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Amnesty International’s ‘Genocide’ Slur About Israel Is a Complete Lie
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 28, 2023. Photo: ABIR SULTAN POOL/Pool via REUTERS
Amnesty International wants us to believe that Israel has tried (but dramatically failed) to destroy the Palestinians population of the Gaza Strip.
These words — tried, destroy, population — aren’t figures of speech. The group alleges that the Jewish State’s actual intent was to physically or biologically destroy the roughly two million Palestinians living in that territory, erasing that group as a separate and distinct entity.
This is the distillation of Amnesty’s recent report accusing the Jewish State of “genocide” in the war that began with Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
If this sounds like an absurd way to describe the unquestionably destructive war — a uniquely challenging overlap of urban and subterranean warfare, fought against a barbaric and antisemitic enemy, in which the estimated rate of civilian casualties appears to be well below that from the US-led campaign to dislodge Saddam Hussein — then wait until you see how Amnesty defends its “genocide” slur.
The relevant international convention defines genocide as a specific set of devastating acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.”
Clearly, there has been no such destruction. So Amnesty’s accusation hinges on “intent,” with its report citing, as proof of genocidal intent, supposedly incriminating comments by top Israeli officials.
After the Hamas slaughter of 1,200 people in October 2023, for example, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited the Biblical commandment to “remember what Amalek did to you.” With these words, he “called for the total destruction of Gaza, making no distinction between civilians and Hamas as a military target,” insists Amnesty.
Incredibly, the organization then immediately admits it doesn’t actually know what those words mean: “It is unclear from these statements alone whether Prime Minister Netanyahu intended only to refer to the verses of the Bible that are an injunction to remember the acts of the people of Amalek,” which they source to Deuteronomy, “or also to allude to those passages that call for the people of Amalek to be attacked and for none of them, not even children, to be spared,” which they source to Samuel.
Notwithstanding Amnesty’s performance, it is perfectly clear which verse Netanyahu quoted. The words don’t appear in Samuel. They do appear in Deuteronomy. (And not just there. The purportedly “genocidal” call to Remember Amalek — essentially a Biblical precursor to “Never Forget” — also appears in the pleas of Holocaust victims, the memoirs of Holocaust survivors, in Yad Vashem, and on other Holocaust memorials.)
Amnesty likewise claims that Netanyahu showed genocidal intent by describing, just after the Oct. 7 massacre, a war between the children of light and children of darkness. This, claims the report, was “an apparent reference to Palestinians in Gaza,” and thus “racist and dehumanizing.”
But it was not a reference to Palestinians.
“[W]e have gone to war, the purpose of which is to destroy the brutal and murderous Hamas-ISIS enemy, bring back our hostages and restore the security to our country, our citizens and our children,” said Netanyahu. “This is a war between the children of light and the children of darkness.”
Amnesty pulls the same stunt with Yoav Gallant’s reference to children of darkness, though he, too, used the phrase in reference to the fight against Hamas: “We will reach all the terror infrastructure. We will reach all the tunnels. We will reach all the Hamas operatives.” Clearly, this is not evidence of genocide.
Maybe Gallant’s reference to fighting “human animals” was? According to Amnesty, it was “dehumanizing language” that implies Palestinians, as a whole, are “subhuman.”
But if President Joe Biden referred to Hamas as “animals,” if relatives of hostages referred to Hamas as “human monsters” and “savages,” and if other world leaders referred to Hamas as “inhuman” “beasts” and “animals,” is there any indication that Gallant meant something different? To the contrary. He has consistently made clear that the fight is against Hamas, and that the “animals” are Hamas.
Surely, at least, Isaac Herzog “implied that all Palestinians in Gaza were legitimate targets,” as claimed in Amnesty’s report?
In a briefing just after the Oct 7 attack, Israeli President Herzog did respond to a journalist’s question by charging that “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible; it’s not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved.” But did those words mean Israel viewed all Palestinians as “legitimate targets”?
We can find the answer in the very same briefing: “We are very cautious in the way we operate,” Herzog said. “The IDF uses all the means at its disposal in order to reduce harm to the population. For example, many resources are invested in gathering intelligence and in trying to locate the enemy separately from civilian population, in evacuating the civilian population from the center of the battle, in warning citizens, in monitoring [the] humanitarian situation.”
Herzog was even asked if his harsher comment meant to imply that Palestinians legitimate targets. “No, I didn’t say that. I did not say that. I want to make it clear.”
Clear enough. But it was not clear enough for Amnesty, which strained to rescue its case that these comments by Herzog, Gallant, and Netanyahu are proof of genocide. But Herzog knew his harsh words would be broadcast, Amnesty said — as if he didn’t equally know his words about protecting civilians would be broadcast. But Netanyahu referred to a “commandment” about Amalek — though the verse from Deuteronomy about remembrance is indeed a Biblical commandment, and though the belligerent verse from Samuel is not.
It is telling that Amnesty flails to this absurd extent. And it is even more telling that the flailing represents Amnesty’s best shot.
Gilead Ini is a Senior Research Analyst at CAMERA, the foremost media watchdog organization focused on coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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CAIR Sues US State Department Over ‘Failing To Evacuate American Citizens’ From Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at the Czernin Palace, in Prague, Czech Republic, May 31, 2024. Photo: Peter David Josek/Pool via REUTERS
The Council for America-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group that purports to advocate for Muslim Americans, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department for “failing to evacuate American citizens, American legal residents, and the family members of Americans trapped under Israeli bombardment in Gaza.”
