Domestic and International Media Coverage of Israel's Actions, 200-2025

No other question about the actions of Israel's government raises more dissension than whether it is committing the crime of genocide in Gaza. Defenders of Israel have argued that genocide cannot be occurring because Israel has not yet killed every Palestinian in Gaza, when it certainly could have done that if it wanted to. The matter of intent is important. Netanyahu insists that Israel is not committing genocide, even while he has charged (soon after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, but not recently) that Hamas is doing so. A United Nations resolution, running to 19 articles, defines the crime of genocide for international law. By that definition, both Hamas and Israel are guilty. Here are the three most relevant articles:

The United Nations Definition of Genocide

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Adopted 09 December 1948
by General Assembly resolution 260 A (III)

Article I: The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish
Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article III: The following acts shall be punishable:

(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.

Like most of the body of international law, the Convention on Genocide was adopted in reaction to the horrors of World War II, and specifically because of the Shoah, or Holocaust, in which Germany's Third Reich murdered six million Jews between 1941 and 1945. The horror of this mass murder was the major incentive for Western nations to carve out a homeland for Jews in the Middle East, and for the hearts of those Jews to burn with the promise of "Never again."

Much has changed in the 80 years since the Third Reich was defeated and the Jewish Diaspora began to reverse, bringing Jews back to the land their religion claimed had been promised to them in ancient times. Israel is now prosperous, with a 2024 population of 9.4 million and a 2023 GDP of $473 billion. Its military, with high-tech defenses and the powerful Israeli Defense Force (IDF), is the strongest in the Middle East. It also has nuclear weapons. But like India and Pakistan, it has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Also, unlike India and Pakistan, it refuses to officially acknowledge its nuclear weapons, preferring to maintain "strategic ambiguity."

Its political situation has changed as well. Over the past three decades its government has become increasingly arrogant, even contemptuous of international laws and of its allies, most notably its principal ally: The United States. This trend reached its apex with Benjamin Netanyahu's ascension to the office of Prime Minister in 1996. A member of the right-wing Likud Party, Netanyahu became the first Prime Minister elected by direct popular vote. After defeat in 1999, he spent time in the private sector, then returned to lead Likud in 2005. He formed a coalition with other right-wing parties and regained the Prime Minister's office in 2009. He has held it since then.

Netanyahu has nurtured close relationships with Republicans in the United States, and especially with Donald Trump. Conversely, his relationships with Democrats have been contentious. As President Barack Obama was negotiating with Iran on what became the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Netanyahu worked against him, concocting data that purportedly showed Iran was close to getting nuclear weapons. In 2015, as the JCPOA neared completion, US Republicans in Congress invited him to address the Congress. There he denounced the JCPOA as a flawed deal that would inevitably grant Iran the ability to build nuclear weapons.1 Nevertheless, the JCPOA entered into force that year and, through the presence of IAEA monitors at Iran's nuclear sites, kept the enrichment of uranium to 3.5% — far below the level needed to make a bomb.

Netanyahu's bogus warnings about Iran getting nuclear weapons, along with general fearmongering about militant Muslims as an existential threat to Israel, have lubricated his crusade for dominance in the region. To summarize his progress, he has continuously opposed any efforts toward a two-state solution for Palestine. Since 2009 he has kept the residents of Gaza at a subsistence level.2

It has been hard for the world to accept that the nation once dedicated to "Never again" could behave in this way. But Israel's leaders were open about their intentions. By their declared intent and by their documented actions, they have left no doubt; they are committing genocide. Israeli scholars have admitted it. A former Prime Minister has admitted it. The International Criminal Court has charged Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant with war crimes.3 Separately, responding to charges made by South Africa, the International Court of Justice has ruled there is probable cause to suspect Israel of genocide. On 22 July 2025, 28 nations joined in a statement to demand that the war in Gaza be ended. The world is slowly waking up to the gravity of Israel's misconduct.

