Definition of Genocide

The term "genocide" was coined by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin after World War Two. The text of the Genocide Convention adopted by the U.N. defines it as "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such" through five acts, all of which must be present.

1. Killing members of the group
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

At the insistence of the USSR, political and class groups were excluded, as the Soviets didn't want the perpetrators of the Great Terror or the Holodomor to be accused of genocide. This also prevented the "killing fields" of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia from being included.

It's important to use the term as defined, and not apply it as a pejorative to wars that people may personally disapprove of.

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CountScrofula · 41-45, M

See what I like about this definition is that it in no way says that you need to say, systematically attempt to exterminate everyone of a people group, like in some of the most horrific genocides. Because although it's a very dumb idea to compare atrocities, some atrocities go farther than others.

Everyone thinks genocides have to look like the Holocaust, but most don't and the definition makes it clear. Although I hate argument-by-dictionary since words are defined by use, this helps illustrate genocide is a far broader term than people often think it is.

Apply that to Gaza, and the shoe fits. It is an ethnically homogenous area which is being completely destroyed. The people in this area cannot leave. The civilian death count is massive and is at least 18,000, 40% of which are children.

With the infrastructure gone, the real killers come next. The slow death of starvation, and then the disease which will invariably crop up without functioning water and sewage.

The end result will be mass deaths of an identifiable people group because they are members of that people group. Palestinians are being killed because they are Palestinian. That is genocide. The justification does not matter, the deaths matter.

trollslayer · 46-50, M

@CountScrofula israel is walking a fine line here.

SW-User

@CountScrofula I hate what is happening in Gaza, but Palestinians are not being killed "because they are Palestinians". They are being killed because their leadership, hiding among them, committed a series of massacres and other barbaric acts on October 7 with the declared intention of a genocide, in the colloquial sense of the term, and that remains those leaders' goal.

trollslayer · 46-50, M

@SW-User Actions of individual Israeli soldiers point otherwise.

SW-User

@trollslayer some individuals surely are motivated by hatred at this point, yes.

trollslayer · 46-50, M

@SW-User Considering they are posting to social media, and the goal of social media is to get "likes", clearly this is the sentiment of more than just a few individuals.