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Short answer
When it comes to Israel, the term “genocide” has been stretched so far that it has lost much of its meaning. The same baseless accusation was leveled at Israel in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge and again in 2021’s Guardian of the Walls, following the same pattern: Hamas launched thousands of rockets at Israeli towns from inside crowded neighborhoods, and Israel struck back to halt the fire and dismantle Hamas infrastructure.
Civilian casualties — tragic but inevitable when Hamas embeds its fighters, weapons, and command centers among schools, homes, and hospitals — are then weaponized as “proof” of genocide.
Today, some activists and NGOs repeat the charge, creatively bending the legal definition of genocide and spreading false claims about Israel’s conduct and its leaders. Their aim is not legal accuracy but to delegitimize Israel’s right to defend itself. Calling every war or tragedy “genocide” cheapens the term and obscures the real crimes the Genocide Convention was meant to address.
Long answer
The truly awful thing about accusations of “genocide” against Israel is that they are nothing new — this narrative has been repeated long before 2023, especially since Hamas took control of Gaza and began launching rockets into Israel.
Every time Hamas attacks and Israel defends itself, the terror group deliberately hides behind civilians — ensuring that when innocents are harmed, the “genocide” chorus erupts on cue. Global and social media, amplified by state-backed media, proxy networks, and bot operations from Qatar, Russia, Iran, and China, spread the outrage — targeting Israel rather than the militants who start wars and sacrifice their own people for headlines.
Genocide isn’t a synonym for “war” or “civilian deaths.” Under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, it means the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Hamas openly calls for the extermination of Jews in its charter, speeches, and propaganda. Israel, by contrast, has never declared — or acted on — any plan to wipe out Palestinians as a people. In fact, Gaza’s population has grown for decades, the opposite of genocide.
Israel’s conduct shows the opposite of genocidal intent: the IDF warns civilians before strikes, delays operations to allow evacuations, establishes humanitarian corridors, relocates residents out of danger, and permits aid into Gaza — even as Hamas steals it to sustain its war. No other country takes such extraordinary steps to protect enemy civilians while fighting a war.
