I used to like The Economist, but this is Nazis propaganda right on their page.
Israel, by contrast, does not meet the test of genocide. There is little evidence that Israel, like Hamas, “intends” to destroy an ethnic group—the Palestinians. Israel does want to destroy Hamas, a militant group, and is prepared to kill many civilians in doing so. While some Israeli extremists might want to eradicate the Palestinians, that is not a government policy.
This is not okay. This is Nazi logic. Nazi, fascist logic, from The Economist.
Even Nazi Germany did not make killing the official “intention” or government policy in my understanding. At least not always. It was announced as a safety guarantee, for example.
“um, akshully, it’s not genocide, but it might still be bad or whatever.” Ridiculous
Setting aside whether Israel’s attacks, killings, civilian casualties and mass displacement meet a particular definition of genocide, what possible reason does the author have to quibble on this?
Either they’re merely being pedantic (which I find hard to believe) or they’re trying to blunt outrage over what I think any reasonable person would call a genocide. They’re reaching for any means possible to make these crimes seem less heinous. Seems like a move of desperation to me.