Leading genocide scholars see a genocide happening in Gaza
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Novelist David Grossman says Israel is committing ‘genocide' in Gaza, joining a rising chorus
Grossman, a longtime left-wing peace activist whose son was killed while serving in the Israeli army in Lebanon in 2006, has joined a growing number of Jews accusing Israel. The Israeli novelist David Grossman has joined a growing number of Jews and Jewish organizations saying that Israel is carrying out a 'genocide' in Gaza. Grossman is a longtime left-wing peace activist whose son was killed while serving in the Israeli army in Lebanon in 2006. He told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica in an interview published on Friday that he had not wanted to level the charge, which Israel rejects, and did so only with 'intense pain and a broken heart.' 'For many years I refused to use this word,' he said. 'But now, after the images I've seen, what I've read, and what I've heard from people who were there, I can't help but use it.' He noted that the charge, leveled by pro-Palestinian activists throughout the Israel-Hamas war, is especially freighted when applied to the Jewish state. Israel was born after the Holocaust, which the word 'genocide' was coined to describe. 'How did we come to be accused of genocide?' Grossman said. 'Just uttering that word — 'genocide' — in reference to Israel, to the Jewish people, that alone, the fact that this association can even be made, should be enough to tell us that something very wrong is happening to us.' International furor over Gaza's humanitarian aid Grossman's comments come amid an international furor over a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, 22 months into the war that began when Hamas attacked Israel from the enclave. Last month, the genocide scholar Omer Bartov announced in a New York Times essay that he had changed his earlier stance and concluded that Israel's campaign now constituted genocide. And earlier this week,B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, said they, too, had come to the conclusion. 'Recognizing this truth is not easy. Even for us, people who have spent years documenting state violence against Palestinians, the mind resists it. It rejects the facts like poison, tries to spit them out,' Yuli Novak, B'Tselem's executive director, wrote in The Guardian. 'But the poison is here.' Israel and its defenders staunchly deny that it is committing genocide in either intent or effect, noting that despite a heavy death toll the population of Gaza does not reflect a sustained campaign of elimination. 'Few claims are more offensive and blatantly wrong,' the American Jewish Committee said in a response to Bartov's essay. It remains to be seen whether Grossman's comments change the conversation in Israel the way he said his criticism of the occupation landed differently after his son was killed. 'There were people who stereotyped me, who considered me this naive leftist who would never send his own children into the army, who didn't know what life was made of,' he said in 2010. 'I think those people were forced to realize that you can be very critical of Israel and yet still be an integral part of it.' Solve the daily Crossword
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Israel's left and right are both making Jewish state a global pariah
Israel's international standing is being battered from both ends of its political spectrum. The far Right undermines it with reckless belligerence; the far Left corrodes it with moral preening. It's a story that could be written even before it unfolds. On Tisha B'Av, the fast day marking the destruction of the two ancient Temples in Jerusalem, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir will go up to the Temple Mount. Once there, he will make some provocative statement that will be beamed worldwide. Shortly afterward, the Prime Minister's Office will issue a statement walking it back. On Sunday, that script — predictably — played itself out yet again. Ben-Gvir ascended the Temple Mount, led prayers there — in violation of the status quo that forbids public Jewish prayer — and said the following: 'I say this precisely from here - from the Temple Mount, where we've proven sovereignty is possible - that a clear message must be sent: The entire Gaza Strip must be conquered, sovereignty declared, every Hamas member taken down, and voluntary emigration promoted. Only then will we return the hostages and win the war.' The furious reaction from Jordan and Saudi Arabia quickly followed. As did this clarification from the Prime Minister's Office: 'Israel's policy of preserving the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed, nor will it change.' Another predictable part of the ritual followed as well: people asking themselves, or their friends, why Ben-Gvir doesn't just keep quiet already, why Netanyahu doesn't muzzle him, and whether they both don't realize the damage these comments cause to Israel's standing internationally. Words that harm Israel's image Ben-Gvir is not the only far-right minister whose careless words irreparably harm Israel's image. Just last week, Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, responding to an interviewer who noted Israel was racing