The Lancet, the world’s leading medical journal, published the results of a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) claiming that the figures published by the Hamas Ministry of Health on the deaths in Gaza are biased downwards.
The real number of Palestinian deaths and missing in Gaza, according to the London statisticians, is not 46,000 but closer to 70,000, almost 3% of the population, of whom about 59% are elderly, children and women.
Among educated, left-wing and/or liberal young people around the world, Israel has lost the battle for Gaza long ago. Israel is held responsible for genocide. Only in Israel can the disaster happening in Gaza still be ignored. In so called Israeli democracy, it is forbidden to watch ‘Al Jazeera’ and the BBC, and on local TV stations they are only concerned with what Hamas did to Israelis on October 7, 2023, and not to what Israel did since that day.
If in a war one kills non-combatants: Elderly citizens, women, children, infants and babies – it is considered by international law as murder and a war crime. If hundreds or thousands are killed – it is considered mass murder. If, in addition, their entire living space, hospitals and clinics are destroyed. If their schools and universities, cultural institutions and places of worship are wiped out. If their workshops, farms and warehouses are destroyed. If they are deprived of a livelihood and have no money. If they are starved and prevented from distributing essential products. If they are deprived of shelter, medicine, sanitation, fuel and electricity. If their water and sewage systems are destroyed. If they are prevented from moving. If they are forced to crowd together as refugees in isolated concentration camps where there is no security and no living conditions. If, in these concentration places, dozens of them are killed every day. If this situation goes on for almost 500 days and they are dying and dying, some from direct hits and some from indirect collateral damage. If they are shot, bombed, wounded or sick – untreated, starving and exhausted, and hopelessly desperate. Only one name fits such a situation: genocide, and this is what is happening in Gaza.
There have been quite a few genocides in modern times, there is a lot of comparative research on the subject. We know that genocide plans are rarely made years in advance (not even with the Nazis, there was an idea – but not a concrete plan until Wannsee 1942.). Genocide is a dynamic and cumulative process, which depends on conjunctural circumstances and on conditions that existed and enabled the genocide to be carried out. Every genocide has features that distinguish it and have in common with other genocides. Not every genocide is the same as the Holocaust. But genocide is the most serious crime in international law.
At the beginning of the “genocidal” process – there are murders, when it continues over again, we start talking about “mass murder”. Over time, its extent is revealed: its dimensions, methods, and purpose, and it only then we recognize it as genocide. There was no “Holocaust” in prospect, I do not deny the Holocaust, the pieces of information slowly came together into a concept that is coined later. A historical event does not have a name in advance, it only receives its name retrospectively.
The concept of “genocide” does not necessarily apply to the extermination of an entire ethnic group, the murder of part of the group is also considered genocide. Genocide can also be committed from the air (Hiroshima) and at sea, but, mainly, it is carried out in the territory controlled by the operators. Genocide can also expand to additional areas of control of the perpetrator. In 2023, Finance Minister Smotrich said that Hawara in the occupied West Bank should be wiped out. At the end of April 24, Smotrich said: “There is no half-hearted work, Rafah, Dir-El-Balah, Nuseirat, total annihilation. ‘Eradicate the memory of Amalek from under heaven.’ There is no place under heaven.” At that time, there were 1.5 million Palestinians in Rafah, about 100,000 in Dir-El-Balah, and about 100,000 in Nuseirat. Last week, Smotrich called for the ‘Gazaization’ of the West Bank: “Al-Funduk, Nablus, and Jenin should look like Jabaliya” (January 6). There are about 1,300 people in Funduk, about 180,000 in Nablus, and about 70,000 in Jenin. The concept of genocide in Israel today is dynamic and constantly expanding. All Palestinians, wherever they are, even if they are citizens of Israel, are included in it, as are those who stand by them, even if they are Jews.
Genocide is a set of actions that, when committed or not- prevented, result in the extermination of a significant portion of the population. This is the functional definition of genocide. Not only the direct extermination of people, but also actions that destroy the conditions of people’s existence and lead, as a result, to their extermination. Among historians, the emphasis is on the results of the action. In international law, proof of intent is also required to accuse a party of genocide. In court, the emphasis is on intent, on the responsibility and awareness of the accused, to bring him to justice. This is one of the differences between the way historians study genocide and the way jurists examine it. Therefore, the International Criminal Court in The Hague has given special importance to statements of intent by Israeli politicians.
Stop the state of war – withdraw from Gaza
Objectively, the war in Gaza is over, but the legal state of war continues. What the army can do has already been done: the IDF cannot return the hostages, and the army cannot finally eliminate, physically and ideologically, all of Hamas. The territory has been occupied, Hamas’ military organization is broken, and most of its weapons have been destroyed or taken. Its ability to threaten Israel has been shattered. The issue of the Kidnapped hostages has prolonged the state of war, which has turned into a guerrilla warfare that could last for years. The state of the war and the presence of the Israeli army inside the Gaza strip are a decisive factor in the dire situation of the Gazan population. The fruitless guerrilla battles also cause many unnecessary casualties, among Hamas combatants, among Israeli soldiers, but especially among the Palestinian population stuck between a rock and a hard place. The main reason for the political stalemate is that Trump has not decided. There is a contradiction between what Smotrich Ben-Gvir and Netanyahu want and what Bin-Salman wants.
The decisions Israel must take now about Gaza and Hamas are political, not military. Israel is governed by an elected government, not a military junta. The question of what Israel wants to happen next in Gaza is not just a military question, it is first and foremost a political decision which depends on the government that Israel has or will have. The army has no mandate to accept or decline the hostage agreement. It is a decision for the cabinet headed by prime-minister Netanyahu. It is not for the army to decide whether to include the Palestinian Authority in the administration of Gaza, it is a political decision for which the government is responsible. Alternatively, a decision to establish an “occupation administration” for Gaza which will make Israel responsible, in international law, for the civilian population, also belongs in the government, not the army. Alternatively, a decision to resettle Jews in Gaza, as suggested by some in the Netanyahu’s government also does not belong in the army, although it has military implications.
The continuation of the ‘state of war’ gives Netanyahu’s fascist government advantages it would, otherwise, not have: The maintenance wartime solidarity:’ Together we shall win’, exploits the security fear inherent in the permanent- war society. It foments a religious-nationalist-messianic hegemony. It makes it easier for Netanyahu to gain cooperation with opposition parties and with the president Itzhak Herzog. The state of war also stopped the surging protest movement against Netanyahu. It gave him more time to try to alter and reform autocratically the political system: The police, judiciary, the budget, education, and to replace the heads of the army.
* Sociologist Professor Avishai Erlich is a member of Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality). This article was first published by Zo Haderekh, Communist weekly in Hebrew.
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