A Comprehensive Guide To Genocide Denial: Israel’s Design
What is Genocide?
Genocide is commonly defined as the act or process of destroying a specific religious, racial, ethnic, national, or moral group. ‘Destroying’ could mean any range of damage, from trying to halt births or transitions into that group to full-blown executed murders of members of that targeted community.
The most well-known documented case of genocide would be the Holocaust; the state-sponsored execution of about six million Jews, homosexuals, disabled people, racial minorities, and those with differing political affiliations. These atrocities were committed by Nazis—members of the NSDAP. The NSDAP controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945 under the guise of Adolf Hitler.
The purpose of the Holocaust was to achieve Lebensraum, or living space. To the Nazis, this was best done by slaughtering millions of innocent people for the crime of being different than them.
How did other nations help during this tragedy? Well, they didn’t. While governments made their disapproval of the policies in place during Nazi Germany apparent, there was little to no interference with helping the minorities being genocided.
The real help came from the civilians speaking out against the injustice happening in Europe. Humanitarian efforts, resistance groups, and protests around the world made the real difference, pushing government officials to actually do something about the mass extermination brewing before their very eyes.
Eventually, the Holocaust came to a close after Nazi Germany was stopped by the Allied Powers during World War II.
The aftermath? A shattered nation that could only apologize for what they brought upon so many innocent people. Germany paid what dues they could offer, giving reparation money to Holocaust survivors and indemnification to individuals.
It didn’t matter; what was done was done, and nothing could ever bring back the six million deceased sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, cousins, or grandparents.
There was a saying that rose after the Holocaust: “Never again.” A promise that something as horrible as this genocide would be noticed early, called out, and stopped.
A promise that history would not repeat, would not take more pure lives away from a matter that was so easily avoidable.
Never again.
So, why is it that the ongoing genocide in Palestine is so heavily denied and supported?
Palestine & Evidence of Genocide
Palestine is a country located and surrounded by Israel. Technically, it is recognized only as a sovereign state by 157 of the 193 United Nations member states; but the discussion revolving around the legal status of countryhood is rapidly changing every day, and Palestine is commonly referred to as its own country—modernly.
Palestine has been the target of intense military attacks from Israel since October 7th, 2023. Arguably–before that date, as well. Because Palestine has fought back against Israel’s armed forces, the exchange has been labeled as a war by many media outlets. A majority of the public recognizes it as one, as well.
Then, what makes the attacks on Palestine’s grounds genocide? What is the difference between the Palestine-Israel conflict and something like the Ukraine-Russia war?
To answer these questions, one would have to go back to defining genocide. Genocide is, to remind the reader: A) The killing of the people of a specific group. B) Seeking the end of a specific group through destruction/extermination. C) Preventing births/an increase of members of a specific group.
Israeli security forces have caused the killing of the Palestinian people in obscene amounts. So far, not counting before October 7th, 2023, there have been 73,000 killed. This is persecution. Furthermore, this point extends to the second guideline of genocide, where the end of the Palestinian people is trying to be achieved by violence. This violence is exemplified by Israeli bomb strikes on Palestinian infrastructure, forced displacement, and the blocking of humanitarian aid to civilians. In an interview with Roland Friedrich, director of UNRWA affairs, he provided information that children could not access education due to previously stated displacement amongst Palestinians. “...When we look at the situation in the West Bank because of the ongoing Israeli operation, it has a very direct impact on children's ability to access education because of the displacement in the northern West Bank and because of the ongoing operations.”
The last on the list, the prevention of the increase of population of a group, shows in the attack done against the AI-Basma IVF Clinic; in which there were roughly 4,000 embryos and 1,000 sperm samples/unfertilized eggs completely decimated.
Now that evidence of a genocide is present, this leads us back to the main point–why is this genocide so heavily denied, while the Holocaust is treated as one of humanity’s greatest crimes?
The Denial of Genocide & Where it Blossoms
Inherently, people are not bad. Most people do not strive to be or condone objective evil. This is why the mere thought of genocide occurring is enough to rile people up so much. This is also, indirectly, the reason behind the mass hysteria of the entire Israeli-Palestinian hostility.
The denial of a genocide stems from two main factors: misinformation and moral inversion. In this specific circumstance, Israel has the advantage of antisemitism.
Antisemitism is the prejudice against Jewish people, which is what drove the Holocaust. Therefore, it is incredibly easy to pin an ‘anti-jew’ spotlight on those who try to put responsibility onto Israel. Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky, such critics of Israel’s manner of military operating, have been labeled as antisemitic, self-hating Jews by a percentage of the public, along with Israeli media outlets. This strikes a fear amongst those people weary of Israeli actions and causes a certain reluctance to speak up about injustice caused by the country, in fear of being labeled as antisemetic.
There is also the belief that victims would never be able to become an oppressor. Israel houses a majority of Jewish people; this sprouts the thought of, ‘why would the targeted demographic of the Holocaust go and cause another genocide to stir?’ Questioning the validity of the claim of genocide.
Now, everybody knows what misinformation is; that needs no introduction. Misinformation can cause a ripple of a biased opinion across so many people that it becomes difficult to show reality to so many people again. This is harmful, as nobody could tell the truth from falsehood.
What is moral inversion? Moral inversion, as the name implies, is the distortion of morals. This is typically epitomized by an immoral act being justified by other immoral people/ideas.
Moral inversion, in simplicity, is psychological. It is a manipulation tactic used to pull people’s eyes away from what is happening and look at it through rose-tinted lenses. It is meant to get people to question their own morality when placed on another pedestal.
Now that genocide denial is something you can understand and can now recognize, how can you help?
How Can I Help?
If stopping a genocide was easy, it would have been over and done with years ago. The first step starts with you, and even one person can help by spreading awareness about what is happening. Again, people are not inherently bad. The average person will listen when educated, and hopefully will pass the information along.
Donations, volunteering as humanitarian assistance, and writing letters to political representatives are all things that could help end this crisis.
It starts with you.
