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Arab News
05-08-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Shifting narrative: Why more Israelis are using the G-word
To what extent is the accusation that Israel has been perpetrating a genocide in Gaza bedding in and becoming a more mainstream part of the narrative? Perhaps more intriguingly, to what extent is this question being debated in Israel itself? As ever, it was the Palestinians themselves who were among the first to sound the genocide 'alarm bell.' But they are not in charge of the narrative, and lack the permission to narrate their own suffering. As the lawyer for South Africa, Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, said at the International Court of Justice in the Hague in 2024, this is 'the first genocide in history where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in real time in the desperate, so far vain hope that the world might do something.' Israeli officials do not face this test when portraying their own suffering. They do not have to wait for others to attest to it. With this major caveat, there are shifts internationally and within Israel. This was brought into sharp focus last week when the Israeli author David Grossman announced that he now saw Israel's assault as a genocide, saying: 'I ask myself, how did we get here?' This came after two leading Israeli human rights organizations, B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, joined the ranks of those bodies who have made this determination, namely that Israel is committing acts in Gaza 'with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,' in this case the Palestinians. These were the first two Israeli bodies to make this call, albeit almost 22 months into the process of genocide. But that shows a degree of ruthless research and debate that took place before making the judgment. It is never easy for citizens from a state perpetrating genocide to admit to this crime. It is shameful. Those making the accusation will feel the coldest of shoulders, even downright loathing, from fellow countrymen. That is why hitherto the word genocide has largely been uttered only in private in Israel. Yet it may be the start of the undermining of the national Israeli consensus that permits genocide. Within Israel, for obvious historical reasons, genocide is a highly sensitive term. Israel came into being in the aftermath of the Holocaust, arguably the most devastating genocide in modern history, industrial in scale, and brutally deliberate in intent. Palestinians have been demonized and dehumanized. Chris Doyle B'Tselem's report was titled 'Our genocide is happening now.' It was unequivocal in tone: 'Israel is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip.' Two of the report's points stand out. First, that the genocide is built on the system of apartheid and Jewish supremacy Israel has applied over the territories it controls. This is a long-term practice. Second, the process of genocide is being perpetrated currently in Gaza, but could soon spread to other areas under Israel's control. The two organizations join the major international human rights agencies Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in making this accusation, as well as an increasing number of humanitarian aid agencies, such as Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam, that also have warned of the need to protect Palestinians from the risk of genocide. The number of Israeli genocide scholars who deem Israel's actions in Gaza to be genocidal is growing. Omer Bartov has been in the forefront, having declared genocide one month after Israel launched its attacks on Gaza. Raz Segal, an associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University, described it as a 'textbook case of genocide' in October 2023. Amos Goldberg, a Holocaust studies professor from Israel, has used the G-word. Then, in May 2025, Israeli scholar Shmuel Lederman wrote that 'the second half of 2024 is the point at which a consensus formed among genocide scholars, as well as the human rights organizations community, that this is a genocide. Those who perhaps still had doubts — I estimate they dissipated following Israel's actions since the breaking of the ceasefire.' These reports give extra credibility to those in the international arena demanding action to halt the genocide, and also to stop it spreading elsewhere, such as the West Bank. Initially those referring to genocide — even in the immediate aftermath of the ICJ ordering of provisional measures in January 2024 — were hammered. The push-back was fierce. The overwhelming drive within Israel has been in favor of the war and all measures seen as necessary, including starvation. Palestinians have been demonized and dehumanized, and violence against them has been a staple part of mainstream discourse. Internationally, many politicians, commentators, and reporters still refer to a war or conflict in Gaza. They still refer to two sides, as if there are two sides in a genocide. Such terms are long past their sell-by date. The erasure and extinction of Palestinian life in Gaza is on track. Action cannot wait until the ICJ delivers its verdict, which may take some time. By that point, the Palestinian people will have suffered irreparable harm from this genocide. • Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding in London. X: @Doylech
CNN
01-08-2025
- Health
- CNN
Judge pauses termination of LGBTQ+ health research grants
