Israel's Twelve Tactics of Denial
- Genocide Watch
- May 25
- 19 min read
Israel’s Twelve Tactics of Denial
By Dr. Gregory H. Stanton and the Genocide Watch Taskforce on Gaza
Introduction
Israel was founded after the Holocaust as a nation-state where Jews could have a homeland and defend themselves. However, the territory granted to Israel was already occupied by Palestinians as well as Jews. UN General Assembly Resolution 181 of 29 November 1947 partitioned Palestine and designated part of it as the new state of Israel. Votes by the United States, France, the Soviet Union and their allies passed the resolution by 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions. Eight Muslim UN members, India and Cuba opposed the resolution. The UK, China, and eight other states abstained.
Arab and other Muslim states rejected the creation of Israel because its territory was taken from part of Palestine. 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from Israel under pressure from Zionist paramilitaries or Israeli military forces. Dozens of massacres targeted Palestinians and 600 Palestinian villages were destroyed. Most of the 700,000 Palestinians resettled in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and especially the Gaza Strip.
Neighboring Arab states have fought four major wars to destroy Israel since 1948. They have sponsored thousands of acts of terrorism against Israeli citizens. Hamas, Iran, and Hezbollah have fired thousands of missiles into Israel, killing hundreds of Israeli civilians.
In 2025, only ten Muslim nations recognize Israel: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Turkey, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Eritrea, Senegal, Chad, and Burkina Faso. Twenty Muslim nations have never recognized or established diplomatic relations with Israel: Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, Oman, Djibouti, Somalia, Comoros, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Cuba and Iran withdrew their recognition. Nine countries have recognized but have broken bilateral relations with Israel.
THE HAMAS GENOCIDAL MASSACRE OCTOBER 7, 2023
Hamas is a genocidal terrorist organization. Hamas and its supporters like Iran deny the Holocaust and openly declare their intention to destroy Israel and exterminate Jews. They have openly stated that destruction of Israel is their goal.
In the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust on October 7, 2023, Hamas and Islamic Jihad massacred over 1200 Israelis in the area adjoining Gaza. They took 251 hostages. Most were Israelis. Five were American citizens . 139 have been freed. 7 have been rescued. 82 have been confirmed killed in captivity. At least 36 of these were murdered by Hamas. Many hostages were starved, tortured, raped, and kept in cramped underground tunnels for weeks. Israel counts 58 hostages still held in Gaza. 35 are believed to be dead. Hamas still holds 23 hostages believed to be alive.
THE DEEP STRUCTURE OF ISRAEL'S RESPONSE
Three deep structural foundations of Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023 massacre underlie the motivations for Israel’s destruction of Gaza and Israel’s denial that it is committing genocide. They are Holocaust Prevention, Israel’s Divine Destiny, and Self-Defense.
HOLOCAUST PREVENTION: Hamas must be defeated to prevent another Holocaust.
The Holocaust exterminated six million Jews. As the new nation legally created by the United Nations to be a homeland for Jews after the Holocaust, Israel’s primary national duty is to protect Jews. That priority outweighs all other national purposes.
“Never Again” is the ultimate justification for Israel’s self-defense against the Arab nations that have tried to destroy Israel in four major wars. It is the motivation for Israel’s retaliation against the relentless genocidal terrorism of Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Black September, the Palestine Liberation Organization and other adversaries determined to destroy the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.
ISRAEL’S DIVINE DESTINY: God gave Jewish people Judah and Israel, including Gaza and West Bank.
Many Zionists believe that the nation of Israel was granted to the Jewish people by God. They trace this faith to the promises made by God in the Torah, the sacred Hebrew scriptures. The Torah affirms that Jews have a divine right to live in Israel.
The original borders of Israel included ancient Judah and Israel before the Roman Empire expelled the Jewish people from their God-given homeland. Those ancient Jewish territories included Gaza and the West Bank.
Jewish settlers in the West Bank claim that they are only re-settling areas that belong to Jews by divine right. They assert an Israeli “divine destiny,” much like the “manifest destiny” that European settlers of the Americas claimed.
A similar divine destiny was claimed by some American colonialists, who believed that God gave them the right to conquer the Americas, drive native Americans off their land, and rule over America’s indigenous peoples. The most recent expression of this creed is “Christian nationalism.”
