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Israel has killed more than 10 per cent of Gaza’s population since the start of the genocide in October 2023. The statistics, now reported by mainstream media as they come directly from an Israeli source – none other than former army commander Herzi Halevi who was chief of staff for the Israeli military for 17 months of Israel’s genocide – confirm the annihilation directly from the perpetrators.
There is no more talk about Hamas exaggerating the statistics, although the Guardian repeats the statement that is part of mainstream official narrative about Hamas not distinguishing between civilians and resistance fighters. The picture that emerges is that of mainstream media reporting admission of genocide from a source that is responsible and culpable, after spending almost two years of denying the Palestinian people the chance to articulate the same statement as lived experience.
“This isn’t a gentle war,” Halevi is reported saying. “We took the gloves off from the first minute. Sadly not earlier.” This rhetorical pondering of not having indulged in genocide earlier only illustrates the historical intent to eradicate all Palestinians from Palestine. This is also an admission of how Israel can secure its existence through the obliteration of the indigenous.
Halevi asserted that he was never restricted on how to carry out the genocide and stated that Israel’s military attorney general “had no power to restrict me.” However, Halevi also repeated the claim that the Israeli military “operates within the constraints of international law.”
READ: Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN inquiry commission finds
According to a new UN report by the Independent Commission of Inquiry, Israel has committed four out of five acts of genocide as defined in the 1948 Geneva Convention.
Not one single international institution has taken genocide seriously. Gaza has been a major news focus, an area of research, an opportunity for rhetorical practice and futile debates, and a territory to test weapons and international parameters of human rights. That international institutions and world leaders are now catching up with what Palestinians have been saying since the start should read as an aberration of justice, not an upholding of it.
Even when quoting Israelis on genocide, the international community still finds space to debate the evidence instead of acting upon it. There have been other instances where Israeli officials clearly incited in favour of genocide and spoke openly of war crimes. Halevi’s comment, however, is statistical. Israel has killed over 10 per cent of Gaza’s population. What does that statistical data convey to the international community and what will be done about it?
The international community is not averse to statistics, but it certainly loathes interpreting them in ways that obliges action against Israel. The UN has published countless statistics on forced displacement, home demolitions, Palestinian prisoners, violence against Palestinian journalists, Palestinian minors in Israeli jails, depicting the severity of colonialism purely for embellishing the institution’s records. However, not one single statistical report has ever moved the UN to act against Israel. Maybe one should not even have that expectation because behind the veneer of human rights, the UN not only endorsed but also planned, Israel’s creation.
The international community is not helpless in the face of genocide; it is willing to see it through.
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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
