Why is it that the Western media, and especially, most genocide scholars, continue to ignore the genocide (genocide by inches), misleading called "suicide bombing," being carried out by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups against Israeli Jews? Here is on ongoing genocide, really a Holocaust on a small scale, and yet it is being ignored. Why? I can only speculate, but these possibilities occur to me.

1. There is much sympathy for Palestinians. But so what? We must recognize genocide where ever and whenever it occurs, whether we sympathize with the responsible party or not. I certainly am pro-American, but I also recognize the American democide against the Indians, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in the Philippines and Vietnam.

2. There is a reluctance to stir the pot with such a potent accusation, when the process of peace is seen as the thing on which to concentrate. Again, we have an obligation to recognize genocide when it occurs, and make the knowledge part of our negotiation over peace. If it makes peace more difficult, then one has to put their priorities in order.

3. Israel has done the same to Palestinians or at least treated them inhumanly and committed war crimes. Again, if true so what? Even were this true, it should make no difference in calling genocide genocide. If the Israelis are also responsible for this, then apply the concept to them as well. I will consider this possibility below.

4. People are confused by the windstorm of accusations on both sides. But, look at what is being done. Old people, women, children, and babies are being purposely murdered because they are Jews (note that areas of Israeli Arab citizens and congregations have been avoided). Then consider the numerous speeches and official documents in which Jews are made the enemy and these murders are justified. Some of these statements rival what the Nazi's published about the Jews.

5. Some people may recognize the genocide, but are unwilling to stir up a hornet's nest of controversy.

6. And finally, there is a lack of an objective and general application of the meaning of genocide.

But, is genocide really being carried out? Many will disagree. Thus, this claim demands a very close analysis. The best source for the definition of genocide is the International Court of Justice (ICC), which makes genocide a crime, and carefully defines the meaning of genocide (which is the same as that given by the Genocide Convention).

Bur first, a caveat: in what follow I am not referring to the Palestinian people. My reference through out will be to the organized Palestinian terrorists that are operating under the sufferance, if not covert approval, or help, of the Palestinian Authority, a dictatorship.

Now, lets look at the legal definition of genocide and see how applicable it is (see my article on genocide that I wrote for the Enciclopedia Italiana).

According to Article 6 of the ICC Statute, this crime involves:

"ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ACTS COMMITTED WITH INTENT TO DESTROY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, A NATIONAL, ETHNICAL, RACIAL OR RELIGIOUS GROUP, AS SUCH: (A) KILLING MEMBERS OF THE GROUP." Other acts omitted as irrelevant here.

Does this definition apply to the "suicide" (to not presuppose my conclusion, I will use the misnomer "suicide" in place of "genocide") bombing of Israeli men, women, and children?

1. IS IT WITH THE INTENT TO DESTROY JEWS IN WHOLE OR IN PART? Yes. According to the Report of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court, the ICC may infer genocide from "conduct [that] took place in the context of a manifest pattern of similar conduct directed against that group or was conduct that could itself effect such destruction," (Article 6a) including "the initial acts in an emerging pattern" (Article 6 Introduction).

Evidence of intent is given by the Palestinian terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, claiming responsibility for one suicide bombing or another. Moreover, in deed they display this intent by honoring the bombers, and celebrating the deaths of the Jews so murdered (to keep this in context, they glory in the murder of Jewish civilians going about their daily lives).

But, this may not be enough to convince some people. So, let us look at a few quotes from The Charter of the Hamas (The Charter Of Allah: The Platform Of The Islamic Resistance Movement). blockquote

"[O]ur struggle against the Jews."

"The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me. . . ."

"The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares everyone. They make war against people's livelihood, plunder their moneys and threaten their honor." [How reminiscent of the Nazi's rational for the Holocaust]

"Within the circle of the conflict with world Zionism, the Hamas regards itself the spearhead and the avant-garde. It joins its efforts to all those who are active on the Palestinian scene, but more steps need to be taken by the Arab and Islamic peoples and Islamic associations throughout the Arab and Islamic world in order to make possible the next round with the Jews, the merchants of war."

Of course, one may say that this is a terrorist organization, not the Palestinian Authority. Then look at The Palestinian National Covenant. It in effect calls for the liquidation of the "Zionist presence," a common Arabic euphemism for the State of Israel. Some quotes from the Covenant:

Article 15: "aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine" [which includes Israel.]

Article 22: "Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement, and geographical base for world imperialism."

Therefore, the genocidal intent of suicide bombing cannot be denied. It is aimed at Jews, as is clear from the above, many Arab and terrorist speeches and statements, and terrorist actions, not to mention the unwillingness of the terrorists, and their supporting governments, to assure the existence of Israel as a condition of peace.

2. DOES THE "AS SUCH" PART OF THE DEFINITION APPLY? Yes. It means that the Jews are by intention explicitly targeted for destruction, and such destruction is not the unintended outcome, byproduct, or spillover of the intent to achieve some other goal, such as in defensive operations or attacks on military targets during a war or rebellion. Bombing Jews on buses or in their dance halls or markets are not military acts, and are ipso facto a crime against humanity.