Ultra-Zionist Jews claim they have a God-given right to occupy Gaza and the West Bank. They assert their divine right to conquer Palestinians, bring all of ancient Judah and Israel within Israel’s borders, and defend Jewish settlements within those borders.
This divine justification for Israel’s expansion is often found among the 700,000 Jewish settlers who now occupy Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Some settlers consider this “divine destiny” to be a powerful justification for conquest and forced deportation of Palestinians. In the Gaza war, it has become a justification for genocide.
Many other Israelis believe it, as well. An independent poll conducted in January 2025 showed that seventy percent of Israelis support annexation of “Judea and Samaria” (the West Bank) into Israel and oppose establishment of a Palestinian state there. A majority of Israelis oppose a “two-state solution” to the conflict.
However, Israeli support for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s policies is far from monolithic. Some Israeli groups advocate redirecting Israeli government policies away from destroying Hamas in Gaza to stopping the war, returning Israeli hostages, and making peace with Palestinians.
SELF-DEFENSE: Israel has a right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
With the justification of self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, Israel’s invasions in Gaza and Lebanon were intended to destroy the bases of Hamas and Hezbollah before they could be used for more attacks on Israel.
Israel also justifies its invasion of Gaza as necessary to free Israeli citizens who are being held hostage. This right to protect national citizens has long been a doctrine of international law.
Prime Minister Netanyahu justifies killing Hamas terrorists as necessary to protect Israeli lives and the lives of other civilized people in the Middle East. Israel’s self-defense is necessary to defeat Hamas and protect the Jewish homeland.
Netanyahu’s logic is utilitarian. Killing Hamas terrorists is necessary to prevent them from murdering more Israelis. This moral logic removes the ethical conflict between killing and protecting life. It relieves responsibility for the war from Israelis and Israel’s supporters.
The western world has largely sided with Israel in its war to destroy Hamas. The European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Canada, and most South American nations have accepted Israel’s assertion of its right to self-defense.
Israel and its allies consider self-defense to be a legitimate justification for Israel’s response to the mass murder, rape, and other acts of genocide perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Has Israel’s retaliation against Hamas for its 7 October 2023 genocidal massacre been in accord with international law?
If Israel had invaded Gaza only to hunt down the perpetrators of the October 7 Hamas attack, it could claim proportionate retaliation under the laws of war.
Instead of invading Gaza and flooding or attacking Hamas in its tunnels, Israel has bombed all of Gaza and attacked the entire Palestinian population. [Flooding the tunnels was rejected because it would also drown Israeli hostages.] Israel’s bombing has destroyed Gaza so completely that almost no habitable dwellings remain.
Israel’s retaliation has gone far beyond any possible interpretation of international law. Israeli bombing has killed over 53,000 Palestinians. Israel has not limited its bombing to Hamas combatants. It has bombed the entire civilian population of Gaza. Israel has destroyed 92 percent of housing units and 70 percent of all structures in Gaza. It has targeted hospitals, maternity clinics, feeding centers, refugee camps, medical and relief personnel.
Israel has blocked all food aid to Gaza for over seventy days (as of May 21, 2025), since Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas. The blockade has resulted in acute malnutrition and starvation among children. The UN has called such withholding of food “cruel collective punishment.”
Starvation is a war crime under the 4th Geneva Convention Article 23 to which Israel and 195 other nations are state parties. Starvation is also a war crime under Article 70 of Optional Protocol I of the Geneva Convention and Art. 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Starvation constitutes the crimes against humanity of persecution under Article 7 (1)(h) and extermination under 7(2)(b) of the ICC Statute. It is an act of genocide under Genocide Convention Article 2(c) and Rome Statute Article 6(c).
Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?
Genocide Watch has concluded that Israel has committed all five acts of genocide enumerated in the Genocide Convention. Israel’s war and destruction of the Palestinian population of Gaza exemplifies all ten stages of genocide. Please read Genocide Watch’s careful analysis of the conclusive evidence of genocide by Israel in our report: Genocide is Never Justifiable.
The Panel of Experts in International Law convened by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, UN Special Rapporteurs convened by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other reputable human rights organizations have also concluded that Israel is committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza.
