Chief Rabbi: The word genocide’s been hijacked to demonise Israel
aCTIVISTS have hijacked the word ‘genocide’ to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza to ‘tear open the still gaping wound of the Holocaust’, the uK’s Chief rabbi warned yesterday.
Sir ephraim Mirvis said the ‘spurious’ claim that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza amounted to the ‘ultimate demonisation of the Jewish state’.
He said the legal definition of genocide was acts perpetrated with ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group’, and argued: ‘It should be obvious that if Israel’s objectives were genocidal, it could have used its military strength to level Gaza in a matter of days.
‘Instead, it is placing the lives of its own soldiers at risk in its ground operations, securing humanitarian corridors and providing civilians with advance notice of its operations, even to the detriment of its military objectives.’
Pro- Palestinian protesters attending demonstrations in London and elsewhere in the country have been pictured carrying signs labelling Israel’s actions in Gaza as ‘genocide’.
This weekend, activists interrupted a speech by Labour foreign spokesman David Lammy, accusing him and those gathered of ‘supporting genocide’ due to the party’s position on Israel.
But some Labour MPs, including Zarah Sultana, have used the term. She recently accused the Government of being ‘deeply comwhich plicit in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza’ in a letter to rishi Sunak.
But Sir ephraim said the misuse of the word ‘genocide’ was an insult to victims and survivors of the Holocaust, and other genocides in Cambodia, rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
He told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘It is a term deployed not only to eradicate any notion that Israel has a responsibility to protect its citizens, but also to tear open the still gaping wound of the Holocaust, knowing that it will inflict more pain than any other accusation.
‘It is a moral inversion, which undermines the memory of the worst crimes in human history.’
His warning comes ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, amid fears of some organisations being pressured to refer to claims of genocide in Gaza in their commemorations.
Sir ephraim added: ‘We have watched in horror as people have rushed to invoke the crime of genocide – some within days of october 7. fringe academics and their partisan cheerleaders have selectively quoted Israeli politicians to paint a picture of a country bent on annihilation.
‘The enthusiastic clamour by some to declare it as something belongs in a different moral category to the many other just wars with horrific humanitarian consequences, represents a moral failure built upon a foundation of hatred and disinformation.’
Sir ephraim, who was born and schooled in South africa, said the bid by that country’s government to bring a genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice was an instance of ‘increasingly frequent, disingenuous misappropriation of the term’.
South africa’s claim has been supported by several countries, while Israel has branded it ‘disgraceful’. The uS, uK and other allies have also rejected the case, with Mr Sunak calling it ‘completely unjustified and wrong’.
Israeli officials will appear before the court at The Hague in the netherlands after South africa asked it to issue an interim order for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in Gaza.