Rights groups are first in Israel to accuse government of genocide
JERUSALEM — Two prominent Israeli human rights organizations released reports Monday concluding that their government’s actions in the Gaza Strip amounted to genocide — an accusation that has been leveled by some international rights monitors, foreign governments and academics but never by Israeli groups until now.
B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said they analyzed Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the rhetoric of Israeli political and military leaders and concluded there has been deliberate intent by Israeli decision-makers to target the whole population of Gaza rather than strictly combatants and to destroy life for the Palestinian people and the enclave’s health and civilian infrastructure as part of a 21-month campaign.
“Based on a careful legal analysis of the facts, we state with a heavy heart this is a genocide,” Guy Shalev, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, told reporters in Jerusalem. “The systematic destruction of the health care system, the denial of access to food, the blocking of medical evacuations and using humanitarian aid to advance military objectives — all indicate a clear pattern of conduct, a pattern that reveals intent.”
David Mencer, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, called the report baseless and said it “blasphemes Israel.”
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