Here are the basic facts that confirm Israel currently perpetrates genocide:

It has bombed Gaza indiscriminately, killing at least 60,000 people, two-thirds of them women and children.
It has leveled 90% of the buildings in Gaza, purposely targeting schools, hospitals, and historic structures.
It specifically targets journalists and aid workers.
It controls everything coming into Gaza, and has repeatedly blocked food, water, fuel, electricity and medical supplies.
It has kept the economy of Gaza at subsistence level, routinely destroying Gaza's livestock and cropland.
Its leaders have spoken publicly of their intent to kill, starve or displace the Palestinians, calling them "human animals" and vowing to drive them from the land.
Netanyahu himself invoked the Biblical tale of Amalek in which ancient Israel wiped out another tribe to the last man, woman, and child.
While spokesman David Mencer insists there is no famine in Gaza and any shortages are due to Hamas stealing food, Netanyahu has admitted arming gangs that actually steal food, and anonymous military leaders have said there is no evidence of Hamas regularly stealing food.

If you've followed the news about the Gaza conflict, you will have heard at least some of the reports of IDF snipers killing unarmed civilians, journalists, and aid workers. You will know that Israel doesn't allow foreign journalists into Gaza except with IDF "minders." You may have heard that a building housing offices of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press was bombed with just one hour's warning.4 You've certainly heard of the famine that's beginning to grip the population.

But what of the fact that Israel does allow some food distribution? Could this mean that the warnings of famine from the UNRWA, the World Food Program, and foreign doctors volunteering in Gaza are exaggerated? Well, no. Israel's track record shows it to be the party pushing exaggerations and outright lies. Consider this description of how food distribution in Gaza really works.

This video thoroughly describes the situation in Gaza today. See the statement from Muhammad Shehada at 13:30; it explains what really happens when aid trucks enter.

"Exposing Israel's sinister blame game: Since Oct 2023, Israel has been forcing aid trucks to empty their cargo at Gaza's border crossings & leave. Then the few remaining trucks inside Gaza have to petition Israel for a permit to come & collect those piling truckloads. IDF rejects many of those requests arbitrarily or procrastinates in giving a response. Israel would then complain, 'why isn't the UN coming to pick up the aid?' Truck drivers who get approved face the risk of being bombed or fired at by Israeli troops on their way to those crossings (which happened repeatedly). Those trucks that make it all the way are then forced by the IDF to drive strictly through a designated route that passes through the 'looting valley' or 'red zone' where Israel's proxy ISIS-linked gangs (e.g. Abu Shabab) would stop aid convoys, loot the overwhelming majority of food, & beat, kill, main, or kidnap truck drivers. If any truck deviates from that route, the IDF would bomb or open fire at them. In one instance, a UN convoy of 109 trucks had 97 trucks completely looted by those gangs. In May, a UAE convoy of 24 trucks had 23 of them fully looted by Israel-backed gangs. The few trucks that make it past the gangs are then at grave risk of being bombed or coming under IDF fire at random, which happened repeatedly. (IDF has now killed over 305 UN humanitarian workers, the highest number ever recorded in history). Many truck drivers have become fearful for their lives & reluctant to make that journey. Add to this, Israel regularly bars aid organizations from transferring aid to warehouses & distribution sites, leading those few trucks that make it to be swarmed & looted by desperate crowds."

Now it remains only for the United States, Israel's main supporter, to likewise wake up and stop giving Israel offensive weapons and running interference for it at the UN. You can help make that happen by letting your representatives know you want it to happen. Tell them Israel's actions are harming Israel too — which is perfectly true.

For more details on what Israel has been doing in Gaza, and how the US supports it, see this link:

My Reviews of Print References

Other Sources:

1 Netanyahu has claimed Iran is on the brink of developing nuclear weapons since at least 2003. During the JCPOA negotiation process, the US cooperated with him in fabricating what's called "additional documents" that falsely claimed to prove Iran's malign intentions.

2 This was government policy before Netanyahu took over. This was confirmed in 2011 by documents dating to 2008.

3 It also charged three leaders of Hamas. But two of those are dead — killed by the IDF.

4 This occurred on 15 May 2021. See 'Shocking and horrifying': Israel destroys AP office in Gaza.

To Open The Sky

My Reviews of Print References

Other Sources: