ANANISH CHAUDHURI: Death and displacement in Gaza are heart-breaking but certainly not “genocide”

I see progressives, both in New Zealand and overseas, routinely excoriate Israel for carrying out “genocide” in Gaza. In fact, accusing Israel of “genocide” has become a rite of passage in establishing one’s bona fides as a progressive. Except, as with many other contemporary progressive shibboleths, there is little factual basis to this claim.

How is genocide defined?

The United Nations first recognised “genocide” as a crime under international law in 1946.  Subsequently in 1948, “genocide” was codified as an independent crime in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.  

Article II of the Genocide Convention suggests that there are two main elements in a finding of genocide.

First, there is a mental element: the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such".

Then there is a physical element, which includes the following five acts:

(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.

The convention goes on to argue that “…intent is the most difficult element to determine. To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

Is there an intent to commit genocide on the part of Israel?

On March 27 of this year, the Israeli Supreme Court voted unanimously to reject a petition filed by “a collective of left-wing and Arab Israeli nonprofits” calling on the Jewish state to resume allowing aid to enter Gaza.

The court ruled that “…the government’s directives to the Israel Defence Forces were appropriate under both the laws of armed conflict and Israeli regulations.”

It reiterated that the legal principle of “belligerent occupation” does not apply to Gaza, which is still putatively governed by Hamas.  

One of the justices of the court wrote that the Israeli Defence Force’s “…mobilization to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza, amid intense military activity, is unparalleled among the armies of the world.”

Another justice wrote that the IDF “…went above and beyond what was required to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, even taking the risk that the transferred aid might fall into the hands of the Hamas terror organization and be used against Israel.”

Now these are Israeli judges and they may be biased. But readers should note that the current Supreme Court includes Khaled Kabub, an Arab Muslim, and the decision rendered was unanimous.

But ask yourself this: what country that is intent on committing genocide against another group allows a lawsuit like this to be filed and argued in its apex court?

Other evidence arguing against “genocide”

In recent times the population of both Gaza and West Bank has increased by around 2 percent to 3 percent annually, which represents some of the highest population growth rates across the world. (However, according to PolitiFact, social media claims that the population of Gaza has grown since October 7, 2023, is patently false. Gaza’s population has fallen via death and displacement since then.)

Israel has made no moves against Arab Muslims elsewhere, in either Isreal or the West Bank. The Arab quarter in Jerusalem’s old city is no less bustling today than it was prior to October 7, 2023. This seems strange if Israel’s goal is to wipe out the Arab Muslim population in Palestine.

Far from engaging in genocide, Israel is trying to uproot a particularly violent ideology that has caused misery to Muslims, Christians and Jews. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Christian population in Gaza has been reduced by 90% under Hamas rule. Israel has also launched a war against the Iranian mullah regime to deliver a setback to Iran's development of nuclear weapons. For the record, Iranians are ethnically distinct from Arabs, and Iranians are primarily Shiites while Arab Muslims are predominantly Sunni, making Iranians religiously different as well.

A path forward

On October 7, 2023, Israel was subject to a horrifyingly repugnant attack, resulting in widespread sexual assault and death. There are still hostages being held by Hamas. Was Israel’s response proportional? Should Israel have formulated a plan for what happens if and when Hamas is eliminated? Could Israel do more to get aid to Gazans? These are valid questions.

Gaza needs and deserves our help. But so does Israel, the only democratic country in a part of the world not known for upholding democratic rights and civil liberties. Israel is fighting for values that are fundamental to our way of life in the industrialized West.

Intellectual elites throwing around canards about genocide are not helping. All they are doing is making the process of arriving at a peaceful outcome all that more difficult.

Ananish Chaudhuri, PhD.

Professor of Experimental Economics | University of Auckland; https://ananishchaudhuri.com