Calling Israel-Gaza war a ‘genocide’ reduces ‘humanity’s gravest crime to a political insult’, Chief Rabbi says

The Chief Rabbi says that calling the Israel-Gaza war ‘genocide’ reduces ‘the gravest crime of humanity to a political insult’.

In a scathing attack, Sir Ephraim Mirvis said accusing Israel of genocide was a term ‘with a meaning that must be protected at all costs’ and was contrary to ‘the very idea of ​​human rights’.

He said that the use of the phrase ‘regardless of the reason’ means ‘the indiscriminate assertion of these most serious crimes without considering the gravity of the word’ and trivializes the concept.

The Chief Rabbi said that Israel “did not seek or initiate” the war, which was triggered in response to the Hamas-led terrorist attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken hostage.

He said that the country only wanted the hostages back and that Hamas wanted to be disarmed, while Hamas wanted the complete destruction of Israel.

He said: ‘If Hamas lays down its weapons, there will be neither conflict nor suffering. ‘If Israel had laid down its weapons, there would be no Israel.’

At the same time, he also attacked many “so-called ‘human rights’ organizations” who “enjoy misusing the term genocide” because it proved to be a very effective rallying cry for them.

‘They do this by broadening the definition of military activity to include actions that are known to cause some harm, even if not necessarily done with the intent to cause harm. “This is a truly disturbing moral deception,” he said.

‘It should be clear that there is no such thing as genocide in which the victims can end the violence at any time by releasing the hostages they have taken or laying down their weapons.’

“It is impossible for any decent person not to be affected” by the tragic suffering of Palestinians, he said. [which] He defined ‘genocide’ as the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, and noted that the word intent was ‘vital’, commenting:

‘It distinguishes the tragic and often devastating consequences of war from one of humanity’s most horrific crimes.

This is why Britain and its allies were not charged with genocide for our strategic bombing of Nazi Germany, despite hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians being killed. Intention is the moral and legal basis.

‘The clearest evidence that Israel does not intend to destroy the people of Gaza is that it has not actually done so.’

Many will see his comments as a scathing attack on the Archbishop of York’s claim last November that Israel had committed ‘acts of genocide’ in Palestine.

In the strongest attack on Israel by any senior official of the Church of England since the conflict began, High Priest Stephen Cottrell equated the situation in the occupied West Bank with ‘apartheid’ and ethnic cleansing.

The Chief Rabbi described his comments at the time as an ‘irresponsible approach’, adding: ‘Invoking the provocative and morally subversive charge of ‘acts of genocide’ will only serve to foster further hostility and division.’

Palestinian Hamas militants hand over hostages kidnapped during an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Chief Rabbi says Israel ‘did not seek or start’ war

A rabbi speaks during a menorah lighting ceremony on the second night of Hanukkah at the Heaton Park synagogue, the site of a deadly terrorist attack on Yom Kippur in October last year that killed two people.

Since then, the Jewish community has faced a series of attacks at home and abroad on Jewish holy days, including the Manchester synagogue attack on Yom Kippur in October, in which two people were killed.

Last month, 15 people were shot and killed and dozens were injured in the terrorist attack against Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Writing for tomorrow’s Sunday Telegraph, the Chief Rabbi said that his warning criticism of Israel had now turned into a “linguistic tension contest” that “has consequences”:

‘Today, repeating the accusation that Israel is committing ‘genocide’ hardly requires any thought.

‘Some repeat this out of unparalleled hostility towards the world’s only Jewish state, others do so out of a serious desire to end as soon as possible an unquestionably terrible conflict in which many innocent people are suffering.

‘In an age where hyperbole dominates our discourse and outrage is rewarded with clicks, campaigners instinctively use the most extreme language possible.

‘Faced with images of the immense, tragic suffering in Gaza on social media, journalists, academics and celebrities understandably feel compelled to speak out.

‘But the race for linguistic ascension has consequences. The ubiquity of a term is often wrongly understood as evidence of its truth. And some terms have a meaning that must be preserved at all costs. ‘Genocide’ is one of them.”

Police and forensics are at the scene of the Manchester synagogue attack. The Jewish community has faced a series of attacks at home and abroad on the Jewish holy days

He said you would not find ‘evidence of systematic massacres, mass executions, or the targeted killing of civilians as a matter of politics’ in Gaza, adding: ‘Every war contains tragic mistakes and incidents which demand serious investigation.

‘But genocide leaves unmistakable signatures: mass graves, confirmed images of open executions, documented orders to target innocents. Gaza shows none of this.’

And he criticized ‘academics, activists, faith leaders and public figures’ who declared ‘with unshakeable certainty that genocide had occurred’.

‘They are doing something much more destructive than repeating a lie,’ he warned.

‘They trivialize the concept they claim to defend. What language is left for the Rohingya who were mass deported, systematically raped and murdered? For Uyghurs who have been subjected to mass detention, forced sterilization, and cultural erasure?

‘For ethnically targeted killings and gang rapes in West Darfur? ‘Using the term “genocide” as an accusation against Israel means depriving it of its true meaning, reducing humanity’s gravest crime to a political insult.’

Compared to the use of terms such as ‘fascist’ and ‘communist’ as ‘mere epithets’, ‘this kind of rhetorical inflation’ is not ‘new’, he said.

‘Offensive speech is now labeled as ‘violence’. Sharp criticism is branded as ‘betrayal’. Political disappointment turns into a ‘coup’. “Eventually, words themselves collapse under the weight of their misuse,” he said.

An image of a menorah projected onto the Sydney Harbor Bridge during New Year’s Eve celebrations last year. Last month, 15 people were shot and killed and dozens were injured in the terrorist attack against Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Instead, he said, ‘the suffering of innocent people requires empathy, accountability, and a sincere determination to prevent future conflicts’ and that ‘leveling the charge of genocide against Israel would amount to a moral reversal whose casualties extend not only to Israelis and Palestinians but also to the very idea of ​​human rights’.

Last September, the then foreign secretary, David Lammy, concluded in a letter to Sarah Champion, chair of the international development select committee, that Israel was not committing genocide in Gaza.

In the letter, ‘According to the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only in cases where there is an intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group’. He added: ‘ [British] The government did not conclude that Israel acted with this intention.’

But an independent UN commission later came to the opposite conclusion.

More than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel’s military action, according to the region’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The Chief Rabbi, who recently traveled to Australia to meet victims and survivors of the Bondi terror attack, welcomed assurances from the Met and Manchester Police that protesters inciting hatred could be arrested in the future.

Both forces have been criticized for their tepid response to the numerous and regular pro-Palestinian marches that have taken place since the conflict began.

He hailed the decision as ‘an important step towards challenging hateful rhetoric’ on Britain’s streets.