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Palestinians protest to demand an end to war, chanting anti-Hamas slogans, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, March 26 2025. Picture: REUTERS
David Wolpert makes some bold claims in his rebuttal to accusations of an Israeli genocide in Gaza, among them that “statistics reflect an increase in the Gaza population” and “neutral military experts have debunked false claims against Israel” (“Israel is not committing genocide”, March 24).
No sources are cited. Despite Christopher Hitchens’ admirable principle that “what is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence”, I feel compelled to respond.
First, given the restrictions on international access to Gaza since October 7 credible sources for population statistics are few and far between. One such rarity may well be the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), which reported a 6% decline in the population of Gaza in the 15 months to January 2025. That is over 120,000 people, so not quite an increase.
Similarly, while I’m sure unnamed “neutral military experts” might be an excellent source of opinion on military tactics and strategy, on matters of genocide one might be more inclined to heed the words of holocaust and genocide scholars. Amos Goldberg, for instance, professor of Jewish history at the University of Jerusalem. Or Omer Bartov, the Israeli-American professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, or perhaps Raz Segal, the Israeli associate professor of holocaust and genocide studies and endowed professor in the study of modern genocide at Brown University. There are many others.
All have described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a textbook case of genocide, citing in particular the “indiscriminate killing of huge amounts of people”, including in designated safe zones, the “mass destruction of houses and infrastructure including almost all universities and hospitals”, the “mass displacement and deliberate famine” and the “deliberate targeting of journalists, doctors, professors and civil servants”.
Wolpert goes on to complain that the world is anti-Semitically holding Israel to a higher standard while ignoring wars raging in Ethiopia, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among other conflicts. This is nonsense.
The genocide in Gaza may get more play in letters pages but that is for two specific reasons. First, it is not a war but a genocide being perpetrated against an indigenous population that has been ethnically cleansed and occupied for decades. Second, a majority of the Group of 20 states are not lining up to provide diplomatic cover to the Myanmar military junta or Paul Kagame.
Three of the permanent UN Security Council members are not falling over themselves to bestow tens of billions of dollars of hi-tech weaponry on the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The US is not arresting and deporting students standing up to protest against Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
The world is appalled and incensed about Gaza because the self-proclaimed guardians of liberal values, international law and the rules-based order are marching in lockstep pretending that the slaughter millions of people have seen live-streamed on their screens every day for a year-and-a-half is not actually happening, and moreover are actively supporting it.
Simon Rhoades Vredehoek
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Gaza genocide is all too real
David Wolpert makes some bold claims in his rebuttal to accusations of an Israeli genocide in Gaza, among them that “statistics reflect an increase in the Gaza population” and “neutral military experts have debunked false claims against Israel” (“Israel is not committing genocide”, March 24).
No sources are cited. Despite Christopher Hitchens’ admirable principle that “what is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence”, I feel compelled to respond.
First, given the restrictions on international access to Gaza since October 7 credible sources for population statistics are few and far between. One such rarity may well be the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), which reported a 6% decline in the population of Gaza in the 15 months to January 2025. That is over 120,000 people, so not quite an increase.
Similarly, while I’m sure unnamed “neutral military experts” might be an excellent source of opinion on military tactics and strategy, on matters of genocide one might be more inclined to heed the words of holocaust and genocide scholars. Amos Goldberg, for instance, professor of Jewish history at the University of Jerusalem. Or Omer Bartov, the Israeli-American professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, or perhaps Raz Segal, the Israeli associate professor of holocaust and genocide studies and endowed professor in the study of modern genocide at Brown University. There are many others.
All have described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a textbook case of genocide, citing in particular the “indiscriminate killing of huge amounts of people”, including in designated safe zones, the “mass destruction of houses and infrastructure including almost all universities and hospitals”, the “mass displacement and deliberate famine” and the “deliberate targeting of journalists, doctors, professors and civil servants”.
Wolpert goes on to complain that the world is anti-Semitically holding Israel to a higher standard while ignoring wars raging in Ethiopia, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among other conflicts. This is nonsense.
The genocide in Gaza may get more play in letters pages but that is for two specific reasons. First, it is not a war but a genocide being perpetrated against an indigenous population that has been ethnically cleansed and occupied for decades. Second, a majority of the Group of 20 states are not lining up to provide diplomatic cover to the Myanmar military junta or Paul Kagame.
Three of the permanent UN Security Council members are not falling over themselves to bestow tens of billions of dollars of hi-tech weaponry on the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The US is not arresting and deporting students standing up to protest against Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
The world is appalled and incensed about Gaza because the self-proclaimed guardians of liberal values, international law and the rules-based order are marching in lockstep pretending that the slaughter millions of people have seen live-streamed on their screens every day for a year-and-a-half is not actually happening, and moreover are actively supporting it.
Simon Rhoades
Vredehoek
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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