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Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
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CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
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DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing
- News & Current Events (Articles Required)
- 27 Replies
Yep
9 Moorish Sovereign Citizens Taken into Custody after Traffic Stop Leads to Armed Standoff
All Suspects Now in Custody Following Armed Standoff Off I-95 in Mass.: Police Heavily armed men with handguns and rifles "claiming to be from a group that does not recognize our laws" fled a traffic stop in Wakefield, police said All remaining suspects involved in an hours long armed standoff...
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Israel-Hamas Thread II
- By Benaiah468
- News & Current Events (Articles Required)
- 4967 Replies
Since 7 Oct 2023, one accusation has been echoing ever louder on Western streets, in social media, political debates, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and now the UN inquiry commission: Israel is committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza. But the inflationary use of this term is not only false, it jeopardises historical truth, relativises genuine genocides and promotes modern anti-Semitism.
We all know where the terror comes from. Hamas wants to destroy Israel and is therefore ‘a legitimate target’ for Israel.
Let me make this very clear: There is no clear intent to commit genocide in Gaza.
Hardly any other term has such moral explosive power as ‘genocide’. It stands for the ultimate crime against humanity, for Auschwitz, Rwanda, Srebrenica. Anyone who utters it is making the most serious accusation imaginable and at the same time elevating their own words to the status of prosecutor before an imaginary world court. This is precisely where the abuse lies: activists, politicians and even parts of the media have been using the term inflationarily since the Hamas massacre of 7 Oct 2023 in order to demonise Israel.
The commission's chairpersons, guardians of "human rights", are well-known enemies of Israel. From the outset, the aim has been to condemn Israel unilaterally.
Israel has entered the Gaza Strip to fight the radical Islamic Hamas, which has been firing rockets at Israel's civilian population for 18 years and attacked the south of the country on 7 Oct 2023. Hamas has declared its goal to destroy Israel and drive the Jews into the sea. This can be understood as a plan for genocide, but the Israeli army's counterattack is not.
The United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948 clearly states that genocide is the ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group’. This intent must be verifiable, through documents, orders, systematic killings. Victim numbers alone are not sufficient, however cruel they may be.
The German International Criminal Code also adopts this definition almost word for word. Anyone accusing Israel of genocide would therefore have to prove that the Israeli leadership is systematically pursuing the destruction of the "Palestinians" as a group. No such evidence exists. On the contrary, Israel continues to supply the Gaza Strip with electricity, water and aid supplies, while at the same time fighting a terrorist organisation that has declared its intention to destroy Israel.
Yes, the war in Gaza is claiming civilian victims, including many children. That is tragic, it is shocking and it must be acknowledged. But the causes lie not in a plan by Israel to destroy Gaza, but in the cynical strategy of Hamas. It entrenches itself in densely populated areas, built tunnels under residential buildings, and used schools and hospitals as weapons depots. Those who nevertheless accuse Israel of ‘genocide’ are deliberately shifting responsibility from the perpetrator to the defender, a classic case of perpetrator-victim reversal.
By hastily labelling every military conflict as ‘genocide’, the term loses its sharpness. The Shoah, the industrialised mass murder of European Jews, is relativised. Comparing Israel's war against a terrorist organisation to Auschwitz is not only intellectually negligent, but also insults the victims of real genocides. The fact that such comparisons are being shouted on German streets today is a slap in the face to the culture of remembrance.
In Berlin, London and Paris, cries of ‘Stop the genocide!’ have echoed across the squares in recent months. Banners display images of destroyed houses, accompanied by slogans such as “apartheid” and ‘extermination’. The terror perpetrated by Hamas on 7 Oct is hardly mentioned in these appeals. The kidnapped hostages, the massacred festival-goers, the raped women, they disappear behind the propaganda of an alleged ‘genocide’.
Particularly perfidious is the appropriation of solidarity slogans. The demand ‘Bring Them Home,’ which actually refers to the hostages held by Hamas, is reinterpreted to mean "Palestinian" prisoners. This equates prison sentences under the rule of law with the hostage-taking of a terrorist organisation, a further step in the delegitimisation of Israel.
