5 days ago
Gazans deserve a plan for their future
Regarding Shadi Hamid's June 1 Sunday Opinion column, 'A genocide is happening in Gaza. We should say so.':
We owe a debt of gratitude to Hamid for saying out loud what needs to be said out loud: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The civilized world should condemn Israel's decision to loosen its own rules about protecting civilians from bombing, the high civilian death toll in the war, and Israel's steps to cut off electricity to Gaza, including to the desalination plant that produces potable water, and to allow only minimal deliveries of food and medicine, regardless of whether these actions are labeled 'genocide.' But as Hamid pointed out, calling what is happening 'genocide' could create a legal obligation to intervene (much like acknowledging that the treatment of detainees amounted to 'torture' became a legally important question during the war on terrorism). It appears that a moral responsibility alone is not compelling enough to some world leaders.
