US President Joe Biden strongly defended Israel on Monday, saying Israeli forces are not committing genocide in their military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza.

“What’s happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that,” Biden said at a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House.

I can’t tell if he’s pandering or trying to lose the election

  • itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    3·
    6 months ago

    sorry, left out part of the definition:

    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;
    (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
    © Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
    (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
    (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

    So destroying a military - no, destroying a national or racial group - yes

    • capital@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      Don’t stop there:

      The popular understanding of what constitutes genocide tends to be broader than the content of the norm under international law. Article II of the Genocide Convention contains a narrow definition of the crime of genocide, which includes two main elements:

      1. A mental element: the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”; and

      2. A physical element, which includes the following five acts, enumerated exhaustively:

        • Killing members of the group
        • Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
        • Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
        • Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
        • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

      The intent is the most difficult element to determine. To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Cultural destruction does not suffice, nor does an intention to simply disperse a group. It is this special intent, or dolus specialis, that makes the crime of genocide so unique. In addition, case law has associated intent with the existence of a State or organizational plan or policy, even if the definition of genocide in international law does not include that element.