According to CAIR, the plaintiffs in the case have “ tried, for months, to exhaust non-legal means to escape Gaza.”
“Each plaintiff in the lawsuit is eligible to be evacuated but has been summarily ignored by the State Department and other Biden administration officials,” CAIR wrote in a statement.
The organization claims that the State Department has been sluggish in extracting American citizens caught in the crossfires of the Israel-Hamas war. In contrast, CAIR contends that the agency has responded with more urgency to evacuate American citizens caught in previous conflicts.
CAIR claims that the State Department has run afoul of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, which “guarantees equal protection for citizens and legal residents abroad under federal law.”
“The law requires the U.S. government to protect Americans wherever they may be. With every passing day, the danger of our clients dying from Israeli bombardment or the starvation and disease now rampant in Gaza only goes up,” CAIR attorney Maria Kari said. “The State Department must do the right thing and save these people from certain death.”
The State Department has cited the closure of the Rafah Crossing as the reason for the slowed evacuations of Americans from Gaza. However, the plaintiffs have called for evacuations to be conducted from the Kerem Shalom crossing, arguing that evacuations have been carried out from this site in previous conflicts between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group.
CAIR’s lawsuit against Israel was not its first time stepping into controversy.
The organization’s co-founder and executive director, Nihad Awad, said in November that he was “happy” to witness Hamas’ rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, when the Palestinian terrorist group invaded the Jewish state from neighboring Gaza, murdered 1,200 people, and kidnapped over 250 others as hostages. The massacre launched the ongoing war in Gaza, where Israel has been waging a military campaign aimed at dismantling Hamas and freeing the hostages.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7,” CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chicago last November. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.” CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it “unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.’”
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Floyd Mayweather Donates $1 Million to United Hatzalah at Miami Gala
Floyd Mayweather speaks to the media during the press conference after the 12-round Undisputed Super Middleweight World Title main-event bout at Premier Boxing Champions, Canelo vs Charlo. at T-Mobile Arena on Sept. 30, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Alejandro Salazar/PxImages/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Undefeated boxing champion Floyd Mayweather made a hefty donation to United Hatzalah of Israel, an emergency medical service, at the organization’s gala in Miami, Florida, on Thursday night.
Wearing a massive diamond necklace that featured a Star of David, the retired boxer joined Eli Beer, the president and founder of United Hatzalah, on stage at the gala and announced that he would donate $1 million to the organization to help reach its goal of raising $12 million that night. Moments after, Neil Book, chairman and CEO of the Jet Support Services, joined the former boxer and Beer on stage and said he would match Mayweather’s $1 million donation. United Hatzalah of Israel reportedly raised a total of $13,000,000 at the event on Thursday night, which was held at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa.
At the gala, Mayweather also gifted philanthropist Miriam Adelson, a longtime United Hatzalah of Israel partner and donor, with a diamond necklace that featured the organization’s emblem, which is a combination of the Star of Life and the Star of David.
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Eurovision Song Contest Warns Israel About Participation in Future Competitions If Controversial Bill Passes Knesset
Eden Golan performing “Hurricane” for Israel at the Grand Final at Malmö Arena. Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett/EBU
The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) reiterated to The Algemeiner on Thursday that if Israeli lawmakers pass a controversial bill to privatize the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC], which operates the Kan television and radio network, it would affect Israel’s chances from participating in the international singing competition in the future.
“While they are member of the EBU [European Broadcasting Union], Kan remains eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest,” the communications team from the Eurovision Song Contest told The Algemeiner. “The privatization of Kan would almost certainly lead to their exclusion from the EBU and therefore they would no longer be able to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.”
The European Broadcasting Union, which represents public media organizations across Europe and North Africa, organizes the Eurovision Song Contest. The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation has been a member of the EBU since 1957, which gives it access to news, sports and music content from its network of public service broadcasters.
Earlier this week, the EBU sent a letter to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee expressing concern over proposed legislation in Israel that seeks to privatize the IPBC by ending its public funding and looking for a private buyer. The bill, sponsored by Likud MK Tally Gotliv, so far passed a preliminary reading 49-46 in the Knesset on Nov. 27. It states that if a buyer for IPBC cannot be found in two years, the broadcaster will be shut down completely.
The bill has been criticized by the Foreign Press Association, the Union of Journalists in Israel, the Attorney General’s Office in Israel, and the Kan network itself for its potential to hinder freedom of expression and press freedom for journalists. The EBU has previously released statements criticizing the proposed bill and related efforts in Israel to have Kan’s budget be controlled by the Israeli government.
“Public service broadcasting in Israel is under sustained political attack, facing threats that not only jeopardize its independence but its very existence in the future,” EBU Director General Noel Curran said in mid-November. “We share the concern of the Attorney General`s office that this is a political reaction to KAN`s content, from a Government that wants to either get more control over it or shut down the broadcaster altogether.”
In its letter to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee this week, the EBU warned that if the IPBC goes private, “it will not be a member of the EBU and as a result – will not participate in Eurovision,” as cited by Israel Hayom. They asked the committee to “carefully consider” how the bill would affect IPBC’s ability to operate “in a sustained and independent manner.”
“The privatization of the IPBC would render this relationship unstable and would almost certainly lead to its removal from our union, diminishing the state’s role in major events and limiting Israeli citizens’ access to such content,“ the EBU added. “The potential loss of Kan would weaken the diversity of news, free sports broadcasting, local programming including quality children’s programming, and much more that is available to Israeli citizens, and there will be inevitable implications for international perceptions of Israel. We are ready to provide any essential support to preserve the future of public broadcasting in Israel.”
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