LGBTQ issuesFacebookTweetLink Follow A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration's cancelation of US National Institutes of Health grants that research on LGBTQ+ related health issues. Ruling from the bench, US District Judge Lydia Griggsby, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, said she would issue a preliminary injunction against NIH directives to terminate grants for LGBTQ+ health research, describing such directives as designed to 'focus and target LGBTQ+ members.' 'It's clear that why the funding is being terminated and why the grants will not move forward is because they relate to that community,' Griggsby said. The lawsuit, filed in May by the American Association of Physicians for Human Rights, against the NIH and Department of Health and Human Services alleges that in targeting only certain, predominantly LGBTQ+-related research projects for funding cuts, the NIH engaged in unlawful discrimination. In determining what grants to cut, Physicians for Human Rights attorney Omar Gonzalez-Pagan argued on Friday, NIH employees 'literally do a search term of projects, and they literally look for words' associated with LGBTQ+ related issues – including transgender, nonbinary, and sexuality. The reason the government is targeting transgender research projects 'is because they believe transgender people do not exist,' Omar Gonzalez-Pagan said. 'We need to take the government at its word,' he continued. 'That this a president of the United States who has spoken so denigratingly of the people that he governs' Assistant US Attorney Michael Wilson argued that the court lacked jurisdiction and would become 'involved in what should be a political process.' This is not the first time a district court has thwarted the NIH's attempts to cancel grants funding identity-related research. In a separate legal challenge to the case, a district court judge in Massachusetts ruled in June that the gutting of NIH grants in diversity-related fields is illegal, though that ruling addressed only a fraction of the hundreds of grants actually terminated. District Judge William Young, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, said it is 'palpably clear' that 'racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community' was behind the NIH's grant termination plans. Griggsby said she would issue a written ruling on the matter in the coming weeks.
The Guardian
31-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Mass rape, forced pregnancy and sexual torture in Tigray amount to crimes against humanity
Hundreds of health workers across Tigray have documented mass rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and sexual torture of women and children by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers, in systematic attacks that amount to crimes against humanity, a new report has found. The research, compiled by Physicians for Human Rights and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH), represents the most comprehensive documentation yet of weaponised sexual violence in Tigray. It reviewed medical records of more than 500 patients, surveys of 600 health workers, and in-depth interviews with doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and community leaders. The authors outline evidence of systematic attacks designed to destroy the fertility of Tigrayan women and call for international bodies to investigate the crime of genocide. Where is Tigray? Tigray is the most northern of Ethiopia's 11 regional states, lying along the southern border of Eritrea with Sudan to the west. How did the war start? Years of tensions erupted into war in November 2020. Ethiopia's prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who had inflamed hostilities by delaying federal elections, alleged that Tigray's ruling party had attacked a military camp in the state capital, Mekelle. He sent in troops to oust the state government and ordered a communications blackout. Who is involved? The invasion became a joint effort between three parties: Ethiopia, Eritrea, and regional forces from Tigray's neighbouring state of Amhara. Ethiopia's prime minister denied the presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray for months, despite it becoming clear he had formed an alliance with the country's former enemy to mobilise both nations' armies. Amhara has long-standing territorial disputes with Tigray and its own tensions with the federal government – they, too, sent troops. On the other side, the ruling party in Tigray's regional government, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), founded and mobilised its own army when the war began, the Tigray Defence Forces, and was joined by militias from the ethnically marginalised Oromo people. Why are they fighting? Each party has a complex history of disputes. Ethiopia has a federal system, and historically its states have maintained a high level of autonomy. Tigray's ruling party, the TPLF, had been a dominant force in national politics, and led the coalition which ruled Ethiopia for three decades until 2018. The group lost much of its power when Abiy Ahmed was elected prime minister in April 2018, and a political rift began to grow between the TPLF and Abiy's administration. Eritrea and Amhara both have long-standing territorial disputes with Tigray. Eritrea brought violence along Tigray's border during the two decades of the Ethiopia-Eritrea war, a conflict which saw Abiy awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ending in 2019. What happened during the conflict? The war resulted in massive civilian