We have the very recent example of actual "outside agitators" (not students or faculty, some of them in fact Israeli military vets) attacking an anti-genocide encampment at UCLA. That was on camera for all the world to see, and as of yet, the police have done precisely jack shit to arrest the violent attackers, many of whom have been ide…
We have the very recent example of actual "outside agitators" (not students or faculty, some of them in fact Israeli military vets) attacking an anti-genocide encampment at UCLA. That was on camera for all the world to see, and as of yet, the police have done precisely jack shit to arrest the violent attackers, many of whom have been identified.
And by the way, saying those who are protesting the US-Israeli genocide are "pro-Hamas" is the same old, same old bullshit: when us oldsters protested the US invasion of Vietnam, we were "pro-Viet Cong." When we protested the US destruction of Iraq, we were "pro-Saddam." Try to wrap your mind around the idea that genocide isn't something to be proud of.
Try to wrap your mind around the idea that my deliberate use of "pro-Hamas" was to try to get you to understand that this is how you sound when you use the term "anti-genocide". It's a loaded term that begs the question and ignores reality, the same way that "anti-fascists" just go around calling anything they don't like "fascism", rather than actual fascism.
Of course you can alter the definition of "genocide" to mean whatever you want, in the same way that idiots altered the definition of "racism" to suit their purposes. But that doesn't mean anyone has to agree with you.
The International Court of Justice found Israel to be committing a "plausible genocide" months ago, when the slaughter was nowhere near the level it has since reached. Aryeh Neier, co-founder of Human Rights Watch, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, now says this is a genocide. I didn't pull the term out of my ass, or use it lightly. Israel, and its acolytes may attempt to deny it, but with 5% of the population of Gaza already dead, Israel bombing everything in sight, and with massive starvation and destruction of medical care about to kill many more, the denial has no credibility. The Genocide Convention was adopted by the UN in 1948, and went into effect in 1951. Here's a good description:
"The Convention defines genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." These five acts include killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group. Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly.[4] The convention further criminalizes "complicity, attempt, or incitement of its commission." Member states are prohibited from engaging in genocide and obligated to pursue the enforcement of this prohibition. All perpetrators are to be tried regardless of whether they are private individuals, public officials, or political leaders with sovereign immunity."
The overwhelming majority of people - a significant percentage of us Jewish - protesting this genocide, and the US role in it - are not "pro-Hamas," or "pro-Islamic Jihad" or "pro-whatever other Palestinian group." We're citizens of our home countries, appalled by the massive, blatant, slaughter and displacement of the Palestinian people by an apartheid state. Don't even try to claim that's a pejorative term being thrown about: the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says so, Amnesty International says so, Human Rights Watch says so, Israeli military and political leaders have so described Israel and its rule over millions of Palestinians. This isn't a matter of altering definitions. It's the proper application of the commonly accepted definitions to Israel, as they would be to any other state. No question begging or ignoring of reality going on in my comments, sorry.
We have the very recent example of actual "outside agitators" (not students or faculty, some of them in fact Israeli military vets) attacking an anti-genocide encampment at UCLA. That was on camera for all the world to see, and as of yet, the police have done precisely jack shit to arrest the violent attackers, many of whom have been identified.
And by the way, saying those who are protesting the US-Israeli genocide are "pro-Hamas" is the same old, same old bullshit: when us oldsters protested the US invasion of Vietnam, we were "pro-Viet Cong." When we protested the US destruction of Iraq, we were "pro-Saddam." Try to wrap your mind around the idea that genocide isn't something to be proud of.
Try to wrap your mind around the idea that my deliberate use of "pro-Hamas" was to try to get you to understand that this is how you sound when you use the term "anti-genocide". It's a loaded term that begs the question and ignores reality, the same way that "anti-fascists" just go around calling anything they don't like "fascism", rather than actual fascism.
Of course you can alter the definition of "genocide" to mean whatever you want, in the same way that idiots altered the definition of "racism" to suit their purposes. But that doesn't mean anyone has to agree with you.
The International Court of Justice found Israel to be committing a "plausible genocide" months ago, when the slaughter was nowhere near the level it has since reached. Aryeh Neier, co-founder of Human Rights Watch, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, now says this is a genocide. I didn't pull the term out of my ass, or use it lightly. Israel, and its acolytes may attempt to deny it, but with 5% of the population of Gaza already dead, Israel bombing everything in sight, and with massive starvation and destruction of medical care about to kill many more, the denial has no credibility. The Genocide Convention was adopted by the UN in 1948, and went into effect in 1951. Here's a good description:
"The Convention defines genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." These five acts include killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group. Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly.[4] The convention further criminalizes "complicity, attempt, or incitement of its commission." Member states are prohibited from engaging in genocide and obligated to pursue the enforcement of this prohibition. All perpetrators are to be tried regardless of whether they are private individuals, public officials, or political leaders with sovereign immunity."
The overwhelming majority of people - a significant percentage of us Jewish - protesting this genocide, and the US role in it - are not "pro-Hamas," or "pro-Islamic Jihad" or "pro-whatever other Palestinian group." We're citizens of our home countries, appalled by the massive, blatant, slaughter and displacement of the Palestinian people by an apartheid state. Don't even try to claim that's a pejorative term being thrown about: the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says so, Amnesty International says so, Human Rights Watch says so, Israeli military and political leaders have so described Israel and its rule over millions of Palestinians. This isn't a matter of altering definitions. It's the proper application of the commonly accepted definitions to Israel, as they would be to any other state. No question begging or ignoring of reality going on in my comments, sorry.
"intent to destroy" - that's the part you need to pay more attention to