Nikki Hailey in Israel scribbling "FINISH THEM" on the shells that
the IDF is about to fire into Rafah in defiance of the International
Court of Justice
As noted by the Office of Genocide Prevention:
The popular understanding of what constitutes genocide tends to
be broader than the content of the norm under international law. Article
II of the Genocide Convention contains a narrow definition of the crime of genocide, which includes two main elements:
- A mental element: the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such"; and
- A physical element, which includes the following five acts, enumerated exhaustively:
- Killing members of the group
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
The Convention is at pains to note that “there must be a proven
intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national,
ethnical, racial or religious group.” This intent, dolus specialis, makes the crime of genocide unique. Further clarification is as follows:
Importantly, the victims of genocide are deliberately targeted -
not randomly – because of their real or perceived membership of one of
the four groups protected under the Convention (which excludes political
groups, for example). This means that the target of destruction must be
the group, as such, and not its members as individuals. Genocide can
also be committed against only a part of the group, as long as that part
is identifiable (including within a geographically limited area) and
“substantial.”
While both Sudanese generals, Burhan who heads up the Sudanese army
and Hemedti who leads the Rapid Support Forces, may have already
committed acts that could constitute genocide in the current war it is
the latter who is receiving much of the current media attention
for the actions of his soldiers in Darfur. There consistent and
credible reports of the mass killings of civilians by the RSF has
resulted in President Biden being pushed to pressure the UAE, Hemedti’s chief foreign backer, to desist from supplying weapons to his troops.
No such concern would appear to exist for the Palestinians who, as
the death toll in Gaza passes 41,000 are suffering a genocide
perpetrated by the IDF. As per the above definition what Israel has done
in the now nearly year-long war is to show in the mental element "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” and in the physical element
three of the five criteria, excluding only the forcible transfer of
children to another group and the imposition of measures designed to
prevent births (though it could be argued that the killing of women and newborns
in the ongoing IDF offensive, the destruction of hospitals and other
health facilities and the trauma caused by daily bombardments from land,
air and sea on women of child bearing age achieves that objective.)
Now as the war continues widening in the northern border region and
the likelihood of a land invasion of southern Lebanon increases with
each passing day a minister in the Netanyahu government has spoken
openly about the “annihilation” of the country. Speaking on the right
wing outlet Channel 14 Education Minister Yoav Kisch
stated there was no difference between Hezbollah and Lebanon. The
country he said “will be destroyed. Lebanon is heading toward
annihilation.” When the interviewer gently interposed suggesting
annihilation was perhaps an unfortunate word in the context of Hebrew
terminology the minister clarified with a smile “I will correct my
words. Not annihilation. Lebanon as we know will not exist. Lebanon will
pay the heavy price because of Hezbollah. I correct my words. I am
being precise.”
Kisch’s words have proved chillingly and brutally precise as
yesterday Israel launched massive air raids on Lebanon killing at least
492 and wounding more than 1600.
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