casualties, with atrocities and crimes against humanity committed by all parties. As troops moved into Tigray, Ethiopia blockaded the region, preventing journalists, UN agencies and aid from entering and limiting information getting out. Tigray quickly descended into an acute hunger crisis. By the time the ceasefire was signed in November 2022, academics estimated that between 300,000 and 800,000 people had died from violence or starvation as a result of the blockade. The capital Mekelle was decimated. Rates of sexual violence were extreme: surveys indicate that around 10% of Tigrayan women were raped during the conflict. Is the conflict over? The war formally ended in 2022, but violence in the region has continued and is reported to be again escalating. By mid-2025 Eritrean troops were still occupying chunks of Tigray, according to the UN, and continue to be accused of mass rape, arbitrary detention and looting. Large-scale sexual violence by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces in the region continues: NGOs have documented hundreds of cases of rape since hostilities ended, and concluded that "the scale and nature of these violations has not materially changed". Now, there are fears the region could descend into war again, after fresh conflicts erupted between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and between Ethiopia's federal government and Amhara state. The attacks described by healthcare workers are extreme in their brutality, often leaving survivors with severe, long-term injuries. 'Having worked on gender-based violence for two decades … this is not something I have ever seen in other conflicts,' said Payal Shah, a human rights lawyer and co-author of the report. 'It is a really horrific and extreme form of sexual violence, and one that deserves the world's attention.' Survivors treated by health professionals ranged from infants to elderly people. The youngest was less than a year old. More than 20% of health workers said those they treated for sexual violence included very young children (1-12 years); and 63% treated children under the age of 17. Dr Abraha Gebreegziabher, chief clinical director of Ayder hospital in Tigray, told the Guardian his hospital treated thousands of rape survivors, at times admitting more than 100 a week. 'Some [trends] stand out during the war,' he said. 'One is gang raping. Second is the insertion of foreign bodies, including messages and broken rocks or stones … Then, the intentional spread of infection, HIV particularly,' he said. 'I am convinced, and see strong evidence, that rape was used as a weapon of war.' In June, the Guardian revealed a pattern of extreme sexual violence where soldiers forced foreign objects – including metal screws, stones and other debris – into women's reproductive organs. In at least two cases, the soldiers inserted plastic-wrapped letters detailing their intent to destroy Tigrayan women's ability to give birth. The new research included interviews with a number of healthcare workers who independently reported treating victims of this kind of attack. Many of the survivors said soldiers expressed their desire to exterminate the Tigrayan ethnicity – either by destroying Tigrayan women's reproductive organs, or forcing them to give birth to children of the rapist's ethnicity. One psychologist who treated a teenage girl said: 'Her arm was broken and became paralysed when the perpetrators tried to remove the Norplant contraceptive method inserted in her upper arm, and this was aimed to force pregnancy from the perpetrator. [They said]: 'You will give birth from us, then the Tigrayan ethnic[ity] will be wiped out eventually.'' Other women were held at military camps, some for months or years, and gave birth to the children of their assailants while in captivity. Legal analysis of the medical record data and health worker testimony found conclusive evidence of crimes against humanity, including mass rape, forced pregnancy, and enforced sterilisation, Shah said. Women were frequently assaulted in public, by multiple attackers, and in front of family. The attacks included significant breaches of taboo in Tigray, including anal rape and attacks on menstruating women. The resulting stigma meant that some survivors were divorced by their husbands, rejected by families, or socially excluded. 'This form of violence is being imparted in a way that is intended to cause trauma, humiliation, suffering and fracture and break communities,' Shah said. 'This is going to have generational impacts.' Many survivors are still living in displaced persons' camps. A number of clinics providing for survivors have shut due to the closure of USAID. 'The very fabric of these women's personalities and sense of self has been shattered,' one psychiatrist said. A significant portion of health workers had treated children. Many were too young to understand what had happened, one nurse said: 'Most of them don't know what rape is. They do not know what the consequence is.' For girls who became pregnant, some as young as 12, the health risks were significant. 'Their bodies are not fully developed to handle the demands of pregnancy,' a reproductive health coordinator working with child survivors said. Ayder hospital treated a number of children, Abraha said, many of whom developed long-term conditions, including fistula. As well as direct victims of sexual attacks, health professionals described treating children who had experienced 'forced witnessing', where they were made to watch parents and siblings being raped or killed, causing severe psychological trauma. Health workers in Tigray face significant risk for speaking publicly about sexual violence by government-affiliated forces. One surgical worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Guardian that the youngest patient he had treated for sexual attacks was three years old. 