The numbers offer useful context. Inconvenient truths - and I am in no way an Holocaust denier. Perhaps you’re a genocide denier….(there is no genocide, the numbers are all wrong, etc, etc).
Perhaps they are unified by all being stateless people dispossessed of their own land based on the BS that it was “a land without people for a people with out land” (to quote the chubby old white lady from Milwaukee). One little problem is that they aren’t going away and the inevitable Eretz Israel playbook (it’s all my land because God told me so) will lead to a from the river to the sea outcome where that one state has more indigenous people than it has Jews. The world is watching and you cannot kill them all despite being a charitable ward of American taxpayers.
Am Filistine Chai should not be more bothersome to people of conscience (who don’t believe in ethnic supremacy) than the Jewish version of that phrase. One land, two tribes. Figure it out.
You’ve sadly become comfortable with denying the existence of the other tribe via fractured fairy tales. Noted. You’ve clearly learned well from the messaging techniques used by the whites in South Africa, but know that such obvious antisemitism is not a good look for you.
On to the Eretz Israel one state solution from the river to the sea. The one that your hero Meir Kahane, the terrorist, so strongly desired, along, now, with his obese disciple Ben-Gvir.
Unfortunately, ethnic cleansing of those you shamefully regard as Untermenschen is out of the question and this new expanded state incorporating East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Judea, Samaria and Gaza will inevitably, due to demographic realities, have more indigenous Palestinians than Jews. It can either be a democracy or a Jewish state then. The “other” are not going away and no matter how much you would like to do it, you can’t kill them all.
Great article , so very true , ironicly all accusations mentioned in this article are happening in mostly western democracies who claim to value human rights , yet t there pointing fingers at Israel a democratic state and ignore violations by Hamas , Iran , Syria , Lebanon under Hezbollah who are oppressing their own people , starving and using executions style killings on their own people .
Thank you for providing these clear explanations to those of us with no military experience as well as those who have fought in real conflicts. So tired of reporters and commenters in the mainstream media who repeat these lies over and over.
Here, in the Netherlands, the majority of people (including the media) are pro palestinian. What can I say? People are like sheep, they follow the leader without thinking for themselves or educate themselves. It's so sad and very worrying 🫣.
Hamas and the " Gaza Health Ministry" (ahem!) seems to have won on the media side with so many unverified lies, fake news that have spread all over the globe-there's an eery resemblance to the Nazi Party
Exactly! Our government (local also) goes along with the mass. Some demonstrations (there are weekly demonstrations for a long time now) are with violence used and Police does nothing. It's outreageous.
@SPENCERGUARD, you might want to revisit these lies, and engage with some of those who disagree with you. Start by opening a discussion with John Mearsheimer.
On #6, while it is obviously a lie because Israel withdrew on 15 August 2005, it may have to re-occupy Gaza because of the devastation it has wrought. Israel may avoid the burden of rebuilding the Strip because (some of) the international community will end up paying for it, and while doing that, there will need to be security forces of some sort occupying the area. Egypt must also take some responsibility, because between them, Israel and Egypt have over the years since 2007 created a prison, for which Hamas are also to blame for goading those two states into making it so.
As for the rest, as early as 7 October 2023, within hours of the despicable crimes against humanity and of aggression and of terrorism committed by Hamas, the intentions of Israeli decision-makers were becoming clear, and documented by South Africa's case against Israel https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20231228-app-01-00-en.pdf Read for yourself the evidence especially on pages 140-156.
Hamas decision-makers too should take some responsibility, and that's why Karim Khan of the ICC sought arrests warrants for 3 Hamas leaders for vile crimes against humanity and not just for war crimes. That 2 of the 3 have been killed with discrimination and proportionality by Israel shows that there are choices in war, and that there are credible and effective military operations that do not foresee the near total destruction of and mass slaughter on The Strip.
Alas, military strategists such as John Spencer try to corrupt the laws of war by deliberately interpreting them to permit almost anything. Because of his sort of argumentation, the first thing to go in war is morality. I've read alot of his material because I was a war studies student, and yet I cannot recall: has John actually criticised any US or Israeli action?