3. ARE THE JEWS A NATIONAL, ETHNICAL, RACIAL OR RELIGIOUS GROUP? Undoubtedly.

4. ARE MEMBERS OF THE GROUP BEING KILLED BECAUSE THEY ARE JEWS? Yes. In many statements and speeches, and the above Charter and Covenant, Jews have been singled out for destruction.

5. IS THIS KILLING ORGANIZED BY AN INDEPENDENT POLITICAL GROUP (IN EFFECT, A SOVEREIGN NATION)? Yes, although for the ICC, the perpetrator is not necessarily a state's government or its military, but may be an international organization, such as a UN peacekeeping one, NATO, or a terrorist or guerrilla organization, among others. Now, the Palestinian Authority, which as mentioned bears responsibility for the bombing by the terrorist groups, is not yet a state in international legal terms. It is a quasi state in its functioning independence. This is shown by the negotiations between the sovereign state of Israel and the Authority on equal terms, and the de facto recognition given the Authority by the United States, Arab states, and others.

6. DOESN'T THE FACT THAT THE BOMBING DEATH TOLL OF JEWS IS IN THE LOW HUNDREDS SINCE 2000 MAKE A DIFFERENCE? No. The "in whole or in part" of the definition means that there is no lower limit to the number of people on which these acts may be committed. It is genocide even were it committed on one person with the intent described.

That there is no lower limit may be surprising and intriguing. This comes from the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (http://www.un.org/law/icc/prepcomm/prepfra.htm), which laid out the particulars for the application of the crime of genocide, among other acts over which the ICC has jurisdiction. While it always, as much as I could see, used the plural "individuals," it did not set a lower limit.

The above provides proof that the suicide bombing of Jews is genocide. However, one may not accept this legal definition What about other ways of defining genocide?

To answer this, I want to draw attention to the three ways genocide is defined in the literature. One is the legal definition by the ICC given above. A second is the more liberal definition in one way, and more restrictive in another (by limiting this to murder), in which genocide is any murder of people because of their group membership. And third, is the sometimes implicit and often explicit meaning of genocide as any murder by government (democide).

None of these definitions put a lower bound on genocide. Not whether thousands are killed or hundreds. Moreover, there is no indication as to whether the murders have to be together or serial. In the genocide against the Jews of Israel, well over a thousand have been murdered in serial terrorist attacks over the years.

Under all the definitions, the suicide bombing is genocide.

That having been established, some may wish to justify or balance the genocide bombing by the actions of Israel. There is nothing in the Genocide Convention or the ICC articles, or the preliminary discussion of them, which mitigates genocide. Genocide is genocide, pure and simple. If x commits actions against y that fall under the definition of genocide in the Convention or ICC's definition, it doesn't matter whether y eats little children for breakfast. It is still genocide.

But, one's sense of fairness alone dictates that if Israel also is committing genocide against the Palestinians, this should be coupled with the genocide of Hamas and the other terrorist groups. Now, the Palestinian civilians that have been killed by the Israel's military action are of three types. One is of those killed as combatants shooting at or otherwise trying to kill or injure Israelis. A second type is of those killed in the crossfire of combat between Palestinian civilians and the Israeli military, and during the attempt of the military to destroy booby traps, mines, and to get at the combatants. The third type is of those killed as Israel tries to kill leaders of the terrorist groups that have been carrying out the suicide murders of Jews (as by shooting missiles at their car), or in the destruction of their buildings.

I do not know of a case, and I want to be informed on this if there is such, where the Israel military and secret service has intentionally, with premeditation, targeted for death unarmed, innocent Palestinian civilians not known to be part of any terrorist group, and who are going about their daily business in restaurants, malls, dance halls, in markets, or on busses. (I asked this on the genocide list, and received no response.)

I should add to this question this mini-mental experiment. Imagine that the Palestinian terrorist groups had Israel's great military capability, and the Israelis had not more capability than the Palestinians have now. What does one think that the Palestinian terrorists and their Arab backers would do with all that military capability? I think they would try to completely eliminate Israel and all the Jews by invasion, sweeping occupation, outright murder of Jews, and the forced expulsion of those remaining. But, where would the mass of Jews go? Those that could not find a country that would accept them would simply be killed. Am I being a fanatic about this? No. I am just being a reader of what is being written, said, and done in the Arab world about Israel and the Jews.

Palestinian terrorists and their Arab state supporters have in effect declared war on Israel and seek its destruction. Israel is fighting back for her own survival. This is a war and should be understood in those terms, and is coupled with the American war on terrorists. And because of this, I have seen nothing that Israel has done in its recent incursions that under the Geneva Conventions would be declared illegal or crimes against humanity. This is not to say that in the past, as in Lebanon, it has not committed crimes against humanity. I have recorded such in my own writing (see Israel in Table 16A.1).

Given all this, then, there has been a systematic campaign of genocide against the Jews in Israel, and often elsewhere as well (For example, there is good reason to believe that the journalist Pearl was murdered because he was a Jew). This genocide is being carried out with the support of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, and now covertly, the Palestinian Authority; and formerly under Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

Therefore, is not the denial that the suicide bombing of Israel Jews is genocide a case of genocide denial, as in what is still heard regarding the Holocaust and Armenians, or took place in the first weeks of the Rwandan genocide?