A not even remotely friendly reminder that if you want to perpetuate the claim that Israel is commiting genocide in Gaza, you don't get to lie that the ICJ "agrees" with you. It doesn't - it's a court, not a twitter account.
The only one responsible for you being incorrect is you.
recently, i’ve been tracing the origin of the blood libel smear against israel— this will be one of the main things i cover in my directed reading/senior project, but it dates back to at least the 1990s. here, here, here, and here are examples from that period. this claim has shifted from a conspiracy touted by extremist fringe academics to being assimilated into mainstream discourse.
keywords used in these texts and those like it revolve around rededicating/redefining/reforming the definition of a genocide, specifically with regard to what are touted as unprecedented human rights violations by israel. holocaust inversion and the sense of almost parental disappointment that we jews did not “learn” anything from it abound.
i keep seeing the same names and circular arguments pop up, namely illan pappé and edward said, among others. pappé, in his own words, does not believe that historical truth exists, and feels thusly entitled to revise and completely rewrite historical narratives as he sees fit.
words like incremental, gradual, silent, and hidden have been evoked to accuse israel of genocidal intent for upwards of thirty years. these texts vehemently accuse israel of inhuman cruelty and exacting violence to the point of genocide— how can this narrative be sustained for decades? how is it possible that a nation regularly vilified for its military strength and capabilities would be so ham-fisted as to be unsuccessfully committing a “silent” genocide for decades?
these arguments do not make any sense and have not made any sense for the 30+ years they have been circulating.
My favorite type of "IDF are demons" story is just when the article just is a list of quotes from "unidentified IDF soldiers" listing as many legal criteria for war crimes as humanly possible.
"Yes, we laid in ambush to wait for Gazan orphans to walk buy, making sure to check that they had no combat uniforms or weapons of any kind before engaging, then we shot them in the head and the crotch so we could feed their bodies to dogs, but not before draining their blood to make matzah with. Yes I knew this was against international law but those were our orders from Netanyahu himself."
Rebutted: UN Inquiry Report Falsely Accuses Israel of "Genocide"
honestreporting: This week, the @unitednations Commission of Inquiry dropped a 72-page report accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza.
The headlines went viral. The report itself?...Didn't.
Stacked with biased commissioners, cherry-picked quotes, Hamas-supplied data, omissions of tunnels and hostages, and even fabricated stories, it’s a sham dressed up in UN language.
Don’t be fooled by the UN’s stamp of approval. It's a war; not a genocide.
IAGS leadership accused of a variety of practices designed to stifle opposition to a highly controversial motion claiming Israel is committi
Yesterday there was the news that the IAGS did a majority vote that claimed Israel does conduct a genocide in the war against Hamas in Gaza but this here is the real story behind it. Apparently the voting was chaotic and the actual majority of the scholars didn't even vote!
Here's an excerpt from the article:
The International Association of Genocide Scholars has been condemned for a controversial declaration that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, with a member of the body describing how “the process was a disaster from start to finish”.
In a step widely reported on by international media yesterday, the IAGS, widely described as “the world’s leading association of genocide scholars”, voted to recognise Israel’s conduct in Gaza as a genocide – though almost three quarters of its 500 person membership did not vote. The Association’s President, Melanie O’Brien, described the resolution as “a definitive statement from experts in the field of genocide studies that what is going on on the ground in Gaza is genocide”.
However, Dr Sarah Brown, a member of the IAGS, said: “I have been a member… for over a decade and can confirm the process was a disaster from start to finish. Those of us against the resolution tried to submit our concerns for discussion but were blocked by the leadership.
“We were promised a town hall, which is a common practice for controversial resolutions, but the president of the association reversed that. The association has also refused to disclose who were the authors of the resolution.”
Dr Brown went on to describe how “this resolution is incorrect in its assessment of Israel’s conduct in Gaza. It includes many unsubstantiated claims, is poorly cited (using deeply biased, questionable sources), and perpetuates an intentionally distorted analyses of the Israel Hamas War.”
She said: “This resolution does real harm by recklessly bandying the term ‘genocide’ to describe this war and gives fodder to the people who will read this resolution and leverage it to justify hurting Jews.
“Anyone who considers themself a genocide scholar should feel embarrassed by this vote.”
Now that looks indeed a bit different from what was published yesterday, right!?
Someone posted this article on Bluesky and tagged Melanie O'Brien to which she reportedly reacted with a block and nothing else. 🤷
