Holocaust Foundation denies Zionist genocide

On 14 April, the Holocaust Foundation issued a Press Release denying that Israel’s imposition of military Occupation and population-control over the Palestinian homeland is genocidal. It was in reaction to statements by Dr Rawiri Taonui, suggesting that Zionist violations of international humanitarian law and the Third Reich Nazi persecution of Jews were equal examples of genocide in practise. To that extent, the Holocaust Foundation has a right to be critical. The Nazi regime, its racist ideology and the devastating World War it generated was the most irrational, horrific calamity our world has ever experienced. The Nazi regime focused its hatred on Jews in particular but its belief in a so-called master race also threatened many other people.

The Holocaust Foundation went too far, however, with its assertion that “It is a straightforward falsehood to suggest that Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinians.” The evidence proves otherwise. As a United Nations UNISPAL document lays out: “Israel’s use of force against the Palestinian people in Gaza is one of the most serious violations of international law in recent times. It is aggression against a people who are illegally occupied that denies them their right to self-determination in manner that has been ongoing for more than sixty years. These actions are also significant evidence of the Israeli government’s intention to destroy Palestinian as a national group in whole or in part.” With regard to oppression of Gaza, the UNISPAL document notes the killing and maiming of thousands of Palestinians being held captive under an illegal and “inhuman occupation and embargo.”

Most important, as far as determining acts of genocide is concerned, the UN document reminds us, that Israel’s aggression is “very strong evidence of its intention to commit genocide”. The UN defines genocide as “acts committed when a state or an individual acts with intent to destroy whole or part of a national, religious, or ethnic group by killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm or deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life that are calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part.”

Failure to deal with the crimes committed by the Zionist enterprise challenges international law. It puts the very survival of respect for human rights in grave peril.