It is alarming that it is not only radical groups that are making this accusation. Intellectuals, artists and politicians are also using the rhetoric of ‘genocide’. Sahra Wagenknecht, publicist and former member of the European Parliament, recently spoke of Israel's ‘campaign of extermination’. Roger Waters, once a world-renowned musician, has been portraying Israel as a Nazi state for years. Such statements shift the discourse: what was once only heard in extremist circles now reaches a mass audience, and provides ideological ammunition for anti-Semitic violence.
It is no coincidence that accusations of ‘genocide’ are often levelled in places where Islamist networks are strong, in Qatar, in Turkey, in European circles with close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. States and movements that themselves support terrorists portray Israel as a ‘genocidal murderer’. The UN commission includes dictatorships such as Afghanistan, Russia and Qatar, enemies of Israel. This is not only hypocritical, but also strategic propaganda: those who declare Israel to be the ultimate perpetrator can shirk their own responsibility and relativise the violence of Hamas.
The inflationary use of the term ‘genocide’ is not without consequences. It undermines trust in international institutions. It divides Western societies because it makes anti-Semitism socially acceptable. And it hinders any honest debate about the Middle East conflict. If everything is ‘genocide,’ then in the end nothing is genocide anymore and the memory of Rwanda, Darfur or the Shoah is devalued.
Israel deserves criticism, like any democracy. It does that to itself too. No government decision is made without criticism within the country. The fact that Israel argues democratically can be seen from the fact that there have been repeated new elections there in recent years. But this criticism must be based on facts, not on the misuse of language. Those who cry ‘genocide’ without meeting the criteria are not promoting human rights, but propaganda. The term must not be allowed to degenerate into a battle cry against the Jewish state.
Instead, clear language is needed: Israel is waging a tough, costly war against a terrorist organisation that hides behind civilians. The suffering of the "Palestinian" people is real, but it is not the result of a plan of extermination. Anyone who claims otherwise is not only distorting the truth, they are also harming the victims of real genocides.
Today, whenever politicians comment on the situation in the Middle East, they should always start by explicitly calling on Hamas to release all hostages immediately and unconditionally and to lay down their arms. The war would end immediately. Instead of parroting the fairy tale of “genocide” spread by Hamas, the UN Commission should have demanded the release of all hostages and the laying down of arms by Hamas so that the war could be ended.
We all know where the terror comes from. Hamas wants to destroy Israel and is therefore ‘a legitimate target’ for Israel.
Let me make this very clear: There is no clear intent to commit genocide in Gaza.
Hardly any other term has such moral explosive power as ‘genocide’. It stands for the ultimate crime against humanity, for Auschwitz, Rwanda, Srebrenica. Anyone who utters it is making the most serious accusation imaginable and at the same time elevating their own words to the status of prosecutor before an imaginary world court. This is precisely where the abuse lies: activists, politicians and even parts of the media have been using the term inflationarily since the Hamas massacre of 7 Oct 2023 in order to demonise Israel.
The commission's chairpersons, guardians of "human rights", are well-known enemies of Israel. From the outset, the aim has been to condemn Israel unilaterally.
Israel has entered the Gaza Strip to fight the radical Islamic Hamas, which has been firing rockets at Israel's civilian population for 18 years and attacked the south of the country on 7 Oct 2023. Hamas has declared its goal to destroy Israel and drive the Jews into the sea. This can be understood as a plan for genocide, but the Israeli army's counterattack is not.
The United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948 clearly states that genocide is the ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group’. This intent must be verifiable, through documents, orders, systematic killings. Victim numbers alone are not sufficient, however cruel they may be.
The German International Criminal Code also adopts this definition almost word for word. Anyone accusing Israel of genocide would therefore have to prove that the Israeli leadership is systematically pursuing the destruction of the "Palestinians" as a group. No such evidence exists. On the contrary, Israel continues to supply the Gaza Strip with electricity, water and aid supplies, while at the same time fighting a terrorist organisation that has declared its intention to destroy Israel.