I’m writing only in response to your comment on South Africa’s flawed brief. Claiming genocide based on selective, off-the-record, or unofficial remarks from individuals misrepresents international law. Under the Genocide Convention, genocidal intent must be proven as a specific, coordinated, and collective intent by a state or group to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected group. Isolated statements—even from officials—do not satisfy this legal threshold.
The pages you cite (pp. 140–156) are a collection of quotes, many made off-the-record, on social media, or by individuals without policy-setting authority. Not to mention the original Hebrew is not included. These remarks, while in some cases inflammatory or reprehensible, are not equivalent to formal state policy or to dolus specialis, the specific intent required for a legal finding of genocide.
To meet the legal standard, there must be evidence that:
- The state (not just individuals) formed and acted upon a plan to destroy a group.
- The acts (killings, harm, displacement) were carried out because of that intent—not for military, political, or strategic reasons.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) itself did not find genocidal intent plausible in its January ruling. ICJ President Joan Donoghue later clarified publicly: the Court did not conclude that Israel’s actions amounted to genocide or even that the claim was plausible—it merely recognized South Africa’s right to bring the case.
So unless these quoted individuals were:
- Acting in direct authority to implement genocidal acts,
-Representing official state policy, and
-Coordinating those statements with actual actions meeting Article II criteria of the Genocide Convention,
Then the argument collapses. Bad rhetoric isn’t genocide. Conflating the two dilutes the term and undermines real efforts to hold genocidal regimes accountable.
Intent is often difficult to substantiate; how often have we heard people say "I'll kill you!" when they had no intention of even touching the person they said it to. Politicians will often say one thing to their supporters and quite another to a different audience, and this often reflects conflicting motives in complex issues and during the time when politicians are trying to make policy decisions. When I read the South African case over Christmas 2023, wading through the sludge of legalese, those quotes struck me instantly: they were made 'in vino veritas' and by the state's political and military decision-makers. Israel’s leaders have made no effort to disguise their intentions.
The propaganda war with the UN and others screaming "Genocide!" had started as soon as the shooting war did, which was obviously preposterous. You make a valid point that something may get lost in translation. Although some of the statements of intent were made in English by Netanyahu, most were in Hebrew. One quote from Admiral Hagari was mis-translated as "hundreds of tonnes" had been dropped on Gaza, whereas the correct translation should have been "THOUSANDS of tonnes" had been dropped within the first 3 days - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/10/right-now-it-is-one-day-at-a-time-life-on-israels-frontline-with-gaza
Even when the Hebrew had to be translated, as in this tweet, again from Netanyahu (because he is a key decision-maker of the state) זוהי מלחמת בני האור בבני החושך. לא נרפה משליחותנו עד שהאור יכריע את החושך – הטוב יביס את הרוע הקיצוני שמאיים עלינו ועל העולם כולו. however you translate it, the sense of what he's getting at does not elude anybody. That was on 3 November 2023.
My comment above was time-stamped May of 2025, a year and a half later of relentless bombing and killing. By May of 2024 the ICJ had given up judging there was a risk of genocide and ordering Israel to do this and not to do that in order to prevent the actuality of genocide, because Israel has simply ignored the court. The ICC then went into action, with its Chief Prosecutor accusing 3 Hamas leaders of war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression, and asking for their arrest. He also asked for the arrest of 2 Israeli leaders extensively quoted in South Africa's request for provisional measures to the ICJ. On 21 November 2024, the ICC granted him his wish. On 5 December 2024, Amnesty International issued a 296-page report detailing Israel’s genocide in Gaza https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/ On 19 December 2024, Human Rights Watch issued a 179-page report detailing Israel’s genocide in Gaza https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/12/19/israels-crime-extermination-acts-genocide-gaza
Meanwhile, by June 2025, 90% of Gaza's buildings have been either rendered permanently uninhabitable or simply flattened. As intended in October 2023.
Wow - couldnt have been more selectively spun by the IDF press bureau and Netanyahu himself.
