jpost.com
Genocide, apartheid, war crimes: What these claims against Israel mean - opinion
In the accusations leveled at Israel since October 7, four words get thrown around constantly and are rarely understood correctly: “genocide,” “apartheid,” “war crimes,” and “proportionality” – GAWP. Activists, filmmakers like the two behind NAZA, B-grade celebrities, and musicians have all climbed aboard the GAWP bandwagon, repeating accusations they have not tested against the law or the facts. I write with the added perspective of having served in an IDF PALMAR medical extraction unit since the start of this war, watching firsthand what is happening on the ground. What I have witnessed does not resemble genocide, apartheid, war crimes, or a disproportionate response. It resembles the opposite: a democracy fighting, under enormous restraint, against an enemy that has openly declared its intent to destroy it. War crimes International law defines war crimes with specificity: deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure such as airports or nuclear facilities; tunneling into another state’s territory to murder or kidnap civilians; using schools, hospitals, and mosques to store munitions or launch attacks; breaching agreed ceasefires; recruiting child soldiers; using civilians as human shields; and firing rockets indiscriminately at civilians. Nearly every item on that list describes Hamas’s conduct. Protected status is not unconditional. Col. John Spencer of...