Mr Boyce'The reason I say Netanyahu and his cabal want genocide is because of what they have said and are doing'.1) Where have 'Netanyahu and his cabal' said they want to commit genocide towards the Palestinians ?'Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by means such as "the disintegration of [its] political and social institutions, of [its] culture, language, national feelings, religion, and [its] economic existence'.Is this now accepted Israeli government policy ?You will I assume concede that the call for the annihilation of Israel and its Jewish citizens by Hamas is a call for genocide ?Do you agree with them ?(Sorry if I have asked you this before, but as a bloke I am sure you can take it without an attack of the vapours and give a straight answer).The quote you post from some extreme Israeli politician will count for as much as that from Mahmoud Abbas, unelected leader seemingly forever, of the Palestine Authority.'In a speech to members of his Fatah party in August 2023, Mr Abbas denied the Holocaust was "not about antisemitism", and instead said Hitler’s horrific killing of six million Jews was because of “their social role", which had to do with "usury, money and so on”.In the same speech, he denied that European Jews had any lineage based in the Middle East, a widely discredited theory.“When we hear them talk about Semitism and antisemitism — the Ashkenazi Jews, at least, are not Semites,” Mr Abbas said.In a speech to the UN in May 2023, Mr Abbas compared Israel to the Nazis and said the country lied like Joseph Goebbels.“Israeli and Zionist claims continue by saying that Israel made the desert bloom. As if Palestine was a desert and they made the desert bloom,” Mr Abbas said at the UN event honouring the Palestinian Nakba.“These are lies,” he said.“They continue to lie, like Goebbels, and they continue to lie until people believe their lies and they continue therefore their false claims by saying that Israel made the desert bloom. Palestine was never a desert.”During a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in 2022, Mr Abbas also accused Israel of committing “50 holocausts” against Palestine since 1947.“If we want to dig further into the past, yes, please, I have 50 massacres that were committed by Israel,” Mr Abbas said.“Fifty massacres, 50 Holocausts, and to this day, every day, we have dead people killed by the (Israeli Defence Forces), by the Israeli army.”Is that not a fascist and racist call by a leader of the Palestinians for genocide towards the Jews ?2) Where are Israel committing genocide against the Palestinians and how many innocent civilians (not Hamas terrorists) have they killed ? I am sorry you think me ungallant for disputing this issue with women that post on this Forum.I assume it is fine for me to ask men such as yourself questions on this issue but not women ?But OK.They, poor delicate flowers, can have a free rein to post whatever opinion they want without a response from me.And you can take your intellectual leadership on the matter from a minor Jewish actress.'Give it a break, you're sounding like an utter twat!'If personal insult is what you resort to when your intellect dries up I think perhaps you are getting a little desperate.Let's face it.You think Israel can do no right and the Palestinians no wrong.I take a more nuanced view that Israel is fighting for survival from attacks by Palestinians.I the fog of war it will make mistakes in the actions it takes with often terrible consequences.The motives of Hamas and other Palestinians, including their leader Abbas I am more sceptical of.So we will never come to any common understanding.
John Hawkes ● 6d