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An anti-Zionist protestor repeats the lie—against all evidence—that Israel commits genocide, while also asserting that delegitimizing the Jewish state and demonizing the Jewish people is not anti-Semitic. However, by the globally accepted definition, anti-Zionism is indeed anti-Semitism.
The Israel Genocide Slander
Of all the lies told by Israel’s enemies, the accusation of genocide is the greatest falsehood—refuted by the word’s meaning and all facts. Why do they repeat it?
Despite a complete absence of aggression targeting any people based on religion or ethnicity, despite unmatched efforts to spare the lives of enemies bent on Israel’s destruction—and make peace with them—the world’s only Jewish state still draws the unjust accusation of genocide.
Facts completely refute the anti-Semitic lie
What are the facts?
In May 2021, as Israel defended itself against 4,500 Hamas missile attacks from Gaza, actor Mark Ruffalo accused Israel of genocide. Later, Ruffalo retracted, saying the accusation is “not accurate, it’s . . . being used to justify antisemitism.” Later that year, a college student told Vice President Kamala Harris that Israel is involved in “ethnic genocide.” Harris responded that “your voice, your truth, should not be suppressed.” Unlike the Vice President, Ruffalo was correct: The statement is anti-Semitic, because it’s slanderous—a lie.
What is genocide? “Genocide” defines “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” The Jews of Europe are the best-known victims of genocide. Hitler’s Germany tried to eliminate the Jewish people—killed six million for their “crime” of being Jewish. Likewise, the Armenian genocide: In World War I, Ottoman Turks targeted Armenians in order to reduce their population to prevent an Armenians state. Some 600,000 to 1.5 million Armenians were killed. More recently, East Timor, with a population of 650,000, was invaded by Indonesia in 1975. In the next 25 years approximately 18,600 people were killed and another 84,200 deaths were caused by Indonesia’s starvation campaign to exterminate the East Timorese.
While many other modern incidents have been termed genocide, they all have in common the intentional murder or physical displacement of a national, ethnic or religious group.
Are Palestinians victims of genocide? Since Israel’s founding, an estimated 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in military conflicts—the majority in wars or terror attacks initiated by Palestinians against Israel. Of these, an estimated 4,000-5,000 Palestinians died as non-combatants involuntarily exposed to battle, usually as human shields. Clearly, combatants killed in their own aggressive attacks are not examples of genocide—nor are unintentional civilian casualties of such battles.
Has Israel tried to eliminate the Palestinian people? There’s zero evidence that Israel has intentionally targeted innocent Palestinians. Indeed, Israel’s attacks on its enemies are uniformly defensive responses to unprovoked aggression. In addition, Israel famously avoids harming civilians during its battles with Hamas and other terrorists—even issuing advance warnings of retaliation. Israel also annually donates thousands of tons of medicines, food and other essentials to sustain Palestinians in Gaza—despite regular attacks on Israel by Hamas. Thousands of Palestinians also travel to Israel every year to receive free medical care.
Have Palestinians been illegally removed from their land? While Israeli courts do evict Palestinian “squatters” from lands owned by Jews and from Israeli public lands, this is simply rule of law. Palestinians also claim to “own” vast territories on which they have never had sovereignty and to which they have no legal claim.
In addition, about 750,000 Arabs left Israel during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence—when Arab armies invaded. At least half fled of their own free will. Others were removed by Israel for their safety or they were suspected enemies. (Some 156,000 Arabs chose to remain in Israel during this war and have thrived.) Such dislocations take place in all major military conflicts—millions of Europeans in World War II and between 10-20 million people when India and Pakistan became independent in 1947. Dislocation as a result of war—rather than as its goal—is not genocide.
Palestinian-Arabs have multiplied with no interference from Israel: Palestinian population at Israel’s birth in 1948 was about 1.3 million—today it’s about 6.8 million, of which some two million are Israeli Arab citizens. Such robust population growth alone refutes accusations of genocide.
Why do Israel’s enemies repeat the anti-Zionist slander? Those who oppose Israel’s existence cannot use honest facts to convince people of good will that Israel is evil. In fact, Israel wants peace and has offered it many times to Palestinians over 74 years. Yet, the Palestinians have greeted these offers with thousands of terrorist attacks, killing some 3,500 Israeli civilians.
Time to refute the Israel genocide lie. False accusations of genocide are attempts to delegitimize the Jewish state, demonize Jews and destroy Israel. These tactics perfectly fit the globally accepted definition of anti-Semitism. Those who attack Israel with this falsehood fully deserve the label of anti-Semite.
