#iof

[acti-veg]

I agree Israel is committing war crimes, but is that the same as genocide?

I don’t think that their actions can be justified, but how can we know for sure that genocide is their aim?

If Hamas are deliberately positioning themselves near civilians, and retreat to a network of tunnels, how do we know Israel aren’t genuinely trying to target Hamas (and showing indifference to the lives of Palestinian civilians, rather than actively targeting them)?

You can never know for certain what anyone else’s intention is, nobody ever says they are aiming to carry out a genocide. But we can reasonably judge what their intentions are by observing their actions, and Israel has been crystal clear with us in that regard.

Israel have been claiming the use of human shields for decades, and even if true; they clearly use it as a convenient smokescreen. Nobody can say for sure since Israel continue to restrict and allegedly target journalists, but Amnesty International investigated the claim back in 2016 and found no evidence for it. Israel has never been able to supply sufficient evidence to prove this in court. That doesn’t mean it isn’t happening now though, and there have allegedly been some eyewitness reports that point to them doing so, at least in places. Amnesty point out:

We’re monitoring and investigating these claims but we don’t have evidence of this during the current hostilities. In previous conflicts, we have documented that Palestinian armed groups have stored munitions in and fired indiscriminate rockets from residential areas, which is in violation of international humanitarian law.

During the current hostilities, Hamas spokespeople have reportedly urged residents in some areas of Gaza not to leave their homes after the Israeli military warned people in the area to evacuate.

However, the lack of clarity from Israel on safe routes for evacuation, the lack of shelters, and numerous reports of civilians who did heed the warnings and flee doing so under Israeli fire, such statements by Hamas officials could have been motivated by a desire to avoid further panic.

International humanitarian law is clear – even if they did direct civilians to remain in a specific location in order to shield military objectives, Israel’s obligations to protect these civilians would still apply.

Even if Hamas are using civilians as human shields, civilians are entitled to protection regardless. Here is a good excerpt on this:

Marc Weller, chair of international law and international constitutional studies at the University of Cambridge, said that if 1,000 people were sheltering at a site that was proven to hide a Hamas presence, Israel would have to send soldiers in to only hit the enemy assets (principle of distinction). If it instead opted to bomb the compound from the air, it must be able to prove the existence of enemy assets and to argue that the “incidental” loss of life was proportionate to the military advantage gained (principle of proportionality).

Issuing an evacuation order to 1.1 million people and then considering an entire population as a legitimate target also contravenes the same principles. “Knocking on a building [to ask its residents to evacuate] may be reasonable, but telling a million people that they all have to get out because you are bombing everything is unreasonable,” the Cambridge professor told Al Jazeera.

“Israel cannot discharge its obligation of distinction by wishing the civilians away. This places the burden of protection on victims, rather than attackers.”

We can also look at what the judges who have seen more evidence than we have had to say, another excerpt here:

The ICJ ruling refers to the possibility of genocide without using the word. But it does quote the Genocide Convention directly, stating that ‘Israel must immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part’. This was supported by 13 of the judges. Only two opposed it, including the former president of Israel’s Supreme Court, Aharon Barak.

The ICJ ruling states that Israel must actively ensure that in any Rafah operation the lives and basic needs of civilians are protected. The court stated that 800,000 Gazans have been displaced several times before and have already fled Rafah fearing for their lives; that many of these were responding to the IDF’s ‘encouragement’ to do so; and that most of them are living in inhuman conditions lacking access to food, water, sanitation, medical services and in most cases proper shelter.

Even if you don’t believe Israel are actively trying to commit a genocide, the conditions in Gaza are such that they could lead to the destruction of the Palestinian people in part or in whole - that is genocide, and it is deliberate because Israel have intentionally and knowingly created these conditions, ostensibly as a way to fight Hamas. What Hamas are or are not doing is ultimately irrelevant for the protections Palestinian non-combatants are entitled to, which make up the majority of those killed by the IOF.

Even if every claim about Hamas building ‘terror tunnels’ underneath hospitals and using civilians as shields are all true, even if they are committing every war crime Israel says they are, the collective punishment of the Palestinian people for the actions of Hamas are a war crime. A genocide is being carried out, regardless of the reasons for it.

The ICJ are right to tell Israel they must halt the offensive and are right to issue a warrant for not only Hamas leadership, but Netanyahu and Defence Minister Gallant as well.

[taviamoth]

[fadisharif11]

SUPPORT THIS FAMILY⬇️⬇️

[nando161mando]

🇵🇸 Facts 💯

[theinconvenientlifestyle]

[cavalierzee]

The IDF Should Not Exist! The State Of Israel Should Not Exist!

"What Israel is doing right now has nothing to do with antisemitism.

What Israel is doing right now is a Genocide.

What Israel has been doing for the past 75 years is Apartheid, is Occupation.