The IDF just machinegunned 15 unarmed medics and emergency workers - crushed their vehicles and buried their bodies and lied about (and someone got a reprimand) as one example of how they're the worlds most moral force well according to jews like you anyhow. Keep preaching to yourselves us goy can see clearly how much your mob learned from the Nazis.
And here you’ve offered a great example of why loons in the Israeli right wing have no problem cheering for and rationalizing genocide.
Your kind comment is noted. I don’t even wish for you to stew in your own acidic juices and I certainly don’t wish for you do die in a fire or blown to pieces by a 2000 pound bomb.
Thank you. Your expertise and moral compass are greatly appreciated! Am Yisrael Chai.
Am Filistine Chai.
Two tribes, one land.
This is so offensive to Jews in general, but much like comparing the war to the Holocaust, I can only assume that’s exactly why you did it.
The numbers offer useful context. Inconvenient truths - and I am in no way an Holocaust denier. Perhaps you’re a genocide denier….(there is no genocide, the numbers are all wrong, etc, etc).
Numbers have nothing to do with genocide. Intent does. People dying in war is expected.
Let’s use the definitions of genocide provided by Elise Stefanik in the U.S. Congress.
-Any references to wanting a “from the river to sea” outcome.
-Denying the right of indigenous people to establish their own homeland and denying that homeland’s right to exist.
-Enforcing a system of ethnic preferences based on ethnic supremacy.
-Denying that a national group of people even exist and calling their existence a fiction.
-Using religion as a basis for rationalizing the killing of others in different tribal, religious or national groups.
Sound familiar. It’s all Zionist intent as found in the Eretz Israel Kahane/Ben-Gvir/Smotrich playbook. The racist Daniela Weiss is far worse.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250407180927/https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fractal_wrongness
Perhaps they are unified by all being stateless people dispossessed of their own land based on the BS that it was “a land without people for a people with out land” (to quote the chubby old white lady from Milwaukee). One little problem is that they aren’t going away and the inevitable Eretz Israel playbook (it’s all my land because God told me so) will lead to a from the river to the sea outcome where that one state has more indigenous people than it has Jews. The world is watching and you cannot kill them all despite being a charitable ward of American taxpayers.
Am Filistine Chai should not be more bothersome to people of conscience (who don’t believe in ethnic supremacy) than the Jewish version of that phrase. One land, two tribes. Figure it out.
You’ve sadly become comfortable with denying the existence of the other tribe via fractured fairy tales. Noted. You’ve clearly learned well from the messaging techniques used by the whites in South Africa, but know that such obvious antisemitism is not a good look for you.
On to the Eretz Israel one state solution from the river to the sea. The one that your hero Meir Kahane, the terrorist, so strongly desired, along, now, with his obese disciple Ben-Gvir.
Unfortunately, ethnic cleansing of those you shamefully regard as Untermenschen is out of the question and this new expanded state incorporating East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Judea, Samaria and Gaza will inevitably, due to demographic realities, have more indigenous Palestinians than Jews. It can either be a democracy or a Jewish state then. The “other” are not going away and no matter how much you would like to do it, you can’t kill them all.
Scrolling up and seeing this comment just confirms to me how evil you are.
Thank you John for this outstanding analysis. This is how we combat Hamas lies - with facts, logic, and truth.
Great article , so very true , ironicly all accusations mentioned in this article are happening in mostly western democracies who claim to value human rights , yet t there pointing fingers at Israel a democratic state and ignore violations by Hamas , Iran , Syria , Lebanon under Hezbollah who are oppressing their own people , starving and using executions style killings on their own people .
Thank you for providing these clear explanations to those of us with no military experience as well as those who have fought in real conflicts. So tired of reporters and commenters in the mainstream media who repeat these lies over and over.
I wish I could stuff this article down BBC's throat!
Yes, and I know another throat to stuff it in; the one from NPO, the Netherlands!
What happened? I haven't followed the Dutch...
Also; yesterday there was a big pro Palestine demonstration in the Hague with estimated 1000.000 people. Fools.