Israel’s Denial:
Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Israeli cabinet, the Israeli press, and Israel’s allies deny that Israel’s carpet bombing, blockade of food, and destruction of hospitals, maternity centers, and fertility facilities in Gaza constitute genocide, the intentional destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian ethnic and national group.
The rhetorical strategies of denialism are evidence of genocidal intent. This report documents each of the tactics of denial used by Israel. The report is based on statements by Israeli leaders, the Israeli press, and Israel’s defenders.
Israel’s denialism illustrates all twelve tactics of denial outlined by Dr. Israel Charny and summarized by Dr. Gregory Stanton in his essay, Twelve Ways to Deny a Genocide.
The Twelve Tactics of Israel’s Denial
1. Minimize deaths. All statistics from Hamas or the UN are exaggerations.
2. Attack truth-tellers. Critics are “antisemitic”, liars, or Hamas sympathizers.
3. Deny intent. Civilian deaths are unintentional “collateral damage” in self-defense.
4. Dehumanization. Palestinians are “animals” who support terrorism and genocide.
5. Blame Ancient Conflict. The war continues ethnic conflict since Biblical times.
6. Blame mistakes. Civilian deaths are mistakes, accidents, or acts against orders.
7. Claim appeasement. Critics are appeasing Hamas killers, rapists, and genocidists.
8. Justify arming Israel. Arming Israel is legal. It supports Israel’s self-defense.
9. Claim good treatment. Palestinians are treated well and receive enough food.
10. Legalism. Israel’s attacks don’t fit the legal definition of genocide.
11. Blame the victims. Hamas terrorism justifies defense of Israel’s Jewish people.
12. Peace trumps justice. Making peace outweighs justice for genocide.
1. MINIMIZE DEATHS: All statistics from Hamas or the UN are exaggerations.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed over 53,000 Palestinians, including over 15,000 children. Hamas says the real figure is 61,700 deaths due to thousands of Gaza residents who are missing, buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings, and presumed dead. Israel claims that half of those killed in Gaza were combatants. Independent experts say that only 25% were combatants.
In addition to misrepresenting the number of Palestinian civilians killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza, Israeli officials routinely blame the high number of civilian casualties on the actions of Hamas. They deny that Israel has intentionally targeted civilians. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Peter Lerner said after an Israeli offensive that killed 274 Palestinians, “Every civilian life lost in this war is a result of how Hamas has operated.”
Israeli officials question all statistics on Palestinian deaths provided by the Hamas Health Ministry, citing Hamas’ monopoly control over Gaza. They claim that all Hamas statistics are dishonest exaggerations of Palestinian fatalities for Hamas propaganda purposes.
2. ATTACK TRUTH-TELLERS: Critics are “antisemitic”, liars, or Hamas sympathizers.
In response to international backlash against Israel’s assault on Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israeli officials accuse critics of “antisemitism” and support for anti-Israel Hamas terrorism. They claim that the United Nations and UNRWA, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, support Hamas.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu stated “Until this antisemitic swamp is drained, the UN will be viewed by fair-minded people everywhere as nothing more than a contemptuous farce.”
Israel has accused UNRWA workers of supporting terrorism and involvement in the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack. Israel has ignored the findings of the United Nations investigation into Israel’s accusations against UNRWA. The UN investigation found evidence that only nine UNRWA employees were assisting Hamas. The UN immediately fired them. Israel ignores this decisive UN response because Israel’s narrative portrays the UN as uniformly opposed to Israel.
Since the ICC charged Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant with war crimes, articles in Israeli and US conservative media have noted that the ICC charges were brought after ICC Prosecutor Khan learned he would be investigated for non-consensual sexual misconduct with an ICC staffer.
These attempts to discredit the charges brought by the ICC ignore the fact that the charges were approved by the ICC’s Pretrial Chamber before any accusations of misconduct against ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan were made.
It is true that antisemitism is a real threat to Jews and is on the rise globally. The reality of antisemitism and its impact on Jews is deplorable. However, accusations by Israeli leaders that the UN, ICC, human rights groups, and other critics of Israel are “antisemitic” remain unproven.