toward a hostage deal, said that Israel was instead racing ahead 'for Gaza to be wiped out.' He added that all of Gaza will be Jewish, and that — unlike Israel's prior settlements in Gush Katif — 'there will not be settlements inside cantons, closed up behind a fence.' At a time when Israel is facing a diplomatic backlash of the kind it has rarely experienced — when it is being accused of starving the Gazan population, committing ethnic cleansing and even genocide — statements like these are seized upon by the country's harshest critics to validate their claims. The harm is real and lasting. In the torrent of commentary last week from politicians and pundits trying to understand and explain the West's growing hostility toward Israel — in the avalanche of countries announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state and essentially reward Hamas — many pointed directly to statements like these. Not just isolated comments by Ben-Gvir or Eliyahu, but a steady stream of similar remarks over recent months from figures like Bezalel Smotrich, Orit Struck, and others. So much so that some diplomatic officials are urging Netanyahu to freeze all Gaza-related media appearances by government ministers — whether to international or domestic outlets — because even a seemingly minor interview with an obscure local radio station can and will be translated, circulated, and weaponized abroad. But here's the rub: it's not only the extreme Right that's damaging Israel's standing. Just look at the far Left. The international media is now running wild with an interview that author David Grossman gave to an Italian daily in which he described Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide. In a Friday interview with La Repubblica, Grossman said he was leveling the genocide accusation with 'intense pain and a broken heart.' 'For many years I refused to use this word,' he said. 'But now, after the images I've seen, what I've read, and what I've heard from people who were there, I can't help but use it.' Do you think Eliyahu's rhetoric was damaging? It pales in comparison to Grossman accusing Israel of genocide. As a celebrated author who lost his son in Lebanon, Grossman's words carry tremendous moral weight abroad. If he says Israel is committing genocide, then who are La Repubblica's readers — or anyone else — to argue? Grossman's defenders will say that it's the statements from Eliyahu, Ben-Gvir, and Smotrich that are isolating Israel internationally. But so are Grossman's. He may believe that by saying what he did, he's presenting the moral, compassionate face of Israel. But many abroad will simply take his words and use them — deliberately and gleefully — to portray Israel as an irredeemable villain, as a perpetrator of genocide. And Grossman is far from alone. Worried that Ben-Gvir is turning Israel into a pariah state? Consider this editorial last week by Yuli Novak, head of B'Tselem, published in the ever-hostile Guardian. The headline: 'I lead a top Israeli human rights group. Our country is committing genocide.' That headline is an echo of a recent New York Times op-ed written by an Israeli academic who has taught in the US since 1989 — Omer Bartov — titled: 'I am a genocide scholar. I know it when I see it.' His conclusion: Israel is committing genocide. All this is to say nothing of the Ehud Olmerts and Moshe Ya'alons -- the former accusing Israel of war crimes, the latter of ethnic cleansing. Their harsh words are picked up with enthusiasm by the international press, often stripped of context. Context, like Ya'alon's personal grudge as a frustrated former defense minister pushed out by Netanyahu, or Olmert's bitterness as a disgraced former prime minister who served 16 months in prison. In May, Olmert wrote in Haaretz: 'What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians. We're not doing this due to loss of control in any specific sector, not due to some disproportionate outburst by some soldiers in some unit. Rather, it's the result of government policy — knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated. Yes, Israel is committing war crimes.' That op-ed has been cited and quoted repeatedly since its publication, used by critics as authoritative evidence to support the most vile charges being leveled against the Jewish state. So what's the point? The point is simple: Israel's international standing is being battered from both ends of its political spectrum. The far Right undermines it with reckless belligerence; the far Left corrodes it with sanctimonious moral preening. One declares that Gaza should be wiped out, the other accuses Israel of genocide. One shouts, the other indicts. Both hands of ammunition to those eager to delegitimize the country. Both feed the same narrative: that Israel is evil. And left to pay the price and bear the consequences for these over-the-top and irresponsible remarks are the millions of Israelis in the middle — the vast majority — who are being defined in the eyes of the world by the rhetoric and portrayals of those on the country's extremes. Solve the daily Crossword
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Hamas orders starving hostage to dig his own grave
