Two Israeli rights groups say their country is committing genocide in Gaza

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press TEL AVIV Israel AP Two prominent Israeli rights groups on Monday noted their country is committing genocide in Gaza the first time that local Jewish-led organizations have made such accusations against Israel during nearly months of war The declares by B Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel add to an explosive debate over whether Israel s military offensive in Gaza launched in response to Hamas deadly Oct terrorist attack amounts to genocide Related Articles Britain s prime minister presses Trump on desperate situation in Gaza during meeting in Scotland Thailand and Cambodia agree to immediate and unconditional ceasefire Malaysian PM says In contemporary times in History July US Army airplane crashes into Empire State Building Israel intercepts Gaza-bound ship of activists and aid Thai Cambodian leaders set for peace talks nudged by Trump The Palestinians their supporters and international human rights groups make that claim and the International Court of Justice is hearing a genocide episode filed by South Africa against Israel But in Israel founded in the wake of the Holocaust even the regime s strongest critics have largely refrained from making such accusations That s because of the deep sensitivities and strong memories of the Nazi genocide of Europe s Jews and because plenty of in Israel view the war in Gaza as a justified response to the deadliest attack in the country s history and not an attempt at extermination Shattering a taboo in Israel The rights groups while prominent and respected internationally are considered in Israel to be on the political fringe and their views are not representative of the vast majority of Israelis But having the allegation of genocide come from Israeli voices shatters a taboo in a society that has been reticent to criticize Israel s conduct in Gaza Guy Shalev director of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel revealed the Jewish-Israeli inhabitants often dismisses accusations of genocide as antisemitic or biased against Israel Perhaps human rights groups based in Israel and coming to this conclusion is a way to confront that accusation and get people to acknowledge the reality he reported Israel asserts that it is fighting an existential war and abides by international law It has rejected genocide accusations as antisemitic It is challenging such assertions at the International Court of Justice and it has rejected the International Criminal Court s claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant committed war crimes in Gaza Both face international arrest warrants Israel s leadership on Monday didn t right away comment on the reports by B Tselem and PHRI Israeli administrators largely blame civilian deaths in Gaza on Hamas saying it uses civilians as shields by embedding militants in residential areas The reports echo international contends The rights groups in separate reports circulated jointly noted Israel s policies in Gaza statements by senior bureaucrats about its goals there and the systematic dismantling of the territory s robustness system contributed to their conclusion of genocide Their states echoed those of previous reports from international rights groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International Like other rights groups B Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel have not been allowed into Gaza during the war Their reports are based on testimonies documents eyewitnesses and consultations with legal experts Hamas attack on Israel that started the war sparked a shift in the country s agenda toward Palestinians in Gaza from repression and control to destruction and annihilation B Tselem reported The group has long been outspoken about Israel s restoration of Palestinians It halted cooperation with the military nearly a decade ago saying the army s investigations into wrongdoing weren t serious and it has accused Israel of being an apartheid state The PHRI overview was a detailed legal-medical analysis focusing on what it called the step-by-step dismantling of Gaza s fitness and life-sustaining systems including electricity clean water and access to food Its record says Israel has committed three of the acts of genocide defined by international law including deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part The Israeli rights groups declared repeated statements by Israeli agents and the military endorsing the total destruction starvation and permanent displacement of Palestinians in Gaza combined with policies on the ground have demonstrated that Israel is intentionally trying to destroy Palestinian society A painful conclusion The term genocide strikes a chord in Israel where Israelis grow up learning about the Holocaust and hearing survivors harrowing stories while promising it would never happen again The Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was drawn up in the aftermath of World War II and the murder by Nazi Germany of million Jews It defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national ethnical racial or religious group As the grandson of a Holocaust survivor it s very painful for me to be reaching this conclusion reported Shalev from PHRI But after growing up in a society where the Holocaust was so central it demands chosen kind of responsibility he declared Until now Israeli criticism of the war in Gaza has been focused on Netanyahu and whether his wartime decision-making has been politically motivated and delayed the return of hostages of them still in Gaza Broader scrutiny of Israel s conduct in Gaza has been limited for multiple reasons Despite the vast destruction and death in the territory and Israel s growing international isolation the majority Israelis have inferred for much of the war in its righteousness And with most of Jewish Israelis serving in the army it s laborious for the greater part people to fathom that their relatives in uniform could be carrying out genocide Specific soldiers however have refused to fight in the war Jeffrey Herf a historian who has published much on antisemitism declared the allegation of genocide doesn t take into account that there is a war between two parties He announced it ignores Hamas as a military force and Israel s right to defend itself Israelis focus is on the hostages not Palestinians After groups like B Tselem in fresh years accused Israel of apartheid more mainstream voices in Israel also picked up the claim although in less sweeping options Israeli historian Tom Segev declared he s not sure the new reports and their accusations will have an impact on the constituents The major thing for Israelis is a question of the hostages not necessarily the fate of the population in Gaza he announced But he stated what s happening in Gaza is undermining the ideological and moral justification for the existence of Israel The rights groups reported the international society hasn t done enough to protect Palestinians and are calling on the world including Israelis who have stayed silent to speak up We have an obligation to do everything we can to speak the truth about this to stand by the casualties revealed Sarit Michaeli the international director for B Tselem