Genocide Watch, for example, has a consistent record of vigorous opposition to all forms of antisemitism. Genocide Watch’s stalwart support for Israel’s legitimate right to exist and its self-defense against terrorism and eliminationism by Iran, Arab, and other Muslim states is strong. Yet Genocide Watch’s careful legal analysis has concluded that Israel is committing genocide.
3. DENY INTENT: Civilian deaths are unintentional “collateral damage” in self-defense.
Israel blames the high numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza on Hamas, arguing that Hamas combatants use civilians as human shields. Israel claims its Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) take all necessary precautions to diminish the toll on civilian life. Hamas fighters hide among Palestinian civilians, making civilian deaths unavoidable. Israel claims the number of civilian deaths is proportionate to the difficulty of defeating Hamas terrorists hiding among the Gaza population.
In response to these Israeli claims, UN observers note that most of the precautions Israeli officials point to are evacuation orders. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, reports that over 80% of residents in the Gaza Strip are under evacuation orders.
The IDF says these evacuation orders are due to Hamas military activity within humanitarian zones. UN observers respond that evacuation orders have not prevented the disproportionate killing of civilians. The evacuation orders also contribute to the massive displacement of Palestinians and the overcrowding of designated “humanitarian zones.”
4. DEHUMANIZATION: Palestinians are "animals" who support terrorism and genocide.
The history of the conflict between Israel and Palestine has been marked by xenophobia, racism and dehumanization. The dehumanization has been characteristic of both sides.
Israel claims that destruction of Gaza and resulting civilian casualties are a necessary and justifiable cost of the Israeli effort to defeat and destroy the terrorist group Hamas. Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant claim that there are “no innocents” among Palestinians. They deny any distinction between Hamas combatants and Palestinian civilians.
Israel’s former U.N. ambassador Dan Gillerman described Palestinians as "inhuman animals". Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a “total siege” of Gaza, cutting off water, food, and electricity. Gallant referred to Palestinians as “human animals.”
The dehumanization of Palestinians has included:
Refusing to recognize Palestinians’ property rights in Israel and the West Bank.
Supporting confiscation of Palestinian land to build Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Requiring Palestinians working in Israel to endure long border checks and carry permits, reminiscent of the passes South African blacks had to carry during apartheid.
Bulldozing Palestinian homes in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Cutting off food to Gaza, causing malnutrition and deaths of Palestinian children.
Israel’s supporters slander critics of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. They are vilified as "immoral", "antisemitic" "sympathizers with terrorists".
5. BLAME ANCIENT CONFLICT. The war continues ethnic conflict since Biblical times.
Israeli officials have explained massive Palestinian civilian casualties and the destruction of Gaza as the inevitable continuation of the ancient conflict between the Jews of Israel and the ancestors of Palestinians, the Amelekites, who also lived in Gaza.
On October 28, 2023, three weeks after October 7, Netanyahu equated Israel’s response to the Hamas genocide with Israel’s response to the Amalekites in Deuteronomy 25: 17 -19:
“17 Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt, 18 how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and struck down all who lagged behind you…19 Therefore …you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
In 1 Samuel 15:3, God’s orders are overtly genocidal:
“Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
The logic of irresolvable differences explains war as the unavoidable result of ancient ethnic conflict.
6. BLAME MISTAKES. Civilian deaths are mistakes, accidents, or acts against orders.
Explanations of civilian deaths by Israel are blamed on acts of individual soldiers rather than on the orders of military leaders. This tactic denies that mass murder and destruction are Israeli state strategies. War crimes against Gazans are described as acts of individuals, not the result of Israeli policies. For example, the March 23, 2025 murders of fifteen Palestinian medics by IDF soldiers were blamed on "professional failures” and a "breach of orders" by IDF commanders.
Israeli military officials often base this excuse for war crimes on the “fog of war.” IDF soldiers have admitted to excessive feelings of power when entering Gaza. Reporting on IDF atrocities capitalizes on such admissions. Although individual IDF soldiers have shown a “chilling disregard” for human life,
IDF commanders and the state of Israel deny that war crimes and genocide are state or military policy. Israeli officials say that alleged “war crimes” committed by Israeli soldiers should be investigated as crimes of individuals rather than as the result of state or military policies.