'It is very difficult to think of the worst [cases],' he said. At Ayder hospital, Abraha said medical staff experienced acute psychological distress and nightmares as a result of what they had witnessed. 'We hope that many people will hear [about this] across the surface of the Earth. If justice can be served, maybe consolation will follow.' The report covered the conflict and post-conflict period to 2024, and concluded that weaponised sexual violence has continued since the ceasefire, and expanded to new regions. 'The perpetrators must be punished, and the situation must be resolved,' one health worker said. 'True healing requires justice.' Anbassa*, a human rights worker in Ethiopia who helped conduct the surveys, said: 'No one is accountable.' The failure to hold perpetrators to account meant human rights abuses continued, he said, with atrocities now being committed in the nearby regions of Amhara and Afar. 'If this conflict continues, this impunity that happened in Tigray, the aftermath of this one will continue, [and] conflicts are going to erupt to other regions.' * Name changed In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at
The Guardian
31-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Mass rape, forced pregnancy and sexual torture in Tigray amount to crimes against humanity
Hundreds of health workers across Tigray have documented mass rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and sexual torture of women and children by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers, in systematic attacks that amount to crimes against humanity, a new report has found. The research, compiled by Physicians for Human Rights and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH), represents the most comprehensive documentation yet of weaponised sexual violence in Tigray. It reviewed medical records of more than 500 patients, surveys of 600 health workers, and in-depth interviews with doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and community leaders. The authors outline evidence of systematic attacks designed to destroy the fertility of Tigrayan women and call for international bodies to investigate the crime of genocide. Where is Tigray? Tigray is the most northern of Ethiopia's 11 regional states, lying along the southern border of Eritrea with Sudan to the west. How did the war start? Years of tensions erupted into war in November 2020. Ethiopia's prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who had inflamed hostilities by delaying federal elections, alleged that Tigray's ruling party had attacked a military camp in the state capital, Mekelle. He sent in troops to oust the state government and ordered a communications blackout. Who is involved? The invasion became a joint effort between three parties: Ethiopia, Eritrea, and regional forces from Tigray's neighbouring state of Amhara. Ethiopia's prime minister denied the presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray for months, despite it becoming clear he had formed an alliance with the country's former enemy to mobilise both nations' armies. Amhara has long-standing territorial disputes with Tigray and its own tensions with the federal government – they, too, sent troops. On the other side, the ruling party in Tigray's regional government, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), founded and mobilised its own army when the war began, the Tigray Defence Forces, and was joined by militias from the ethnically marginalised Oromo people. Why are they fighting? Each party has a complex history of disputes. Ethiopia has a federal system, and historically its states have maintained a high level of autonomy. Tigray's ruling party, the TPLF, had been a dominant force in national politics, and led the coalition which ruled Ethiopia for three decades until 2018. The group lost much of its power when Abiy Ahmed was elected prime minister in April 2018, and a political rift began to grow between the TPLF and Abiy's administration. Eritrea and Amhara both have long-standing territorial disputes with Tigray. Eritrea brought violence along Tigray's border during the two decades of the Ethiopia-Eritrea war, a conflict which saw Abiy awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ending in 2019. What happened during the conflict? The war resulted in massive civilian casualties, with atrocities and crimes against humanity committed by all parties. As troops moved into Tigray, Ethiopia blockaded the region, preventing journalists, UN agencies and aid from entering and limiting information getting out. Tigray quickly descended into an acute hunger crisis. By the time the ceasefire was signed in November 2022, academics estimated that between 300,000 and 800,000 people had died from violence or starvation as a result of the blockade. The capital Mekelle was decimated. Rates of sexual violence were extreme: surveys indicate that around 10% of Tigrayan women were raped during the conflict. Is the conflict over? The war formally ended in 2022, but violence in the region has continued and is reported to be again escalating. By mid-2025 Eritrean troops were still occupying chunks of Tigray, according to the UN, and continue to be accused of mass rape, arbitrary detention and looting. Large-scale sexual violence by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces in the region continues: NGOs have documented hundreds of cases of rape since hostilities ended, and concluded that "the scale and nature of these violations has not materially changed". Now, there are fears the region could descend into war again, after fresh conflicts erupted between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and between Ethiopia's federal government and Amhara state. The attacks described by healthcare workers are extreme in their brutality, often leaving survivors with severe, long-term injuries. 