The UN report, “Gaza Genocide”
(A/80/492) states that “the prolonged unlawful occupation of the Palestinian
territory” by the state of Israel “has now escalated into a full-fledged
genocide” with “the direct participation, aid and assistance” of other
countries. Hence, the “collective crime” is “internationally enabled.”[1]
Just before I wrote this, two Iranian dissidents sitting next to me in a coffee
shop declared to me that the destruction by Israel in Gaza is not a
genocide. I looked up the UN report, and replied, “It’s not just a matter of
opinion anymore.” The two Iranians, doubtlessly in the US because they opposed
their own regime in Iran, quickly left the coffee shop. Rather than being open
to something more than their opinion, they left. Doubtless they had not
expected the scholar sitting next to them to cite a well-documented source. To
be sure, even political officials of governments critical of Israel’s genocide
in Gaza (and the wanton violence of “settlers” in the West Bank were too inclined
to posture for attention than even to be consistent in symbolic political
actions (while refusing to occupy Gaza militarily, standing up to the holocaustic
Israeli regime).
The full essay is at "UN Speeches as Posturing."