7. APPEASEMENT: Critics are appeasing Hamas killers, rapists, and genocidists.
Israel’s leaders and allies have sought to portray the state of Israel as blameless. When Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant were charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor with the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, the US Congress and President Trump adopted legislation sanctioning officials of the ICC, citing the ICC’s “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted that “Israel has consistently sought peace with the Palestinians,” placing blame on the Palestinian Authority and Hamas for rejecting peace efforts.
Other states, including Canada, officially affirmed Israel’s “right to live in peace with its neighbors,” prioritizing a rhetoric of peace over accountability and international law.
In contrast, European Council President António Costa and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said these US sanctions were attempts to intimidate ICC officials and undermine the legitimacy of international criminal justice institutions.
8. JUSTIFY ARMING ISRAEL: Arming Israel is legal. It supports Israel’s self-defense.
The US and European nations have avoided criticizing Israel out of solidarity with their own Jewish populations. They also want to atone for their profound guilt for not preventing the Holocaust. In the US, Jewish Americans form large voting blocs in key states. They are an influential economic, educational, and political group.
The US and EU nations avoid criticizing Israel, a kindred democracy, trading partner, and ally. While some Israeli corporations have been complicit in genocides in other countries, they justify their actions by claiming legality, the private sector’s response to market supply and demand.
Many governments have engaged with Israel due to its robust economy. Normal economic trade is justified by respect for Israeli sovereignty. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is one of Israel’s most vocal critics, but that has not stopped nine percent of Israel’s crude oil imported from Brazil.
9. CLAIM GOOD TREATMENT: Palestinians are treated well and receive enough food.
By portraying Palestinian civilians, including children, as terrorists, any food offered to the Palestinian people by Israel and its allies is deemed to be “generous.” Shortages of food are blamed on “looting” by Hamas and by criminal gangs. In fact, Israel has not permitted any food to enter Gaza for over seventy days, since the end of the temporary ceasefire. Most families in Gaza currently eat just one meal a day, or less. Children are dying of malnutrition every day.
President Trump’s proposal to expel Palestinians from Gaza and annex the contested region has been lauded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who stated: “The actual idea of allowing Gazans who want to leave to leave. I mean, what’s wrong with that?”
Not only would such forced displacement be a crime against humanity under Article 7(1)(d) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but resettlement has also been rejected by every Middle Eastern nation President Trump has proposed to relocate Gaza Palestinians.
10. LEGALISM: Israel’s attacks don’t fit the legal definition of genocide, which requires “specific intent to destroy the whole Palestinian people.”
The defense that Israeli killing and destruction in Gaza fails to fit the legal definition of genocide is the favorite of lawyers. It has many forms. It is based on denial of Israel’s “intent to destroy” a substantial part of the Palestinian national and ethnic group.
Many who have not read the Genocide Convention think genocide can only be proven if the intent is to destroy a whole people. But the Convention clearly states that intent to destroy part of a people is enough to prove genocide.
Claiming that the intent of Israel is self-defense, not genocide, ignores the fact that many genocides, including the Holocaust have been justified by their perpetrators as necessary to defend against subversion, aggression, or invasion.
The International Court of Justice in Bosnia v Serbia and Croatia v Serbia, held that if there is any other intent besides destruction of a group, such as “ethnic cleansing” (forced deportation), this other intent precludes conclusive proof of the intent to commit genocide. Israel’s defenders claim that Israel’s intent is self-defense, not genocide. Such misinterpretation of state intent in the Genocide Convention is like saying that if a robber shoots and kills a victim, he cannot be prosecuted for murder because he also had the intent to rob his victim.
Claiming that response to aggression justifies all violent reactions, even if they are disproportionate, is a profound distortion of the laws of war. Israel’s rules of engagement permit twenty or more civilian deaths for each combatant death. They are the most extreme in any war since the firebombing and nuclear attacks of World War II.
Claiming that Israeli leaders have made no statements advocating destruction of the Palestinian population of Gaza is simply false. There are over 500 recorded instances in a database of statements by Israeli politicians, officers, and other public figures that show incitement and intent to commit genocide in Gaza.
A systematic pattern of acts of genocide is also sufficient to prove genocide. The invasion of Rafah has now been added to hundreds of other acts of genocide, such as the destruction of hospitals, maternity centers, refugee camps, feeding centers, blocking of food supplies resulting in starvation, and the murders of relief and medical personnel.
