"It's time to speak out."

The ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

Israel’s bombing of a Gaza refugee camp. 1 November. (BBC screenshot.)

15 NOVEMBER—Never before has the violation of international law been so clearly documented, in real time, for all the world to see. Never before has the world witnessed the magnitude of war crimes being daily committed by Israel. Never has there been a moment in our lives when each one of us has been so clearly called upon to bear witness, to understand events as they unfold, and to take a moral stand.

One month ago, on 18 October—after the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire—the Center for Constitutional Rights produced an Emergency Legal Briefing Paper in which they determined, “there is clear evidence that Israel is attempting to commit, if not actively committing, genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory, and specifically against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.” 

By providing Israel with military aid, by undermining international calls for a ceasefire, the United States and its citizens risk being legally—and are certainly morally—implicated in war crimes under the rules of international law. According to the CCR:

The United States is not only failing to uphold its obligation to prevent the commission of genocide, but there is a plausible and credible case to be made that the United States’ actions to further the Israeli military operation, closure, and campaign against the Palestinian population in Gaza rise to the level of complicity. The United States—and U.S. citizens, including and up to the President—can be held responsible for their role in furthering genocide. 

The United Nations more recently raised similar concerns about genocide. Two weeks ago, on 2 November, U.N. experts issued a warning that Gaza is running out of time:

“We remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide,” the experts said. “The time for action is now. Israel’s allies also bear responsibility and must act now to prevent its disastrous course of action,” they said.

As of today, the official death toll in Gaza is in excess of 11,300 people. More than 4,500 children have been killed and over 3,000 women.

Israel’s ultimate goal, as articulated by Israeli security cabinet member and Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, is to empty Gaza of all Palestinians. “We are now rolling out the Gaza Nakba,” he said, in reference to the 1948 ethnic cleansing of over 700,000 Palestinians from their ancestral land after the state of Israel was created.

In a 10 November New York Times commentary, “What I Believe as a Historian of Genocide,” Omer Bartov, professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, opined that while Israel is not currently engaging in genocide it is very close to doing so. His equivocating, hair-splitting argument is precisely what one would expect of The New York Times at this moment.

Nonetheless, so concerned is Bartov that he calls upon others within his own field of study to speak up before it is too late:

It is time for leaders and senior scholars of institutions dedicated to researching and commemorating the Holocaust to publicly warn against the rage- and vengeance-filled rhetoric that dehumanizes the population of Gaza and calls for its extinction. It is time to speak out against the escalating violence on the West Bank, perpetrated by Israeli settlers and I.D.F. troops, which now appears to also be sliding toward ethnic cleansing under the cover of war in Gaza . . . 

And later in the piece, as if to undermine his own previous argument, Bartov provides ample evidence of genocidal intent at the highest level of Israeli government. Intent, as Bartov pointed out, is a critical factor when determining whether a crime rises to the definition of genocide:

My greatest concern watching the Israel-Gaza war unfold is that there is genocidal intent, which can easily tip into genocidal action. On Oct. 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Gazans would pay a “huge price” for the actions of Hamas and that the Israel Defense Forces, or I.D.F., would turn parts of Gaza’s densely populated urban centers “into rubble.” On Oct. 28, he added, citing Deuteronomy, “You must remember what Amalek did to you.” As many Israelis know, in revenge for the attack by Amalek, the Bible calls to “kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings.”

On Monday, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a federal lawsuit against U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for “failure to prevent genocide” by the Israeli Defense Forces. Brett Wilkins of Common Dreams reports that the suit seeks “an emergency court order to stop American military and diplomatic support for Israel.” 

CCR outlined the context for the lawsuit on their website:

The lawsuit situates the unfolding genocide within a history of Israeli actions against the Palestinian people - starting with the Nakba in 1948. It sets out how Defendants Biden, Blinken, and Austin have not only failed to prevent the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza but have helped advance the gravest of crimes by continuing to provide the Israeli government with unconditional military and diplomatic support, coordinating closely on military strategy, and undermining efforts by the international community to stop Israel’s unrelenting and unprecedented bombing campaign and total siege of Gaza.

In its uncritical and continuing support for Israel, the Biden Administration has involved this country and its citizens in a revolting crime against humanity, crimes against which every person of conscience must register their dissent. Now is the moment when each one of us must decide which side of history we will stand on.

Omer Bartov concluded his NYT commentary with the following urgent plea:

If we truly believe that the Holocaust taught us a lesson about the need—or really, the duty—to preserve our own humanity and dignity by protecting those of others, this is the time to stand up and raise our voices, before Israel’s leadership plunges it and its neighbors into the abyss.

This is a moment when silence is unacceptable. To remain silent is to be complicit in war crimes, and, as Bartov warned, to knowingly relinquish your own humanity.

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A reader using the name “Joy in HK,” left a comment a few days ago on “The sound of silence,” my previous commentary on events in Gaza, in which she (or possibly he) described an unusual and creative idea to bring about an immediate ceasefire.

However impractical Joy in HK’s idea may seem, I share it here because I find it bold and visionary. It represents the kind of thinking we need to encourage and engage in:

I had this crazy idea a few nights ago that the one thing that could maybe stop the bombing immediately, would be for Pope Francis to go to Gaza, to the Rafah Crossing and enter into Gaza with the Gazans. I believe this would change the dynamics as soon as such a visit was announced. I made a petition on change.org

If you, or anyone, you know, thinks this might work, and would like to support it, please sign and share:

https://chng.it/tfYb2DjFDy

I think it’s necessary to change the current dynamics and narratives that do nothing but further the death and hatred on all sides. This won’t interfere with anything else people are doing. Given the craven behavior of the western governments, it’s imperative to try think outside the box of retribution. It might not work, but maybe it's worth trying. Please sign and share if you can.

I signed Joy in HK’s petition and encourage you to do the same. Every positive action matters.

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Note to readers: There are any number of things you can do: join local protests; contact your congressional representatives by email and telephone demanding a) an immediate ceasefire and b) an end to U.S. military and financial support for Israel; write editorial letters; use social media to publicly name the crimes that Israel is committing, to register your objection to U.S. support for Israel, and to call for a ceasefire. If you are a democrat, tell your party representatives that you will not support Biden for president unless he a) demands, and forces Israel to accept, an immediate ceasefire and b) ceases all U.S. military and financial support for Israel.