The Cold Calculations of Genocide

Reflections on ending another year of genocide

Photo by ian borg on Unsplash

As the year comes to a close, we are once again confronted with unrelenting genocide. It feels as if we are at the lowest point in human history. We are. And yet, we have further to go. The men who lead us seem intent on continuing the destruction of human life. We feel powerless to stop it. But we are not.

We—supporters of the human rights of the Palestinians—have had some stunning wins this year. Palestine Action succeeded in shutting down three Elbit factories: juries still refuse to judge them as guilty for actively trying to stop the murder of innocents. Anti-Zionism has become a protected characteristic in UK law. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel is plausibly committing genocide. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. The ICJ ruled that Israel is an apartheid state that must be dismantled as such.

Western leaders have increasingly called Israel out. Spain has taken the lead, with Ireland close behind—Netanyahu threw such a tantrum that he closed the Israeli embassy in Ireland, only for it to be turned into a Palestinian museum. That’s a double burn, sweetheart.

But most importantly, eyes have been opened to the suffering of the Palestinians. Those of us who, since childhood, have advocated for the Palestinians never believed we would see the day when the world collectively turned on Israel. Most importantly, the Palestinians never thought they’d see this day. But after 76 years of brutal oppression, the world finally sees them! The people of the world have grown tired of Israel's faux and false victimhood and have finally acknowledged the oppression of the Palestinian people.

Despite all of this, we have still failed to stop a genocide—not just in Palestine, but in Sudan and everywhere else people are oppressed. We failed to stop Israel annexing Lebanese and Syrian land. We failed to stop the murder and bloodshed in the DR Congo. We have failed to rid the West of systemic and systematic poverty—a quiet war against its own populations, with 30% of UK children living in poverty. MPs who speak out are suspended by the Prime Minister himself.

We have so much work to do. But it is far easier when eyes are open than when heads are buried in the sand.

One of the most disgusting things this past year about our Western leaders is not just their brazen disregard for human rights and their complicity and participation in genocide—it is the gaslighting that is their genocide denialism. Men like David Lammy, who claim in Parliament that there is no genocide in Gaza because not enough people have been slaughtered yet, are emblematic of this. Forget the brutality of the oppression, the murder, the imprisonment, the torture, the rape, the infanticide, the starvation—he believes that all that matters is the numbers killed. Compared to Rwanda or the European Holocaust, Gaza has not yet met his threshold. Never mind that genocide is not about numbers! It is about the intent to destroy a people and the actions taken to realise that aim.

How depraved are these men in their cold calculation of human life? They refuse to accept Israel’s crimes because, in their view, not enough have died—or been tortured in every way—yet.

So how disappointing that so many commentators—anti-Zionist among them—have given unbridled legitimacy to these leaders, to the likes of David Lammy, Joe Biden, and Keir Starmer. By using the exact same arguments, the same comparisons of victim numbers, they deny the crimes of Assad, or minimise his oppression, murder, torture, and depravity against the Syrian people. By using the same arguments, they give strength to and empower the rhetoric of genocide deniers. It is a dark path to wander.

In the last year, eyes have been opened to the mass suffering inflicted upon the Palestinians. This coming year, our resolution should be to open our eyes to the suffering of humanity as a whole and to pledge to reject all oppression—wherever it exists and whoever the victims may be.

As we enter a season of reflection and renewal, it is time to confront the hypocrisy and moral failures that enable oppression and deny justice.

To fight oppression anywhere, we must reject it everywhere.

And to that we must confront our morality and ask ourselves: What do we truly stand for— and is it truly the rejection of all oppression, everywhere?