Report from Gaza: Palestinians Feel They Are Being "Slowly Exterminated" in Israel's Genocide

[al bupp]

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/11/14/arwa_damon_gaza_healthcare

We go to Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, where we get an update from Arwa Damon of the humanitarian organization INARA on “deteriorating conditions” as Palestinians are “slowly exterminated” by disease and starvation caused by Israel’s brutal siege. A special U.N. committee has found that Israel’s actions in Gaza are “consistent with the characteristics of genocide.” Palestinians in Gaza feel that “they are living through their own annihilation,” says Damon. “There is actually a real sense that the worst is yet to come.”

Full transcript available on the site.

[LakeArenal]

1. Slowly? It seems to me it's been full speed ahead.

The world is on fire…🤯

[FBaggins]

2. Seems like a simple solution

Surrender. You started a war... you lost.

The problem is... the suffering is the only "victory" they can achieve.

[al bupp]

3. I think the war started 80+ years ago

And it wasn't Palestinians who were the terrorists. List of Irgun attacks.

[Mosby]

5. The British killed 5000 Arabs during the Arab Revolt.

The British allowed the Haganah and Irgun et al to be armed, under the auspices of the British army. The revolt led to the Peel Plan, which goes down as another lost opportunity for Palestinian statehood because the Arab street rejected it.

[Mosby]

4. The population of Palestine is growing, not shrinking.

Year Population Growth Rate
2024 5,494,963 2.30%
2023 5,371,230 2.31%
2022 5,250,072 2.27%

[Beastly Boy]

6. Will anyone call democracynow and tell them that "genocide" has a meaning and they are fucking clueless of what it is?

Somebody buy them a dictionary for gawds sake!

[Aussie105]

7. The people on the receiving side of Israeli actions

probably have a better idea of what the word means than you do.

But why are you so triggered by that one word?

But I guess if you have decided Israel is the 'Good Guy', and when that 'Good Guy' starts doing bad things, denial is the only thing you have left.

[Beastly Boy]

8. No they don't. They get their ideas from sources like democracynow. And that's tragic.

Genocide is a legal term. Sources like democracynow deceive Gazans by misusing it. False narratives never did anyone any good.

[Aussie105]

9. Perhaps YOU are in the grip of false narratives?

If the word genocide doesn't fit well for you, what would you call it then?

Perhaps . . . indiscriminate and large scale death by violent actions and deprivation of food, water, health services?

[Beastly Boy]

10. Once again, genocide is a legal term. It is not there to fit my narrative or yours. It is meant to fit the law.

Apparently, I happen to know the definition of this term, and you don’t

[Aussie105]

11. Nice of you to play semantics in defense of Israel.

I'm still waiting for you to come up with a more appropriate term, if the word 'genocide' offends you so much.

[Beastly Boy]

12. It is nice of me, but I am not playing semantics. The people who casually throw the term around are.

There is a hell of a difference between the law and a casual conversation in which a legal term is being co-opted to signify an insult rather than a definition of a crime. Using it exclusively to insult Israel in this way not only betrays the intention to target Israel and Israel alone, but it also insults the real legitimate victims of the international crime of genocide as it is happening in other parts of the world but is never mentioned by those who pretend to object to the crime itself rather than misappropriate the term genocide to direct it exclusively against Israel.

There are war crimes other than genocide, usually committed by all belligerent parties (since you can’t win a war when only one belligerent party plays by the rules and the other one doesn’t), and I have yet to see a single war in which war crimes didn’t occur, but I know exactly why these fake humanitarians selected genocide to exclusively misuse it against Israel:

Jews are the most egregious victims of genocide in the history of the world. Accusing the victims of this crime of committing that same crime belittles the standing of the Jews as victims and at the same time, since the fake humanitarians do not hold themselves accountable to the accuracy of the term in the arbitrary ways they use it, belittles the crime itself..

