A group of more than 75 American military leaders is pushing back against allegations that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, arguing in a letter released Wednesday that the accusation is unsupported by the legal standard for genocide and contradicted by the conduct of the Israeli military during the war.
“As retired senior military leaders and legal experts, on this, the third anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 brutal attack on Israel, we reject claims that Israel committed genocide in Gaza,” the letter, released by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, says. “The allegations that Israel committed this crime do not meet the established definition and standards of genocide, are unsupported by established facts, nor do they stand up to common sense scrutiny.”
The signatories argue that a finding of genocide requires evidence that a protected national, ethnic, racial or religious group was targeted for destruction, in whole or in part, and contend that Israel’s actions in Gaza do not meet that standard.
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