The Politics of genocide

I’ve deliberately kept quiet about the Israeli -Palestine conflict since everything that could be said about the situation has been said. This is not to belittle the deaths or anything but I don’t have much value to add. Countries have a right to defend themselves and while we can argue about the appropriate response, proportionality etc., it seems that people are forgetting that Hamas is a terrorist organization. Obviously, I’m not justifying the deaths of the 700+ Palestinians but Hamas routinely uses human shields and group members are firing mortars and rockets from civilian locations. This could help explain the disproportionate death toll. In any event, it’s time for a ceasefire and I hope President-Elect Obama can work towards this.

One thing interesting about the coverage is the flippant use of the word “genocide,” the overuse of which should be duly noted. A genocide is a concerted attempt to wipe out members of a certain ethnic or religious group and last time I checked, Israel isn’t perpetrating a campaign against Muslims, only against Hamas members. Indeed, when we look at the charter of terrorist entities like Hamas, we see that eliminating Israel is a stated goal and yet, we don’t consider this a threat of genocide. When I read stories comparing Israeli actions to Nazis, it makes me sick to my stomach. It’s one thing to dislike war but to equate the two is evil. A friend actually told me that it was ironic that a country founded after a massive campaign of ethnic cleansing is “masterminding” it’s own. Umm, that’s really fucked up. So, here’s my humble plea- can we please not use the word Genocide, Nazis, fascists or a permutation of these just because we disagree with something or dislike someone? I know that it’s the perfect straw man but doing so cheapens the memory of the 6 million Jews who died during the Holocaust and also belittles the suffering of those facing real genocide in Darfur. We’re also  left with this then- why can people take to the streets over Palestine while the campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Janjaweed is virtually ignored? If only we could muster a quarter of the indignation generated by Israel’s actions and direct it towards Darfur, things may be a little different in the region. But then again, Israel is everyone’s favorite punching bag.

-Indira