Israel’s 'policies and actions do not fit the legal definition of genocide,' expert says
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Critics have slammed a new Amnesty International report that claims Israel "has committed, and is continuing to commit genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza as poorly researched and highly politicized.
Taking issue with the report, Orde Kittrie, a law professor at Arizona State University, said Israeli "policies and actions do not fit the legal definition of genocide."
Kittrie, who is also a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that "accusers must prove Israel is killing Gaza civilians intentionally and simply because they are Palestinian rather than as an unfortunate consequence of Israeli self-defense against Hamas and its fighters."
Critics condemned a new Amnesty International report that claimed Israel committed genocide. The group's secretary general Agnès Callamard presented her report on Israel’s war in Gaza during a press conference on Dec. 4, 2024, in The Hague, Netherlands. (Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
He noted that "Israel’s warnings and other steps to mitigate harm to Gazan civilians make clear Israel’s intent is not genocide but, far from it, to minimize civilian casualties while lawfully exercising Israel’s rights to free hostages, apprehend October 7 atrocity perpetrators, and protect Israel’s population from further attacks."
Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, criticized the report in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The only group to have ever shown bloodthirsty genocidal intent in this war is Hamas. With the support of Tehran, Hamas terrorists filmed themselves on October 7th executing, raping, pillaging and kidnapping their way through southern Israel.
"Israel never started this war, but Israel will never allow terrorists to get away with harming Israelis and Israel – and will do whatever it takes to bring back the 100 hostages still held in brutal captivity by Hamas," he said.
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The Amnesty report titled "‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza," claimed it found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the organization said in a report published Thursday.
The use of the term "genocide" is "an extension of [Amnesty International’s] bias," David Adesnik, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Fox News Digital. He charged that Amnesty International has never characterized the ongoing atrocities in Sudan and Ukraine or ethnic predation in Xinjiang as genocide, despite these being "cases where they’re sometimes far bloodier and where the racial or ethnic motive was often crystal clear." Adesnik says using that "term against Israel suggests a real double standard."
Adesnik, who has reviewed much of Amnesty International’s writing on the post-Oct. 7 conflict, noted that there "are only fleeting references to Hamas abusing civilian structures," such as "schools, mosques, [and] UNRWA buildings. What’s interesting is that they even dedicated a report to telling Ukrainian forces defending their own country to be careful not to endanger civilians by using civilian residences for a military purpose. And they don’t even bother doing that with Hamas."
An Israeli soldier patrols near Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel on Oct. 12, 2023, close to the place where 270 revelers were killed by terrorists during the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7. (Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images)
Amnesty International’s report alleges "denial and obstruction of the delivery of essential services, humanitarian assistance and other life-saving supplies into and within Gaza" by Israel. But as Adesnik stated, Amnesty International fails to "acknowledge the 58,000 aid trucks, and over 1,149,000 tons of aid that have come in." Amnesty International also neglects to address how the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has consistently measured declining numbers of Gazans facing catastrophic food insecurity. In regards to its treatment of aid, "it’s not even close to being a balanced assessment," Adesnik concluded.
Within its report, Amnesty International claims that they have identified "22 statements made by senior officials… that appeared to call for, or justify, genocidal acts."
Salo Aizenberg, director of media watchdog group HonestReporting, told Fox News Digital that "claims against Israel misrepresent and cherry-pick statements by Israeli leaders – because the intent to genocide is simply nonexistent." As an example, Aizenberg noted that the International Court of Justice’s case against Israel "grossly misrepresented" the words of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
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These are the American hostages who were taken by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023 and held in Gaza. The body of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, left, was returned to Israel after the IDF found him and other hostages killed by terrorists. Also pictured are Itay Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra, Gadi Haggai and Judi Weinstein Haggai, and Keith Siegel. (Fox News Photo)
Herzog himself criticized the ICJ’s case, explaining that he was "disgusted by the way they twisted my words, using very, very partial and fragmented quotes," the Times of Israel reported.
Fox News Digital asked Amnesty International whether it had concerns about Hamas leaders’ comments calling for indiscriminate terror attacks, like those from Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official who said the attack of Oct. 7 was "just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth."
Fox News Digital also inquired about whether Amnesty International would condemn Hamas’ use of medical facilities and civilian structures, and whether the organization considered conflict in Sudan and Ukraine or ethnic predation in Xinjiang and Afghanistan to constitute genocide. Amnesty International did not respond.
A terrorist from Hamas takes part in a military parade. (Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo)
Further evidence of Amnesty International’s anti-Israel bias emerged recently when Amnesty Northern Ireland invited Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, to speak about Israeli genocide at its annual lecture.
Albanese has come under repeated fire for spreading antisemitic hate under the banner of the U.N. The location of her Dec. 3 speech is a reminder of the impact that rabid anti-Israel sentiments have had for Jews around the world in the aftermath of Oct. 7. Though the Jewish population in Ireland is small, after 14 months of rapidly rising hate, Irish Jews are now removing identifying symbols that would make them visible targets.
Beth Bailey is a reporter covering Afghanistan, the Middle East, Asia, and Central America. She was formerly a civilian intelligence analyst with the Department of the Army. You can follow Beth on Twitter @BWBailey85