'Having worked on gender-based violence for two decades … this is not something I have ever seen in other conflicts,' said Payal Shah, a human rights lawyer and co-author of the report. 'It is a really horrific and extreme form of sexual violence, and one that deserves the world's attention.' Survivors treated by health professionals ranged from infants to elderly people. The youngest was less than a year old. More than 20% of health workers said those they treated for sexual violence included very young children (1-12 years); and 63% treated children under the age of 17. Dr Abraha Gebreegziabher, chief clinical director of Ayder hospital in Tigray, told the Guardian his hospital treated thousands of rape survivors, at times admitting more than 100 a week. 'Some [trends] stand out during the war,' he said. 'One is gang raping. Second is the insertion of foreign bodies, including messages and broken rocks or stones … Then, the intentional spread of infection, HIV particularly,' he said. 'I am convinced, and see strong evidence, that rape was used as a weapon of war.' In June, the Guardian revealed a pattern of extreme sexual violence where soldiers forced foreign objects – including metal screws, stones and other debris – into women's reproductive organs. In at least two cases, the soldiers inserted plastic-wrapped letters detailing their intent to destroy Tigrayan women's ability to give birth. The new research included interviews with a number of healthcare workers who independently reported treating victims of this kind of attack. Many of the survivors said soldiers expressed their desire to exterminate the Tigrayan ethnicity – either by destroying Tigrayan women's reproductive organs, or forcing them to give birth to children of the rapist's ethnicity. One psychologist who treated a teenage girl said: 'Her arm was broken and became paralysed when the perpetrators tried to remove the Norplant contraceptive method inserted in her upper arm, and this was aimed to force pregnancy from the perpetrator. [They said]: 'You will give birth from us, then the Tigrayan ethnic[ity] will be wiped out eventually.'' Other women were held at military camps, some for months or years, and gave birth to the children of their assailants while in captivity. Legal analysis of the medical record data and health worker testimony found conclusive evidence of crimes against humanity, including mass rape, forced pregnancy, and enforced sterilisation, Shah said. Women were frequently assaulted in public, by multiple attackers, and in front of family. The attacks included significant breaches of taboo in Tigray, including anal rape and attacks on menstruating women. The resulting stigma meant that some survivors were divorced by their husbands, rejected by families, or socially excluded. 'This form of violence is being imparted in a way that is intended to cause trauma, humiliation, suffering and fracture and break communities,' Shah said. 'This is going to have generational impacts.' Many survivors are still living in displaced persons' camps. A number of clinics providing for survivors have shut due to the closure of USAID. 'The very fabric of these women's personalities and sense of self has been shattered,' one psychiatrist said. A significant portion of health workers had treated children. Many were too young to understand what had happened, one nurse said: 'Most of them don't know what rape is. They do not know what the consequence is.' For girls who became pregnant, some as young as 12, the health risks were significant. 'Their bodies are not fully developed to handle the demands of pregnancy,' a reproductive health coordinator working with child survivors said. Ayder hospital treated a number of children, Abraha said, many of whom developed long-term conditions, including fistula. As well as direct victims of sexual attacks, health professionals described treating children who had experienced 'forced witnessing', where they were made to watch parents and siblings being raped or killed, causing severe psychological trauma. Health workers in Tigray face significant risk for speaking publicly about sexual violence by government-affiliated forces. One surgical worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Guardian that medical staff experienced acute psychological distress and nightmares as a result of what they had witnessed. 'We hope that many people will hear [about this] across the surface of the Earth. If justice can be served, maybe consolation will follow.' The report covered the conflict and post-conflict period to 2024, and concluded that weaponised sexual violence has continued since the ceasefire, and expanded to new regions. 'The perpetrators must be punished, and the situation must be resolved,' one health worker said. 'True healing requires justice.' Anbassa*, a human rights worker in Ethiopia who helped conduct the surveys, said: 'No one is accountable.' The failure to hold perpetrators to account meant human rights abuses continued, he said, with atrocities now being committed in the nearby regions of Amhara and Afar. 'If this conflict continues, this impunity that happened in Tigray, the aftermath of this one will continue, [and] conflicts are going to erupt to other regions.' * Name changed In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at
