Genocide in Gaza: Fact or Myth?

An exploration into the meaning of genocide and its widespread use in public discourse since October 7th

We Believe in Israel (WBII) is pleased to announce the publication of our latest white paper, 'Genocide in Gaza: Fact or Myth?'. In a time when baseless accusations are being hurled at Israel from every corner, this white paper tackles head-on the most inflammatory of these claims—that Israel is engaged in genocide. The word has been thrown around with reckless abandon, used as a political weapon rather than as a term with profound legal and moral implications.

This paper doesn’t just argue; it dissects. It brings rigorous intellectual scrutiny to the matter, using historical, legal, and factual analysis to challenge the misleading narratives that have dominated much of the conversation since the events of October 7th, 2023. Israel is being accused of the gravest of crimes, and yet, as we demonstrate, the facts simply do not support such hyperbolic claims.

At the heart of this discussion is the distinction between defensive military operations and the deliberate, systematic destruction of a people, which the word "genocide" demands. While Israel fights a defensive war against an organisation—Hamas—that openly calls for the extermination of Jews, this distinction has been lost on many. This white paper will give you the tools to cut through the noise and understand the reality of the conflict.

We encourage you to read the full white paper and arm yourself with the facts. In a world that so often demands we side with convenient narratives, the truth has never been more important.

Foreword - Catherine Perez-Shakdam, Executive Director We Believe In Israel

It is an unfortunate reality of our age that words once reserved for the gravest of human atrocities have become cheap currency in the hands of ideologues. In the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict, the word "genocide" has been bandied about with reckless abandon, not as an informed judgment but as a cudgel of condemnation. The very term, which was forged in the aftermath of the Holocaust—a systematic, industrial slaughter of six million Jews—has now been stretched, distorted, and grotesquely misapplied. To conflate the Israeli state’s military actions with genocide is not only intellectually dishonest but also morally perverse.

This paper, then, is an essential corrective to a discourse that has lost its bearings. It seeks to drag the conversation back from the fever swamps of propaganda and into the realm of reasoned debate. There is a profoundly dangerous ignorance at work in this modern discourse, an ignorance that not only trivialises the term "genocide" but actively empowers the very forces that revel in the prospect of annihilation. For to claim, as some have, that Israel’s response to Hamas’s terror is an act of genocide is to wilfully ignore the charter of Hamas itself—a charter that does not merely advocate for the liberation of a people but explicitly calls for the eradication of Jews.

We must dispense with the illusion that this conflict is simply about land or borders. At its core, it is about survival—about whether a people will be permitted to exist in a region that has, for centuries, sought their destruction. To level charges of genocide against the one state in the region that strives to uphold democratic values is to side with those who would see those very values obliterated. The fashionable moral equivalence drawn between a sovereign state defending itself and a terrorist organisation committed to its destruction is an insult to history, to reason, and to the millions who have perished in actual genocides.

This paper does not shy away from the brutal realities of the conflict. It acknowledges the suffering on all sides but demands intellectual rigour in distinguishing between acts of war and the systematic extermination of a people. In doing so, it calls upon us to confront the uncomfortable truths that have been buried beneath the cacophony of accusations: that Hamas, not Israel, is the entity whose actions and words most closely align with the true definition of genocide.

Let us be clear: to misuse the term "genocide" is not merely an academic failing. It is a moral failure of the highest order, for it dilutes the meaning of the word and dishonours the memory of those who have been victims of actual genocides. If we allow this misuse to continue unchallenged, we not only distort the present conflict but risk undermining the very moral foundation upon which our understanding of human rights stands. This paper seeks to prevent such a collapse, calling upon its readers to confront facts, not slogans; evidence, not hysteria; and ultimately, justice, not convenient narratives.

Access the paper here: ‘Genocide_in_Gaza’__Fact_or_Myth.pdf