11. BLAME THE VICTIMS: Hamas terrorism justifies defense of Israel’s Jewish people.
Israel blames victims and survivors in Gaza for voting Hamas into power. Many Israeli citizens express little or no sympathy for Palestinians, presenting them as a monolithic group of Hamas-supporters instead of a diverse population with many views, including opposition to Hamas.
In fact, among Palestinians, opinions vary widely. Polls show that although many Gazans support Hamas for resisting Israeli oppression, only a minority support continued Hamas control of Gaza. Most Palestinian civilians are not Hamas terrorists.
Many Palestinians are unaware of the horrors of October 7th. Most have not seen videos of the massacre. Many believe Hamas propaganda that claims evidence of the October 7th assault was manufactured by Israel.
12. PEACE TRUMPS JUSTICE: Making peace outweighs justice for genocide.
The claim that peace and reconciliation are more important than justice would obstruct accountability for Hamas, for the Israeli Defense Forces, and for the Israeli government. It would support amnesty for the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed by both sides in this war.
The UN has called for accountability on all sides, to break the cycles of violence and ensure lasting peace.
The American Peace to Prosperity Plan of 2020 would move Israel’s capital to Jerusalem, permit further annexation of the West Bank, legitimize Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and make a two-state solution to the conflict nearly impossible. This American “peace” plan would fail to bring peace. It would also fail to achieve justice.
In November 2019, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo overruled his department’s 1978 legal opinion that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are contrary to international law, saying the “establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per se, inconsistent with international law”. The following year, Pompeo said the decision on whether to annex the Palestinian territory of the West Bank was an Israeli one.
Contrary to Secretary of State Pompeo, Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits Israeli settlements in the West Bank:
“The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” Article 49 also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
President Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to annex Gaza, move Palestinians out, and build a “Middle East Riviera” would not only violate UNGA Resolution 181, it would commit the crime against humanity of forced deportation under Article 7(1)(d) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Trump’s proposal has been rejected by most Palestinians, by every country where Trump proposes to relocate Gazans, and by nearly all experts on international law.
This report has analyzed and given examples of the Twelve Tactics of Denial that Israel uses to deny it is committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Hamas and Israel have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
War and genocide will continue until Israel and Hamas conclude a permanent cease-fire enforced by the US, NATO, UN, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Hamas must release all remaining hostages NOW.
Israel must end its genocidal blockade of food, fuel, water, and medicines to Gaza NOW.
Israel must stop its bombing and genocidal destruction of Gaza NOW.
Israel must defeat Hamas and Hamas must be excluded from future governance in Gaza.
Israel should then fully withdraw from Gaza with security provided by the US, UN, NATO, and OIC.
Hamas perpetrators should be brought to justice in courts with Universal Jurisdiction.
Israeli officers who committed war crimes should be tried in Israeli courts.
Leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and Israel should be tried in the International Criminal Court for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
Israel, the US, EU, and Arab states must fund reconstruction and resettlement of Gaza.
Israel should end its segregation and discrimination against Palestinians.
Israel must stop expansion of settlements and persecution of West Bank Palestinians.
Israel’s Arab neighbors and other Muslim nations must recognize Israel, confirm Israel’s legal right to exist in full security, and never again attack Israel, Israelis, or Jews.
The war and genocide in Gaza must stop NOW, before they take another human life.
Further Reading:
Genocide Watch encourages readers to educate themselves about the processes of genocide. We encourage critical thinking about genocide and the actions of Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, the US, UN, EU, Arab nations, Lebanon, Syria, Russia, and China. We recommend articles about Israel and Gaza at: https://www.genocidewatch.com/ as well as the following articles:
Dr. Gregory H. Stanton is Founding President of Genocide Watch and the Alliance Against Genocide. He founded the Cambodian Genocide Project. He was Professor in Genocide Studies at George Mason University and was James Farmer Professor in Human Rights at the University of Mary Washington. He was President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. He was a law professor at Washington and Lee University. In the State Department, he wrote the UN Resolutions that established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He wrote the rules of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. He holds degrees from Oberlin, Harvard Divinity School, Yale Law School, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
