Mick Hartley

Palestinian Bassem Eid in the Times of Israel points the finger at the real genocidists in the Gaza conflict:

Hamas’ desire to violently destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamist theocracy is hardly a secret; they openly and repeatedly expressed their intentions in their 1988 founding charter and in their oft stated desire to repeat October 7 over and over in televised interviews.

Since its violent take over of Gaza in 2007, Hamas has deliberately propagated genocidal rhetoric throughout Gazan society. The curriculum for Gazan children features incitement to kill Jews, support for terrorism, and prayers for Israel’s destruction. Children and young teens in Hamas summer camps practice stabbing, shooting, and kidnapping Jewish civilians. Copies of Mein Kampf have been found in terror bases across the enclave.

Holocaust scholars recognize that a key stage of genocide is denial, and historically, its worst perpetrators (notably the Nazis) took great pains to cover up their crimes. Hamas, on the other hand, filmed and broadcast their savage atrocities for the world to witness. Yahya Sinwar, planning the assault, directed Hamas to deliberately target civilians and residential communities. As victims–like kidnapped children and the violated corpse of a young woman–were paraded through the streets, scores of civilians emerged into the streets to spit on them, celebrate, and hand out candies.

And yet much of the world – building on decades of anti-Israel reporting, and the glorification of so-called Palestinian rights – was only too happy to seize the chance at last to turn the tables on those troublesome Jews, and accuse them of genocide when they dared to fight back. Resurrection of the old antisemitic tropes fitted nicely with a displaced colonial guilt that could, with much historical distortion, be loaded onto Israel.

As a Palestinian, it is vital that I speak the truth. Hamas committed genocide on October 7th. Every attempt to aggravate their denial by smearing Israel only dishonors the victims, weakens the legitimacy of real genocide charges, and protects the perpetrators. Justice must be done, and history must never forget the crimes that were committed on October 7, 2023 – and by whom.