The Israelis killed more people in about 18 months than were killed in the entire Bosnian genocide.
Nothing looks as serious when you're making comparisons to two of the worst genocides in human history.
And not a great look to say the horrifying, systemic murder of a population isn't a genocide because they aren't massacring innocents fast enough.
Referencing this post. I'm getting to this waaaaay late.
My argument circles back to the question of intent. As I discussed here, without intent, there is no genocide. Genocide is thus kind of unique among war crimes and crimes against humanity. With that in mind, let's compare.
The Bosnian genocide was perpetrated by the Army of the Republic of Srpska (VRS). The VRS was one of many splinters of the Yugoslav People's Army, and at the time of Srebrenica (1995) numbered about 150,000 personnel (CIA, Balkan Battlegrounds: Volume 2, p. 268). This force was distributed across the entire Bosnian conflict, including approximately 20,000 at the siege of Sarajevo (1992-96) alone. This was an effective army, and it was a brutal army, but it was not all-powerful. Its resources were limited.
Israel, by contrast, had overwhelming military superiority on land, sea, and air. Their Iron Dome greatly limited Hamas' ability to retaliate. Israel, in collaboration with Egypt, had complete control over all people and goods entering and exiting Gaza. They outnumbered their opponent. They out-equipped their opponent. Barring October 7, they out-intelligenced their opponent.
Dates for Srebrenica are frustratingly difficult to pin down. The starting date is agreed to be 11 July 1995, but the ending date...
Wikipedia (7pm EST 22/10/2025) directly contradicts itself, listing 11 to 31 July on the page for the massacre itself, but listing 11 to 13 July on the page for the Bosnian Genocide. Encyclopædia Britannica lists 11 to 16 July. The BBC lists 11 July as the starting date and says it "did not stop for 10 days," which would put the ending at 20 or 21 July, depending on if 11 July is included or not. srebrenicamemorial.org lists Srebrenica itself as lasting until the 15 or 16 July, with nearby massacres continuing until 20 July.
Using the longest time span, 11 to 31 July, including both dates in the count, gives us 21 days. The death toll at Srebrenica was 8372.
8372 / 21 = ~399 deaths per day.
Using the BBC and srebrenicamemorial's final date 20 July gives us 10 days for the duration of the massacre.
8372 / 10 = ~837 deaths per day.
Using Encyclopædia Britannica and srebrenicamemorial's 16 July gives us 6 days.
8372 / 6 = ~1395 deaths per day.
Let's graph those out with the numbers from the previous post for Gaza and Cambodia.
Huh. Even the lowest death rate for Srebrenica is more than twice the highest estimated death rate in Gaza. And, just to refresh your memory, here's Rwanda and Operation Reinhard.
The Army of the Republic of Srpska had less than 3000 soldiers on hand at Srebrenica. They had artillery support, but minimal air power and armor, and yet they were able to kill at a rate 2 ‒ 10 times higher than Israel in Gaza.
Israel has one of the world's most modern armed forces. It has overwhelming armored, air, and numerical superiority. It is operating on its own border.
If Israel had been determined to commit a genocide in Gaza, why did they drag their feet for so long? They have at least 150,000 soldiers deployed right now. If they had sent in a tenth of that to sweep through Gaza, indiscriminately killing everyone they came across—you know, like Rwanda, Cambodia, Srebrenica, Babyn Yar, Nanking, the roving bands of Einsatzgruppen on the Eastern Front, or even like individual massacres like Mỹ Lai—they could have easily increased the elimination rate of Gazans twenty-fold.
Israel does not lack the means to commit genocide. As far as means for delivering destruction go, Israel has a greater capacity for such than almost any nation on the planet, barring nuclear weapons. As I said in my previous post:
If Israel's intent is to genocide the people of Gaza, they're not doing a very good job of it.
I believe Israel has committed many war crimes in Gaza. I have said so in my pinned post, and many others besides. I do not believe, based on both circumstantial and direct evidence, that Israel had or has genocidal intent with regards to Gaza.
