in Gaza as a legitimate response to the most deadly attack in the country’s history, not an attempt to extinction.
Smashing Israeli taboos
Rights groups are internationally well-known and respected, but are considered to be on political boundaries in Israel, and their views are not representative of the majority of Israeli people. But coming from Israel’s voices of genocide, brings the allegations of genocide from Israel’s voices, shatters the taboos of society that are silent in order to criticise Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Guy Sharev, director of human rights Israeli physicians, said Jews and Israeli public often dismiss genocide accusations as anti-Semitism or prejudice against Israel.
“This is a way for human rights groups, based in Israel, to reach this conclusion, to confront the accusations and to make people acknowledge reality,” he said.
Israel argues it is fighting existential wars and complies with international law. It rejected the genocide allegations as anti-Semitic.
He challenged and rejected such claims before the International Court of Justice. International Criminal Court Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Joa Gallant allegedly committed war crimes in Gaza. Both face international arrest warrants.
The Israeli government on Monday did not immediately comment on B’tselem and Phri’s report. Israeli officials have largely condemned the deaths of civilians in Hamas’ Gaza, saying they are using civilians as shields by embedding extremists in residential areas.
“The Israeli claim that Hamas fighters or other members of armed Palestinian groups exist in medical or civilian facilities are often made without providing evidence and cannot justify or explain such extensive and systematic destruction,” the B’tselem report states.
The report reflects international claims
In another report released jointly, rights groups said that the government’s statement on Israeli policy in Gaza, its goals there, and the systematic dismantling of the territorial health system contributed to the conclusion of Genocide.
Their claims reflect the claims of previous reports from international rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Like other rights groups, B’tselem and human rights-Israel doctors are not permitted to enter Gaza during the war. Their reports are based on testimony, documents, witnesses and consultations with legal experts.
Hamas’ attacks on Israel, which launched the war, called changes in the country’s policy towards the Palestinians in Gaza “from oppression and control to destruction and annihilation,” B’tselem said.
The group has long been openly said about the treatment of Israeli Palestinians. It says it stopped working with the military almost a decade ago and that the investigation into the Army’s fraudulent behavior was not serious. He accused Israel of being an apartheid state.
The PHRI report was a detailed legal medical analysis focusing on what was called the gradual dismantling of Gaza’s health and life support systems, including access to electricity, clean water and food.
The report states that Israel “harmed three of the genocide actions defined by international law.” “Deliberately given the conditions of life calculated to bring physical destruction in whole or in part.”
Israeli rights groups said repeated statements by Israeli officials and the military in favour of the complete destruction, hunger and permanent evacuation of Palestinians in Gaza, coupled with ground policies, demonstrated that Israel was deliberately trying to destroy Palestinian society.
“Painful” conclusion
The term “genocide” bumps into Israel’s chords, growing up by learning about the Israeli Holocaust and hearing the tragic stories of survivors, while struggling with Israeli chords that promise not to happen again.
The 1948 Treaty on Prevention and Punishment of Genocide Crime was created amid the aftermath of World War II and the murders of six million Jews by Nazi Germany. Genocide defines it as “committed with the intention of destroying national, ethnic, racial or religious groups.”
“As a grandson of a Holocaust survivor, it is extremely painful for me to reach this conclusion,” said Phri’s Shalev. But after growing up in a society where the Holocaust was extremely important, he said he would demand some responsibility.
Until now, Israel’s criticism of the war in Gaza has focused on Netanyahu, focusing on whether his wartime decisions were politically motivated and delayed the return of hostages.
The broader scrutiny of Israel’s actions in Gaza is limited for multiple reasons. Despite the massive destruction and death on the territory, despite growing international isolation in Israel, most Israelis have believed in much of the war in its righteousness.
And with most Jewish Israelis serving in the Army, it is difficult to assume that most people may be carrying out genocide by their uniformed relatives. However, some soldiers refuse to fight in war.
Historian Jeffrey Half, who published much about anti-Semitism, said the genocide allegations did not take into account the fact that there was a war between the two parties. He said it ignored Hamas as a military force and ignored Israel’s right to protect itself.
The focus of the Israelites is on hostages, not on Palestinians.
After recent groups like B’tselem, after Israel accused them of apartheid, More mainstream voices Israel also took up this claim in such a drastic way.
Israeli historian Tom Segev doesn’t know if the new reports and their allegations will affect the public.
“The main thing for Israelis is the issue of hostages, not necessarily the fate of Gaza’s population,” he said. However, he said what is happening in Gaza undermines ideological and moral justification for Israel’s existence.
Rights groups said the international community has not done enough to protect Palestinians and are calling for a voice to the world, including Israelis who remain silent.
“We have an obligation to do everything we can to tell the truth about this and stand by the victim,” said Sarit Michay, international director of B’Tselem.