There is no need for any one of us to serve in the IDF.

The IDF should not exist.

The state of Israel should not exist."

Meital Yaniv,

Formet Israeli soldier and US-based anti-Zionist organizer

[rassanharas]

I still see people defending the IOF's bombing of hospitals, schools, and homes in Palestine by saying, "there are tunnels underneath them that Hamas uses" or "Hamas uses the people as human shields," so I thought I'd try to share something with them.

This is the building in which Saleh al-Arouri, the founding commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas, was assassinated by Israeli forces on January 2, 2024, along with six (6) other Hamas members, adding up to seven (7) deaths.

Love them or hate them, that's not my point right now. My point is: look at the building.

Do you notice how it's still standing?

They targeted a single apartment flat, and the whole building is still standing. There are other apartment flats in the same building that look relatively untouched. The building next to it looks fine.

Additionally, only seven (7) people were killed in this strike, all of which were announced by Hamas as its members.

This is the kind of technology at the Israeli forces' disposal. And yet, when they bomb Palestinian schools and hospitals with the pretense of targeting Hamas soldiers, hundreds die and the entire building goes down, if not several others.

Maybe the IOF can be precise when they want to be.

But maybe, when it comes to Palestine, they don't want to be precise.

[hussyknee]

Not surprised but also

TWENTY THOUSAND PEOPLE WERE MURDERED FOR THIS.

"We made an oopsie while shooting at all the other unarmed people trying to run away."

[b-0-ngripper]

This is beyond inhumane. I have no words.

[acti-veg]

doesn’t genocide mean you have to be *intentionally* trying to wipe out an ethnic group though? what is the evidence for that?

I feel like I've already covered this point in the answer you're responding to here, but I'll expand on it if it helps. If you are looking for Netanyahu to come out and say 'hey we are trying to wipe out the Palestinian people in whole or in part' before you'll call this a genocide then you'll never identify any genocide until it is already completed.

Unless someone announces their intentions, you can only infer those intentions by their actions. Intention is the thing everyone is waving around and saying ‘you can’t prove they’re wiping out Palestinians intentionally’ but this principle of inferring intention by evidence is well grounded in both national and international law. That’s how you try someone for murder without them admitting they killed someone intentionally.

Israel is one of the most powerful militaries in the world, with highly advanced targeting systems and weapons supplied by Western powers. Yet still, the majority of people they are killing are civilians. So one of three things are happening: They are not capable of avoiding astronomical civilian losses while waging war, they do not think avoiding civilian losses is important, or they are targeting civilians intentionally. In any case, a responsible global power that did not think that that level of loss of life was acceptable would cease their aggression, or at the very least, stop bombing a densely populated civilian area indiscriminately. By the way, many Israeli officials, decision-makers and military personnel absolutely have expressed genocidal intentions. You can find a database of about 500+ of them here, with sources for every one of them. You can never wholly prove intent without admission, but honestly, it is hard to think of many historical examples where genocidal intentions had such a large evidentiary basis while the conflict is still ongoing as we have for Israel’s actions in Gaza.

[taviamoth]

[fadisharif11]

Meet Ameer. A 5 year old child in Gaza. Do you see him?

He has been robbed of more than a childhood, he has been robbed of things we cannot even articulate. Words will do no justice.

Was this an accident too? Was this a misfire? Israel targets children. You know it, we all know it.

And besides this you can support this family

[nando161mando]

Israeli group reports unprecedented surge in conscription refusals amid Gaza war

🔹An Israeli group has reported an unprecedented rise in the number of Israelis refusing to serve in the military due to ethical and ideological objections amid the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.

[moonlayl]

sjp.columbia: Having to constantly post graphic images of mutilated and dead Palestinian bodies in order to prove Palestinian suffering has made us realize the extent to which this racist dehumanization persists — where even thousands of pictures of dead Palestinian children are not enough for the Western world to step up and condemn genocide. This photo of Sidra Hassouna has been haunting us since we saw it upon the Israeli bombardment of Rafah.

It is hard to adequately express the whiplash we face when people complain about protests inconveniencing them when, just an hour before a protest, we are staring at these images. We often wonder if everyone is seeing the same news as us. How is it possible to view an image like this and continue to stay silent?

Say her name. Palestinians are not collateral damage. Palestinians are not numbers. Palestinians are humans who deserve to live, dream, and laugh. Rest in peace, Sidra Hassouna.

La hawla wa la quata illa billah

[ghaniatreides]

Israeli Occupation Force sent an undercover team (dressed in women, doctors and civilian clothing) to storm the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin (West Bank) and carry out the assassination of three Palestinian’s.

[bfpnola]

please share! one of the students sent to emergency services is one of BFP’s former volunteers and my friend in real life!

— reaux (she/they)