Hamas has released a video of an emaciated Israeli hostage digging his own grave inside a small tunnel in Gaza. In the video, Evayatar David says: 'This is the grave I think I'm going to be buried in. Time is running out. You are the only ones who can end this.' The video was approved for publication by his family despite concerns that Mr David was speaking under duress and being used as a propaganda tool by the terror group. It is the third time Hamas and affiliated groups have released videos of what appear to be starving hostages in recent days. On Sunday morning the EU called the videos appalling and barbaric and Benjamin Netanayahu, the Israeli prime minister, said he had met families of hostages to express his 'profound shock'. It comes as Gazans face a major food crisis, with widespread reports of malnutrition and hunger. Israel has been accused of intentionally starving the Strip to force Hamas into a surrender as part of a hostage release deal. Six more people died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry said on Sunday. It came as Israel said it allowed a delivery of fuel to the enclave. Egyptian state news said two trucks carrying 107 tons of diesel were set to enter Gaza, months after Israel severely restricted aid access to the enclave before easing it somewhat as starvation began to spread. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said later in the day that four tankers of UN fuel had entered to help in operations of hospitals, bakeries, public kitchens and other essential services. In the most recent video, Mr David is heard appealing to Mr Netanyahu to get him and the remaining 49 hostages out, accusing him of 'abandoning' them. Mr David, 24, shows a calendar of the month of July that he himself made, explaining which days he ate, mostly lentils and beans. At the end of the video Mr David, bare chested, pale and weak, is shown digging his own grave. His brother, Ilay, accused Hamas of using him in 'one of the most horrific and calculated campaigns of cruelty imaginable - a live hunger experiment'. 'It's an act so vile, it scars the very soul of humanity,' he said at a rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv on Saturday. The David family also released a joint statement, predicting that he only has a few days left to live in his current condition. 'The humanitarian aid that the world, together with Israel, provides to the residents of Gaza must also reach Evyatar,' the family said, calling on the Israeli government, the US and the rest of the world to do 'everything possible to save Evyatar from death and ensure, by any means necessary, that he urgently receives food and medical care'. Omer Wenkert, an Israeli former hostage, also spoke at the rally on Saturday, saying that he believed the Hamas captors will have a plentiful supply of food. 'I know they have food there beyond the door. I used to smell it every day while I was getting two handfuls of rice a day. They have light, they have everything there to give, so why, why, why don't they give it?' he said. Other former hostages have also testified that Hamas brought humanitarian aid from international NGOs down the tunnels, 'eating like kings' without offering anything to the captives. 'Terrible suffering' Gideon Sa'ar, Israel's foreign minister, called on his counterparts around the world to express a 'moral and ethical stance and to exert every possible influence to end the terrible suffering of the Israeli hostages'. Mr Sa'ar also initiated a special UN Security Council meeting on the issue of the Israeli hostages and their situation. 'The world cannot remain silent in the face of the difficult images that are the result of deliberate sadistic abuse of the hostages, which also includes starvation by Hamas and Islamic Jihad,' Mr Sa'ar said. David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, said: 'The images of hostages being paraded for propaganda are sickening. Every hostage must be released unconditionally. Hamas must disarm and have no control over Gaza.' Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign affairs chief, called the videos 'appalling', saying that they 'expose the barbarity of Hamas'. 'All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. Hamas must disarm and end its rule in Gaza. At the same time, large-scale humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach those in need,' Ms Kallas said. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said the hostage videos showed 'inhumanity without bounds'. Speaking of the 'unbearable images', Mr Macron said: 'Abject cruelty, inhumanity without bounds: this is what Hamas represents.' On Saturday tens of thousands of people had rallied in Tel Aviv to urge Mr Netanyahu's government to secure the release of the remaining hostages. The Israeli premier, who has faced mounting international pressure to halt the war, called on 'the entire world' to take a stand against what he called 'the criminal Nazi abuse perpetrated by the Hamas terror organisation'. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,430 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN. Overnight from Saturday to Sunday, air raid sirens sounded in Israeli communities near the Gaza border, with the military saying that 'a projectile that was launched from the southern Gaza Strip was most likely intercepted'. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
