SUSAN ABULHAWA: I want to say that the reality on the ground is infinitely worse than the worst videos and photos that we’re seeing in the West. There is a — you know, beyond people being buried alive en masse in their homes, their bodies being shredded to pieces, these kinds of videos and images that people are seeing — beyond that, there is this daily massive degradation of life. It is a total denigration of a whole society, that was once high-functioning and proud and has basically been reduced to the most primal of ambitions, you know, being able to get enough water for the day or flour to bake bread. And this is even in Rafah.
And the people in Rafah will tell you that they feel privileged because they’re not starving to death, while their families in the north, the ones that they can reach, because Israel has basically cut off 99% of communication — what remains are basically communications by people who have, you know, set up some ingenious ways to keep internet in the north. But most people in the north have no idea what’s happening. As a matter of fact, at one point — I’m sure you all know Bisan Owda, who is on Facebook. She explained to me she often goes up to the border between Khan Younis and the middle area in the north where you can’t go beyond, and she explained to me that an aid truck, that sort of pushed its way through but was eventually fired on, had — people came up and ran up, thinking that the war was over and people were returning to the north. So, most people in the north are in total darkness and hunger and really have no way of communicating, no way of figuring out where to get food.
And, you know, what we’re hearing on the ground is surreal. It’s dystopic. What I witnessed personally in Rafah and in some of the middle areas is incomprehensible. And I will call it a holocaust — and I don’t use that word lightly. But it is absolutely that.
I recommend listening to the whole thing, but this is the most harrowing part for me. The death toll is likely a massive undercount and, if the Zionists have their way, we will never be allowed to know the truth.
So the term ‘genocide’ isnt enough anymore, now ‘holocaust’ gets used? Its not like these terms are without meaning. Genocide for example has a clear definition – and its highly debated if the war of Israel against Hamas is a genocide on the Palestinians. There are 5 criteria and 4 aren’t met, and the fifth is debated.
Using now the term ‘holocaust’ (which is defined as ‘the systematic killing of European jews by the Nazis’) because you need to up one your language just doesnt make any sense.
Maybe you shouldn’t have used the term in the genocide so lightly before. Its just clickbaiting at the expense of Palestinians, because no one takes you serious anymore.
There are 5 criteria and 4 aren’t met, and the fifth is debated.
The five criteria are:
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Killing members of the group;
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Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
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Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
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Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
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Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Sure as fuck looks to me like 4 out of 5 are very clearly being met. Why the fuck are you lying? We can all see what’s happening! Only the transfer of children isn’t happening, and that’s only because Zionists are too racist to want Arab children.
Systematic starvation of an entire population! Population concentration in camps! Mass murder of anyone they want! It’s a Holocaust.
You are completely missing one point: it happens due to them being part of the group.
And since Palestinians and Arabs are also living unharmed in Israel this isnt the case.
And how is the killing of Palestinians right now through Israelis a killing of Jewish population in 40s Europe? Some sort of time traveling happening here?
Sorry, you’re missing some context. That list is of examples, but the genocide convention also says “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”
So, no, actually it’s still genocide even if they’re only exterminating a portion of the group.
Also “holocaust” is a word with its own meaning outside of the specific context of Nazi Germany. There’s a difference between a holocaust and The Holocaust.
Soldiers are dedicating bodies. Children are starving and being buried alive. Prisoners are terrorized, sexually assaulted, tortured, and murdered. Most importantly, however, people and corpses are burned - not in ovens, but with bombs.
Have you never heard the term nuclear holocaust?
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