You don’t have to be a rocket genius to see covert antisemitism behind this. And you bet I will not remain silent about this. You know why? Because, as a Jew, my ass is on the line in this play on semantics. To me, this is not play. It is very real and consequential indeed.

[Aussie105]

13. So what word(s) would you use to describe the current situation?

"Jews are the most egregious victims of genocide in the history of the world. Accusing the victims of this crime of committing that same crime belittles the standing of the Jews as victims and at the same time, since the fake humanitarians do not hold themselves accountable to the accuracy of the term in the arbitrary ways they use it, belittles the crime itself."

Couple of ethnic cleansing/genocide actions happening in the world right now, two in Asia and some in Africa.
So the historic events of WW2 aren't unique.
Tragic yes, to be avoided when possible, yes.

But saying Jews were victims of atrocities then, are perpetual victims, and thus justify their current actions, just doesn't seem appropriate.

A lot of genuine humanitarian concerns are for the plight of civilians, irrespective of nationality or religion.
It is not fake.
Nor is it antisemitism. Far from it.

So I'm looking for you to use more appropriate language describing the current situation.
And explain why 'your ass is on the line".

[Beastly Boy]

14. First things first..

My ass is on the line because my ass personally experienced the effects of both casual and malignant antisemitism on a regular basis. And that was before the multifold increase in documented antisemitic incidents of the past couple of years. I was certain that, in light of this damning statistic, the reasons for my concerns regarding the future of my ass would be self evident. Are you asking me to justify to you why I fear for my safety when I see antisemitism being rapidly normalized on a global scale? Are Jews exempt from responding to clear and present threats as anyone else would?

I am not referring to the past here, it is happening now, with a definite prospect of getting far worse in the near future. With this prospect being ignored and dismissed, I find your reference to perpetual victimhood quite insulting. How perpetual is antisemitism? Well, that’s how perpetual the response to it you should expect. Duh!

And your rather strange request brings me to my next objection: belittling and normalizing antisemitism. A few phrases in your post above illustrate this trend, and I take objection to them.

Having established, hopefully to your satisfaction, my right to fear for the safety of my ass like any other human being would, let’s move on. I already explained how the slanderous, entirely unfounded in both the semantics and the law, accusations of genocide being consistently leveled against Israel play into normalizing antisemitic narratives, so I will not go into it again.

I will, however, point out additional instances of normalized antisemitism present in your post. Referring to “Jews” as justifying “their” actions is one. What actions are you talking about, and how are these actions applicable to “Jews”?

Conflating the current Israeli government with all Israelis, then indiscriminately conflating all Israelis with Israel, and then indiscriminately conflating Israel with all Jews, and finally accusing Jews of the genocide that has not happened is as antisemitic as it gets, yet it hadn’t occurred to you to even stop for a second and consider what you just uttered.

Being so persistently critical of the genocide that is a product of your speculation while having only the faintest clue and barely making a mention of instances of genocide that actually happened is yet another. I could go on, but why waste my time?

There are several actual recognized instances of genocide, not just “a couple of” them that one can cite, and what they all have in common is that they were all recognized as such after careful examination of evidence which was found to fit the legal definition of genocide by authorized international bodies of experts. Genuine concerns by humanitarians, let alone pronouncements by partial onlookers, played no role in this process. The adherence to this process, and not expressions of concern, is what makes a distinction between genocide and not genocide.

So how would I describe what is currently happening in Gaza? I would describe it the same way people have been describing it for millennia. It is called war. And it is ugly.

You said antisemitism is not fake..
For gawds sake, listen to yourself talk!

[Aussie105]

15. Thank you.

You have outlined the psychopathy behind the whole situation very thoroughly.

At a guess, Israel will continue its current action until it feels fully vindicated and the remembered wounds from WW2 are healed.

[Beastly Boy]

16. Why did I even waste my time?

I should have guessed from the start that, despite you persistently questioning me, you wouldn’t want to hear a single word in my answer.