One clings to the hope that positivity will win against negativity...
True! Let's stay hopefull, always..
Here, in the Netherlands, the majority of people (including the media) are pro palestinian. What can I say? People are like sheep, they follow the leader without thinking for themselves or educate themselves. It's so sad and very worrying 🫣.
Hamas and the " Gaza Health Ministry" (ahem!) seems to have won on the media side with so many unverified lies, fake news that have spread all over the globe-there's an eery resemblance to the Nazi Party
Exactly! Our government (local also) goes along with the mass. Some demonstrations (there are weekly demonstrations for a long time now) are with violence used and Police does nothing. It's outreageous.
@SPENCERGUARD, you might want to revisit these lies, and engage with some of those who disagree with you. Start by opening a discussion with John Mearsheimer.
On #6, while it is obviously a lie because Israel withdrew on 15 August 2005, it may have to re-occupy Gaza because of the devastation it has wrought. Israel may avoid the burden of rebuilding the Strip because (some of) the international community will end up paying for it, and while doing that, there will need to be security forces of some sort occupying the area. Egypt must also take some responsibility, because between them, Israel and Egypt have over the years since 2007 created a prison, for which Hamas are also to blame for goading those two states into making it so.
As for the rest, as early as 7 October 2023, within hours of the despicable crimes against humanity and of aggression and of terrorism committed by Hamas, the intentions of Israeli decision-makers were becoming clear, and documented by South Africa's case against Israel https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20231228-app-01-00-en.pdf Read for yourself the evidence especially on pages 140-156.
Hamas decision-makers too should take some responsibility, and that's why Karim Khan of the ICC sought arrests warrants for 3 Hamas leaders for vile crimes against humanity and not just for war crimes. That 2 of the 3 have been killed with discrimination and proportionality by Israel shows that there are choices in war, and that there are credible and effective military operations that do not foresee the near total destruction of and mass slaughter on The Strip.
Alas, military strategists such as John Spencer try to corrupt the laws of war by deliberately interpreting them to permit almost anything. Because of his sort of argumentation, the first thing to go in war is morality. I've read alot of his material because I was a war studies student, and yet I cannot recall: has John actually criticised any US or Israeli action?
I’m writing only in response to your comment on South Africa’s flawed brief. Claiming genocide based on selective, off-the-record, or unofficial remarks from individuals misrepresents international law. Under the Genocide Convention, genocidal intent must be proven as a specific, coordinated, and collective intent by a state or group to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected group. Isolated statements—even from officials—do not satisfy this legal threshold.
The pages you cite (pp. 140–156) are a collection of quotes, many made off-the-record, on social media, or by individuals without policy-setting authority. Not to mention the original Hebrew is not included. These remarks, while in some cases inflammatory or reprehensible, are not equivalent to formal state policy or to dolus specialis, the specific intent required for a legal finding of genocide.
To meet the legal standard, there must be evidence that:
- The state (not just individuals) formed and acted upon a plan to destroy a group.
- The acts (killings, harm, displacement) were carried out because of that intent—not for military, political, or strategic reasons.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) itself did not find genocidal intent plausible in its January ruling. ICJ President Joan Donoghue later clarified publicly: the Court did not conclude that Israel’s actions amounted to genocide or even that the claim was plausible—it merely recognized South Africa’s right to bring the case.
So unless these quoted individuals were:
- Acting in direct authority to implement genocidal acts,
-Representing official state policy, and
-Coordinating those statements with actual actions meeting Article II criteria of the Genocide Convention,
Then the argument collapses. Bad rhetoric isn’t genocide. Conflating the two dilutes the term and undermines real efforts to hold genocidal regimes accountable.
Lots of good points, and thank you for your reply, @snailaskwhy.
