The meaning of genocide is the intentional killing of a racial or ethnic group. The term was coined by a Polish-Jewish lawyer in 1944 to describe the Holocaust, which involved the deliberate murder of every Jew the Nazis could get their hands on.

Since that time there have been genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur and other places.

Israel’s military efforts to defend itself against a recurrence of the mass murders and kidnappings of October 7 do not even come close to constituting genocide or crimes against humanity. To the contrary, Israel has done more to protect the civilian population of Gaza than any country in the history of warfare.

This is especially so since it is Hamas that has caused the killing of so many civilians by using them as human shields, by stealing their food, medicine, and fuel, and by refusing to provide shelters for ordinary citizens.

[This is an absurd argument, especially after unilaterally ending the Gaza occupation in 2005. Ever since, the Gazans have showered Israel with a constant stream of rocket and missile attacks, which Israel does its best to negate without outright warfare through its Iron Dome defensive system — and at great cost as well. The true genocidal maniacs showed themselves on October 7, and the need to destroy them should now be obvious to all. — Ed]