***

A heartbreaking parting shot of Ahmad Jazar, taken the day before he was killed. His mother’s hand is on his shoulder, as if she is about to hug him; they both smile slightly as they look straight into the camera. The photo was taken by Ahmad’s older sister, Mira, an interior design student of 19, in Nablus, when Ahmad was visiting his mother. Ahmad had asked his sister to take their picture. No one imagined that it would be his last.

The next day, January 19, Ahmad was shot by an Israel Defense Forces soldier from a distance of a few dozen meters, in his hometown of Sebastia, in the northern West Bank. At the time, he was standing near the entrance to a kindergarten run by the international Save the Children organization. Images of cheerful children, naïve and colorful, adorn the stone fence around the building. Next to it Ahmad, a 15-year-old boy from a poor family, collapsed to the ground, bleeding, and died.

  • Edwardthefma99✡@lemmy.worldEnglish
    112·
    16 hours ago

    tell that to Hitler who forced some of my relatives to live as human ginny pigs in Nuremberg so don’t talk to me about genocide until you have met a real victim of genocide

    • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      5 hours ago

      It’s a genocide, as hundreds of genocide and Holocaust scholars have said.

      Israel's Genocide on Occupied Palestine

      Our first-hand observations of the medical and humanitarian catastrophe inflicted on Gaza are consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organizations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza.

      It examines the killing of civilians, damage to and destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcible displacement, the obstruction or denial of life-saving goods and humanitarian aid, and the restriction of power supplies. It analyses Israel’s intent through this pattern of conduct and statements by Israeli decision-makers. It concludes that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

      On 26 January 2024, the ICJ said that it was plausible that Israel had breached the Genocide Convention. As an emergency measure, it ordered Israel ensure that its army refrained from genocidal acts against Palestinians.

      The ICJ reported, as part of its decisions in March and May, that the situation in Gaza had deteriorated and that Israel had failed to abide by its order in January.

      So, when we look at the actions taken, the dropping of thousands and thousands of bombs in a couple of days, including phosphorus bombs, as we heard, on one of the most densely populated areas around the world, together with these proclamations of intent, this indeed constitutes genocidal killing, which is the first act, according to the convention, of genocide. And Israel, I must say, is also perpetrating act number two and three — that is, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and creating condition designed to bring about the destruction of the group by cutting off water, food, supply of energy, bombing hospitals, ordering the fast evictions of hospitals, which the World Health Organization has declared to be, quote, “a death sentence.” So, we’re seeing the combination of genocidal acts with special intent. This is indeed a textbook case of genocide.

      More than 800 scholars of international law and genocide have signed a public statement arguing that the Israeli military may be committing genocidal acts against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as the total siege and relentless airstrikes continue to inflict devastation on the occupied territory.

      An independent United Nations expert warned Monday that “Israel’s genocidal violence risks leaking out of Gaza and into the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole” as Western governments, corporations, and other institutions keep up their support for the Israeli military, which stands accused of grave war crimes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

      Our documentation encompasses over 500 incitements of violence and genocidal incitement, appearing in the forms of social media posts, television interviews, and official statements from Israeli politicians, army personnel, journalists, and other influential personalities.

      I, Lee Mordechai, a historian by profession and an Israeli citizen, bear witness in this document to the situation in Gaza as events are unfolding. The enormous amount of evidence I have seen, much of it referenced later in this document, has been enough for me to believe that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza. I explain why I chose to use the term below. Israel’s campaign is ostensibly its reaction to the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023, in which war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed within the context of the longstanding conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that can be dated back to 1917 or 1948 (or other dates). In all cases, historical grievances and atrocities do not justify additional atrocities in the present. Therefore, I consider Israel’s response to Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7 utterly disproportionate and criminal.

      Others: AP News, Time, Reuters, Vox, CBC