Prefacing my response now, on 29 March 2024 I noted "I ... would here point out that the ICJ ... has NOT declared it genocide" https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/we-were-lied-into-the-gaza-genocide/comments
Intent is often difficult to substantiate; how often have we heard people say "I'll kill you!" when they had no intention of even touching the person they said it to. Politicians will often say one thing to their supporters and quite another to a different audience, and this often reflects conflicting motives in complex issues and during the time when politicians are trying to make policy decisions. When I read the South African case over Christmas 2023, wading through the sludge of legalese, those quotes struck me instantly: they were made 'in vino veritas' and by the state's political and military decision-makers. Israel’s leaders have made no effort to disguise their intentions.
The propaganda war with the UN and others screaming "Genocide!" had started as soon as the shooting war did, which was obviously preposterous. You make a valid point that something may get lost in translation. Although some of the statements of intent were made in English by Netanyahu, most were in Hebrew. One quote from Admiral Hagari was mis-translated as "hundreds of tonnes" had been dropped on Gaza, whereas the correct translation should have been "THOUSANDS of tonnes" had been dropped within the first 3 days - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/10/right-now-it-is-one-day-at-a-time-life-on-israels-frontline-with-gaza
Even when the Hebrew had to be translated, as in this tweet, again from Netanyahu (because he is a key decision-maker of the state) זוהי מלחמת בני האור בבני החושך. לא נרפה משליחותנו עד שהאור יכריע את החושך – הטוב יביס את הרוע הקיצוני שמאיים עלינו ועל העולם כולו. however you translate it, the sense of what he's getting at does not elude anybody. That was on 3 November 2023.
My comment above was time-stamped May of 2025, a year and a half later of relentless bombing and killing. By May of 2024 the ICJ had given up judging there was a risk of genocide and ordering Israel to do this and not to do that in order to prevent the actuality of genocide, because Israel has simply ignored the court. The ICC then went into action, with its Chief Prosecutor accusing 3 Hamas leaders of war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression, and asking for their arrest. He also asked for the arrest of 2 Israeli leaders extensively quoted in South Africa's request for provisional measures to the ICJ. On 21 November 2024, the ICC granted him his wish. On 5 December 2024, Amnesty International issued a 296-page report detailing Israel’s genocide in Gaza https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/ On 19 December 2024, Human Rights Watch issued a 179-page report detailing Israel’s genocide in Gaza https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/12/19/israels-crime-extermination-acts-genocide-gaza
Meanwhile, by June 2025, 90% of Gaza's buildings have been either rendered permanently uninhabitable or simply flattened. As intended in October 2023.
Hilarious. You believe the JJJOOOOSSS did 9-11. The JJJOOOOSSS!! The JJJOOOOSSS!! LOL.
@Edward Nathan Schwarz is a lunatic. Pass it on.
Excellent, authoritative and useful summary.
Wow - couldnt have been more selectively spun by the IDF press bureau and Netanyahu himself.
The IDF just machinegunned 15 unarmed medics and emergency workers - crushed their vehicles and buried their bodies and lied about (and someone got a reprimand) as one example of how they're the worlds most moral force well according to jews like you anyhow. Keep preaching to yourselves us goy can see clearly how much your mob learned from the Nazis.
Thanks for sharing this post.
600,000,000 Jews killed, in the Holocaust , around 50% of the Jewish world population at that time.
Taking out the 50% deaths in Gaza being terrorists, that is 1% of the population, which has actually risen since 7/10.
52,000 dead in Gaza
40,000 dead at Dachau
Go die in a fire you disgusting POS.
And here you’ve offered a great example of why loons in the Israeli right wing have no problem cheering for and rationalizing genocide.
Your kind comment is noted. I don’t even wish for you to stew in your own acidic juices and I certainly don’t wish for you do die in a fire or blown to pieces by a 2000 pound bomb.
My comment was in response to your obviously disgusting comparison employed as a way to maximally offend Jews.
Here is a truth - Matches Cost Pennies
https://edwardnathanschwarz.substack.com/p/hear-oh-israel-are-we-having-fun?r=5e930t
@Edward Natan Schwarz is a lunatic. Pass it on.
Matches cost pennies - pass it on.
https://open.substack.com/pub/edwardnathanschwarz/p/hear-oh-israel-are-we-having-fun?r=5e930t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false