Yes, the war in Gaza is claiming civilian victims, including many children. That is tragic, it is shocking and it must be acknowledged. But the causes lie not in a plan by Israel to destroy Gaza, but in the cynical strategy of Hamas. It entrenches itself in densely populated areas, built tunnels under residential buildings, and used schools and hospitals as weapons depots. Those who nevertheless accuse Israel of ‘genocide’ are deliberately shifting responsibility from the perpetrator to the defender, a classic case of perpetrator-victim reversal.
By hastily labelling every military conflict as ‘genocide’, the term loses its sharpness. The Shoah, the industrialised mass murder of European Jews, is relativised. Comparing Israel's war against a terrorist organisation to Auschwitz is not only intellectually negligent, but also insults the victims of real genocides. The fact that such comparisons are being shouted on German streets today is a slap in the face to the culture of remembrance.
In Berlin, London and Paris, cries of ‘Stop the genocide!’ have echoed across the squares in recent months. Banners display images of destroyed houses, accompanied by slogans such as “apartheid” and ‘extermination’. The terror perpetrated by Hamas on 7 Oct is hardly mentioned in these appeals. The kidnapped hostages, the massacred festival-goers, the raped women, they disappear behind the propaganda of an alleged ‘genocide’.
Particularly perfidious is the appropriation of solidarity slogans. The demand ‘Bring Them Home,’ which actually refers to the hostages held by Hamas, is reinterpreted to mean "Palestinian" prisoners. This equates prison sentences under the rule of law with the hostage-taking of a terrorist organisation, a further step in the delegitimisation of Israel.
It is alarming that it is not only radical groups that are making this accusation. Intellectuals, artists and politicians are also using the rhetoric of ‘genocide’. Sahra Wagenknecht, publicist and former member of the European Parliament, recently spoke of Israel's ‘campaign of extermination’. Roger Waters, once a world-renowned musician, has been portraying Israel as a Nazi state for years. Such statements shift the discourse: what was once only heard in extremist circles now reaches a mass audience, and provides ideological ammunition for anti-Semitic violence.
It is no coincidence that accusations of ‘genocide’ are often levelled in places where Islamist networks are strong, in Qatar, in Turkey, in European circles with close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. States and movements that themselves support terrorists portray Israel as a ‘genocidal murderer’. The UN commission includes dictatorships such as Afghanistan, Russia and Qatar, enemies of Israel. This is not only hypocritical, but also strategic propaganda: those who declare Israel to be the ultimate perpetrator can shirk their own responsibility and relativise the violence of Hamas.
The inflationary use of the term ‘genocide’ is not without consequences. It undermines trust in international institutions. It divides Western societies because it makes anti-Semitism socially acceptable. And it hinders any honest debate about the Middle East conflict. If everything is ‘genocide,’ then in the end nothing is genocide anymore and the memory of Rwanda, Darfur or the Shoah is devalued.
Israel deserves criticism, like any democracy. It does that to itself too. No government decision is made without criticism within the country. The fact that Israel argues democratically can be seen from the fact that there have been repeated new elections there in recent years. But this criticism must be based on facts, not on the misuse of language. Those who cry ‘genocide’ without meeting the criteria are not promoting human rights, but propaganda. The term must not be allowed to degenerate into a battle cry against the Jewish state.
Instead, clear language is needed: Israel is waging a tough, costly war against a terrorist organisation that hides behind civilians. The suffering of the "Palestinian" people is real, but it is not the result of a plan of extermination. Anyone who claims otherwise is not only distorting the truth, they are also harming the victims of real genocides.
Today, whenever politicians comment on the situation in the Middle East, they should always start by explicitly calling on Hamas to release all hostages immediately and unconditionally and to lay down their arms. The war would end immediately. Instead of parroting the fairy tale of “genocide” spread by Hamas, the UN Commission should have demanded the release of all hostages and the laying down of arms by Hamas so that the war could be ended.
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