Reactions to Netanyahu's latest escalation in Gaza

Israel’s military assault on Gaza civilians is – horribly - likely to go on for a long time, at least if Netanyahu‘s government has its way. (1)

The EU and Britain are currently becoming more critical of Israel than they normally ever are. It’s not yet nearly enough. But moving in the right direction is always something worth applauding.

One of the distinctive features of the politics of the situation is that Netanyahu partisans work hard to equate criticism of Israel and its actions as anti-Semitic. It’s understandable, though morally indefensible, that partisans of Netanyahu’s policies of making war on Palestinian civilians are also anti-Semitic. It’s ridiculous. Yes, it’s true that antisemites can use criticism of Israel’s action as an attack on Jews more generally. It’s also true that far-right political parties and groups like the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party or the American Christian Zionist group Christians United For Israel (CUFI) who entertain or encourage actual antisemitic ideology are willing to cheer Israel’s violence against Muslims. They can then say, “Look, we’re cheering Israel’s war on Palestinians so we can’t possibly be antisemitic.”

But people watching what some commentators have called the world’s first “live-televised genocide” don’t have to approve of these horrors and certainly don’t have to silently or explicitly consent to their own governments being part of it. That description is probably not literally true, since television has been around since the 1940s and some horrible incidents have happened since, including ones in Bosnia and Rwanda, that were legally adjudicated to be genocides. (2)

Owen Jones gives an impassioned report on an incident that illustrates the social and official pressure that is being applied in various countries: (3)

Human Rights Watch reported recently:

In early May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved a plan dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots,” which it says could start as soon as US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region concludes on May 16. The plan involves forcibly displacing much of the Palestinian population of Gaza while seizing and occupying the territory. “There will be no in-and-out,” Netanyahu announced on May 5. Israel is “finally going to conquer the Gaza Strip,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry and sits on the security cabinet. Smotrich, who has said that Gaza will be “completely destroyed” and its Palestinian population will “leave in great numbers to third countries,” also suggests these plans should not be adjusted, even if hostages are released.

When coupled with the systematic destruction of homes, apartment buildings, orchards and fields, schools, hospitals, and water and sanitation facilities, as well as the use of starvation as a weapon of war—acts that amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity including extermination, and acts of genocide—these plans trigger the “duty to prevent” under the Genocide Convention. For the 153 states that are parties to it, the duty to prevent genocide arises as soon as a state learns, or should normally have learned, of a serious risk that genocide may be committed. A definitive determination that genocide is already underway is not required, as Human Rights Watch set out in an April 2025 intervention in a case currently before the UK courts challenging the UK government’s decision to continue to license military equipment used by Israeli forces in Gaza. (4) [internal links not included]

Is it reasonable to call this a genocide? Sondos Asem recently reported:

A growing number of the world’s leading genocide scholars believe that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, according to an investigation by Dutch newspaper NRC.

The paper interviewed seven renowned genocide and Holocaust researchers* from six countries - including Israel - all of whom described the Israeli campaign in Gaza as genocidal. Many said their peers in the field share this assessment.

"Can I name someone whose work I respect who does not think it is genocide? No, there is no counterargument that takes into account all the evidence," Israeli researcher Raz Segal told NRC.

Professor Ugur Umit Ungor of the University of Amsterdam and NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies said that while there are certainly researchers who say it is not genocide, "I don't know them". (5)

The Dutch NRC report interviewed seven genocide scholars, all of whom concer with the “genocide” label: Shmuel Lederman, Dirk Moses, Melanie O'Brien, Raz Segal, Martin Shaw, Ugur Umit Ungor, and Iva Vukusic.

Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, a longtime critic of Israel’s reckless wars and its criminal Palestinian policies, recently commented on the current grim situation: (6)

Meanwhile, Netanyahu continues his long obsession with attacking Iran’s nuclear program.

The US has obtained new intelligence suggesting that Israel is making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, even as the Trump administration has been pursuing a diplomatic deal with Tehran, multiple US officials familiar with the latest intelligence told CNN. Such a strike would be a brazen break with President Donald Trump, US officials said. It could also risk tipping off a broader regional conflict in the Middle East — something the US has sought to avoid since the war in Gaza inflamed tensions beginning in 2023. (7)

The United States plays a critical role in this. Netanyahu is waging this genocidal military campaign with the massive military support being provided by the Trump 2.0 Administration. Anyone who is still trying to picture Trump as a Peace President will be quick to say that Biden did so, too. And they would be right. There is no legitimate excuse for either one of them.

Chaim Levinson describes Trump’s current choice bluntly:

In the next day or two U.S. President Donald Trump and his right hand man Steve Witkoff will have to make a strategic decision: whether to confront Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly and publicly and force on him a cease-fire and an end to the war, or to give in and let Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich carry out his plan to destroy Gaza. The diplomatic cauldron is on the verge of boiling over, and it looks as though there's no more time. ...

In talks with the hostages' families, in briefings to the senators and in dialogue with their counterparts in the Gulf, the White House staff members repeatedly declare their desire for an end to the war. However, Trump has yet to adopt the necessary steps for ending it, and is sitting on the fence in the hope that the sides will reach an understanding on their own. [my emphasis] (8)

Notes:

(1) Do Western states' condemnations of Israel's offensive in Gaza go beyond rhetoric? DW news YouTube channel 05/20/2025. <https://youtu.be/YSbz9jMjtdA?si=fshiok1qnUUGQXl4> (Accessed: 2025-21-05).

(2) See, for instance: Thompson, Allan, ed. (2007): The Media and the Rwanda Genocide. Kampala: Fountain Publishers. And: Clarke, John Nathaniel (2018): British Media and the Rwandan Genocide. New York: Routledge.

(3) Gary Lineker DRIVEN OUT By BBC... For Opposing Israel's GENOCIDE. Owen Jones YouTube channel 05/20/2025. <https://youtu.be/45wt3d3FEiU?si=lgaLdc3T1ioM0Dcn> (Accessed: 2025-21-05).

(4) Gaza: Latest Israeli Plan Inches Closer to Extermination. Human Rights Watch 05/15/2025. <https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/05/15/gaza-latest-israeli-plan-inches-closer-extermination> (Accessed: 2025-21-05).

(5) Asem, Sondos (2025): Top genocide scholars unanimous that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza: Dutch investigation. Middle East Eye 05/17/2025. <https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/top-genocide-scholars-unanimous-israel-committing-genocide-gaza-investigation-finds> (Accessed: 2025-21-05).

(6) Gideon Levy: 'Israel won't care about sanction threats'. Middle East Eye YouTube channel 05/20/2025. <https://youtu.be/bBd7pVjv9R4?si=KbRmvNWHmwLhBhUw> (Accessed: 2025-21-05).

(7) Sciutto, Jim, et.al. (2025): New intelligence suggests Israel is preparing possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, US officials say. CNN 05/20/2025. <https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/20/politics/intelligence-israel-possible-strike-iran-nuclear-facilities> (Accessed: 2025-21-05).

(8) Levinson, Chaim (2025): Trump's Choice: End the War in Gaza or Let Israel's Far Right Destroy It. Haaretz 05/21/2025. <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-05-21/ty-article/.premium/trump-has-to-decide-end-israels-war-on-gaza-or-let-smotrich-have-his-way/00000196-ef0b-d945-a5b6-ff3be1030000> (Accessed: 2025-21-05).