Opinion: Genocide In Gaza

By Anastasios Gordon Sekandi 13:37 EAT Friday 24 Jan 2025

Israel’s leadership must be held accountable for actions in Gaza that constitute genocide. Their political and media allies who supported or enabled these actions should also face consequences.

This unprecedented slaughter was made possible by the support of powerful cheerleaders. They must be held accountable.

“Unless those complicit in the genocide in Gaza are held accountable, the devastating repercussions will extend far beyond that shattered land. The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas provided a brief respite for traumatized survivors. However, Donald Trump’s statement expressing doubt that the ceasefire will hold has reignited fear.

From the new president’s decision to resume shipments of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel—munitions that have been repeatedly dropped on civilians in so-called safe zones—to his choice of Mike Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel, who once claimed there is ‘really no such thing as a Palestinian,’ hopes for lasting peace remain fragile. The concern that the carnage could soon resume is both real and urgent.”

This version tightens the language and enhances clarity while preserving the original message.

“The assault on Gaza is normalizing an almost boundless violence against civilians, facilitated and justified by multiple Western governments and media outlets. It is worth recalling the destruction of Guernica by Nazi and Italian forces during the Spanish Civil War nearly nine decades ago. Guernica was among the first mass aerial bombardments of a civilian community, shocking the world. At the time, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt condemned how ‘civilians, including vast numbers of women and children, are being ruthlessly murdered from the air.’ The Times journalist George Steer described it as unparalleled in military history, noting, ‘In the form of its execution and the scale of destruction it wrought, the raid on Guernica is unparalleled in military history.’ Yet Guernica ultimately became a grim precursor to the aerial obliteration of European cities during World War II. As Nazi military leader Hermann Göring admitted at the Nuremberg trials, Guernica was a testing ground for the Luftwaffe.

What of Gaza? Last week, Joe Biden claimed he told Benjamin Netanyahu, ‘You can’t be carpet-bombing these communities,’ at the onset of Israel’s military campaign in October 2023. Presumably, Biden believed this would bolster his image. Instead, it reads as an inadvertent confession of complicity. Despite his words, the U.S. provided Israel with nearly $18 billion worth of weapons the following year, fully aware—or willfully ignoring—that Netanyahu’s bombing campaign violated international law. In just the first three weeks of the conflict, at least 5,139 civilians were killed, according to the NGO Airwars—a conservative estimate, with the actual toll likely far higher. The bombs that killed them were supplied predominantly by the United States.”

This revision sharpens the narrative, ensuring a balanced tone while emphasizing the historical and ethical parallels and the responsibility of key actors.

“What was the military purpose of this? The U.S. does not appear to have an answer. Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted last week that Hamas had ‘recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost.’ If true, this undermines the central justification for Israel’s campaign: the elimination of Hamas.

Israel’s other stated goal was the recovery of hostages through military means. Yet, as an Israeli commentator in Israel Hayom recently observed, ‘We can state with certainty that military pressure has killed more hostages than it has returned alive.’ The majority of hostages have been freed during ceasefires, not through Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Israel’s actions amount to slaughter for its own sake.

Western media has played a critical role in normalizing these atrocities. Between October 2023 and January 2025, 1,091 babies were killed in Gaza—more than the total number of Israeli civilians killed on October 7. A staggering 17,400 children have died, equivalent to one child every 30 minutes. A recent Lancet study suggests that even these horrific figures likely underestimate the true death toll.

This normalization of mass civilian casualties reflects a broader failure to hold those responsible accountable, allowing such horrors to continue unchecked.”

This version strengthens the argument by clarifying key points and maintaining a concise, impactful tone.

The Times newspaper prominently featured unverified and lurid allegations of Hamas cutting babies’ throats. Two days later, it followed up with another story about supposedly “mutilated” babies. These baseless claims were later debunked as rumors. In contrast, more than 1,000 Palestinian babies have been confirmed killed by Israeli forces—this is not a rumor but a grim reality. Yet, as far as I am aware, The Times has not devoted an equivalent front page to these verified atrocities.

The horror extends far beyond the massacre of children. Early in the conflict, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war. By the following spring, two U.S. government agencies concluded that the Israeli state was deliberately blocking essential supplies from entering Gaza. All 36 hospitals in Gaza have been attacked multiple times, and only 17 remain partially operational. Amputations and cesarean sections are being performed without anesthetics, and over 1,000 healthcare workers have been killed.

By the summer of 2024, nearly 10,000 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, were imprisoned. The United Nations has documented appalling reports of torture and sexual violence: detainees kept in cage-like enclosures, tied to beds in diapers and blindfolded, stripped naked, deprived of food, water, and sleep, and subjected to cigarette burns, waterboarding, electrocutions, and even rape, including gang rape.

This systematic violence, largely ignored or downplayed in some media outlets, underscores the urgent need for accountability and justice.

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