The Politics of Genocide

There’s nothing official about the UN report accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, set up by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, doesn’t speak for the UN, officially. Moreover, the UNHRC has never really been a paragon of human rights owing to the rather dubious record of most of its members—at any time. Here’s a sampling of current constituents: Bangladesh, Sudan, Dominican Republic, Algeria, Maldives, Cuba… To accuse Israel’s prime minister, president, and former defence minister of incitement to genocide, partly because of Benjamin Netanyahu’s arcane biblical allusions, might be self-defeating too. But that Gaza is rubble and its residents are suffering are facts. More than 60,000 are reportedly dead although it’s a mystery why the UN trusts the Hamas health ministry’s numbers. Four of the five genocide parameters are allegedly met by Israel’s action and intent in Gaza— and that bar was set very high when genocide was defined after the Holocaust. Netanyahu is certainly guilty of giving irony such leeway. As Gaza City is assaulted and overrun, Netanyahu is also guilty of losing the moral upper hand after Hamas’ October 7 attack. Meanwhile, the last hostages are still down or out there.

 Nothing’s Quiet on the Eastern Front

It didn’t need Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk to claim Russia crossed a line last week by violating Polish air­space with its drones, which either crashed or were shot down. Russia did cross a line and it’s not clear why. Poland believes the intrusion was deliberate. But it was the first time NATO had to resort to force to protect its eastern flank—which may be turning into a front—against Russia. NATO Secretary-Gen­eral Mark Rutte thereafter announced Eastern Sentry, an operation aimed at making NATO defences flexible while plugging gaps. The operation has America’s blessings but US assets are not being used. France, Germany, the UK, Denmark, et al are making up for the additional resources. A similar strategy has been deployed since early this year in the Baltic to protect infra­structure from Russia attack. It seems the Baltic model has worked to date, with no such attack reported since it was put into action. Not only did Poland shut its airports and scramble fighters but Warsaw also called for an Article 4 consultation under the NATO charter for a joint response. It was only the eighth time in NATO’s history that Article 4 was invoked. Things are heat­ing up on the eastern front.

Europe Mourns Charlie Kirk

Europe’s post-war far-right hasn’t had it this good. Far-right parties are winning more seats across the conti­nent than ever before, wait­ing to form a government in France and to sweep the next elections in Germany. It’s already in power in Italy and getting stronger by the day in Spain and even Portugal. But Charlie Kirk’s assassination galvanised a convention of far-right parties in Madrid, legitimising the narrative of victimhood and persecution. It’s not the Right but the Left that is using bullets. It’s not the Left but the Right get­ting murdered. With Donald Trump and Elon Musk as their most powerful back­ers, they might even have a chance in the UK next.

Charlie KirkEuropeGaza CitygeopoliticsMark RutteNATO