Genocide is the deliberate and systematic murder of an ethnic, national, racial or religious group.
Gaza has a population of 1.5 million people. 200-250 of these have been killed by the Israeli air raids. HAMAS itself has said that 80% or more of the casualties are HAMAS military operatives. Gaza authorities have said that only about 15 of the dead are civilians. While my heart bleeds for the 15 and their families, and for others who were wounded, 15 people out of 1.5 million is not genocide.
Did the Israelis indiscriminately nuke Gazan cities, indicating an intent to commit genocide? No. According to HAMAS, Israel precision-bombed every HAMAS military base and [militarized under HAMAS] police station, as well as ammunition dumps and the offices of HAMAS leaders. These stations and offices had been deliberately placed by HAMAS in civilian areas - in some cases beside schools or mosques - in the hope that Israeli bombs would lead to casualties that would embarrass Israel. The schools and other facilities had not been relocated, nor had they been protected in any way from the risk that the military facilities might be bombed.
Bottom line:
Let's dispense with the mad rhetoric and face reality. Calling this "genocide" is a tactic to mislead ignorant people around the world. I'll accept fair and sane criticism of Israel. Gross distortions and lies like this claim do not contribute to rational debate; they only incite the naive to support delusional, violent approaches to dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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