South Africa brought a case in the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide.
The US never joined the ICJ largely out of fear of prejudice driven by this country’s challenges to behavior in large parts of the world.
In prior commentaries, I have tried to make clear the emotional impact of having been the target of Nazi genocide, Netanyahu’s threat to the future of Israel, the damage done by encouraging the so-called settlers to take land from the Palestinians much as Americans took land from Native Americans, and the need for a solution that respects Palestinian as well as Israeli interests. Let me add that I do not hold either the Palestinians or the Jews responsible for the misbehavior of Hamas or Netanyahu any more than I hold the Russian or Chinese people responsible for the autocracies that rule them. The leadership of all of them disgusts me. But extending my disgust to the people of those nations is a prejudice I will not allow, the kind of prejudice that threatens the fundamental principles of our own country and that opens a very real path to genocide around the globe. Our hatreds need to be contained and our actions more focused.
But let’s be clear, whether or not what is happening is genocide, Hamas bears some of the guilt. For half a century, whenever Israel and others appeared likely to reach a peace deal or adopt a two-state solution, Hamas bombed, killed and tortured others to make any and all proposed deals impossible to conclude. Both Israel and Hamas resisted the kind of two-state solution that might have made peace possible. Hamas repeated its use of violence in October to stop progress on what looked like the beginning of a regional solution, and, once again, a deal seems to have melted into thin air. Their brutality mimicked ISIS’ with public beheadings, rapes, torture and taking of hundreds of hostages – all with the obvious intent of provoking the massive response they got. But by designing an attack so that Israel would defend in ways that raised international legal questions, Hamas was trying to push the world to fight Hamas’ battle. The Middle East will not calm down as long as the nations and terrorists there are able to use other countries, including the US, and international bodies like the World Court, to fight their battles for them. What I fault Biden and his predecessors in both parties for is their failure to issue an ultimatum to Israel that our aid depended on pulling the settlers out of Palestine.
Yes, Hamas is smaller but they have been attacking forever and this attack was brutal. We fought a Revolution against the Red Coats, clearly marked British soldiers. Hamas not only sparked a predictable response but violated international law by hiding among the very people it was supposed to protect and defend so that Israel would inevitably injure civilians. Who then is genocidal? Hamas refuses concessions, elections, or anything short of the elimination of Israel. A pox on both sides. If Israel is to be pushed into the sea, Hamas should be drowned under it.
Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.
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