Japan Times
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Israeli rights groups break taboo with accusations of genocide
When two human rights groups became the first major voices in Israel to accuse the state of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, breaking a taboo in a country founded after the Holocaust, they were prepared for a backlash. B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel released reports at a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday, saying Israel was carrying out "coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip." That marked the strongest possible accusation against the state, which vehemently denies it. The charge of genocide is deeply sensitive in Israel because of its origins in the work of Jewish legal scholars in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust. Israeli officials have rejected genocide allegations as antisemitic. So Sarit Michaeli, B'Tselem's international director, said the group expected to face attacks for making the claim in a country still traumatized by the deadly Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered the war in Gaza. "We've looked into all of the risks that we could be facing. These are legal, reputation, media risks, other types of risk, societal risks and we've done work to try and mitigate these risks," said Michaeli, whose organization is seen as being on the political fringe in Israel but is respected internationally. "We are also quite experienced in attacks by the government or social media, so this is not the first time." It's not unrealistic "to expect this issue, which is so fraught and so deeply contentious within Israeli society and internationally to lead to an even greater reaction," she said. Israel's foreign ministry and prime minister's office did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Shortly after the reports were released on Monday, government spokesperson David Mencer said: "Yes, of course we have free speech in Israel." He strongly rejected the reports' findings and said that such accusations fostered antisemitism abroad. Some Israelis have expressed concern over Israel's military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, destroyed much of the enclave and led to widespread hunger. An international global hunger monitor said on Tuesday a famine scenario was unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with malnutrition soaring, children under five dying of hunger-related causes and humanitarian access severely restricted. "For me, life is life, and it's sad. No one should die there," said nurse Shmuel Sherenzon, 31. But the Israeli public generally rejects allegations of genocide. Most of the 1,200 people killed and the 251 taken hostage to Gaza in the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel were civilians, including men, women, children and the elderly. In an editorial titled "Why are we blind to Gaza?" published on the mainstream news site Ynet last week, Israeli journalist Sever Plocker said images of ordinary Palestinians rejoicing over the attacks in and even following the militants to take part in violence made it almost impossible for Israelis to feel compassion for Gazans in the months that followed. "The crimes of Hamas on Oct. 7 have deeply burned — for generations — the consciousness of the entire Jewish public in Israel, which now interprets the destruction and killing in Gaza as a deterrent retaliation and therefore also morally legitimate." Israel has fended off accusations of genocide since the early days of the Gaza war, including a case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned as "outrageous." While Israeli human rights groups say it can be difficult working under Israel's far-right government, they don't experience the kind of tough crackdowns their counterparts face in other parts of the Middle East. Israel has consistently said its actions in Gaza are justified as self-defense and accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields, a charge the militant group denies. Israeli media has focused more on the plight of hostages taken by Hamas, in the worst single attack on Jews since the Holocaust. In this atmosphere, for B'Tselem's Israeli staff members to come to the stark conclusion that their own country was guilty of genocide was emotionally challenging, said Yuli Novak, the organisation's executive director. "It's really incomprehensible, it's a phenomena that the mind cannot bear," Novak said, choking up. "I think many of our colleagues are struggling at the moment, not only fear of sanctions but also to fully grasp this thing." Guy Shalev, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights Israel, said the organization faced a "wall of denial." It has been under pressure for months and is expecting a stronger backlash after releasing its report. "Bureaucratic, legal, financial institutions such as banks freezing accounts including ours, and some of the challenges we expect to see in the next days ... these efforts will intensify," he said.
