Israeli human rights activists accuse government of genocide in Gaza for the first time

Tel Aviv. The Israeli human rights groups B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (Phri) have accused their country of genocide in the Gaza Strip. Israel has committed three acts of genocide defined under international law, Phri wrote in a report published Monday. Among other things, it "imposes on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction, in whole or in part."

B'Tselem wrote that following Hamas's terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, there was a shift in Israel's policy toward the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The country's political leadership shifted from "oppression and control to destruction and annihilation" following the murder of approximately 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 251 others.

"A contribution we are happy to make": Germany plans to fly humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip together with Jordan. France and Great Britain are also likely to participate.

Both groups stated that Israeli government and military officials have repeatedly said they support the total destruction, starvation, and permanent displacement of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This, combined with local policies, demonstrates that Israel is deliberately trying to destroy Palestinian society.

The Israeli government rejected the accusations on Monday. The Foreign Ministry told the AP news agency that the accusations of genocide served to embolden the militant Islamist Hamas. Israel attacks only Hamas, not civilians.

The government and the Israeli military blame Hamas for the deaths of civilians in the Gaza Strip because its fighters operated in residential areas.

B'Tselem and Phri are considered politically fringe groups in Israel, whose views are not representative of the vast majority of people in Israel. However, the fact that they are the first Israeli groups to accuse their government of genocide breaks a taboo in the country's society, which was also founded as a result of the German genocide of the Jews.

"As the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, it's very painful for me to come to this conclusion," said Phri director Guy Shalev. "But when you grew up in a society where the Holocaust played such a large role, you also have to accept a certain amount of responsibility."

The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was drafted after World War II and the murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany. It defines genocide as acts "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

Like other rights groups, B'Tselem and Phri were barred from entering the Gaza Strip during the war. Their reports are based on witness statements, documents, eyewitness accounts, and consultations with legal experts. The Phri report is a detailed legal and medical analysis focusing on the gradual destruction of health and life support systems in the Gaza Strip, including electricity and clean water.

Historian Jeffrey Herf, who has published extensively on anti-Semitism, criticized the genocide charge for ignoring Hamas as a military force and Israel's right to defend itself.

Israeli historian Tom Segev said he was unsure what effect the accusation of genocide would have on the Israeli public. "For Israelis, the issue of the hostages is important, not necessarily the fate of the population in Gaza," he said. However, what is happening in the Gaza Strip undermines the ideological and moral justification for Israel's existence.

RND/AP