Peace Rally Organizers Appear to Have Little Understanding of Genocide
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
The opinion piece “Student Organizers Should Be Commended for Chappaqua Peace Rally” (February 20-26) suggests that “critics of the rally would do well to examine the facts.” They should be examined for a complete lack of historical understanding and a critical look at whether high school students in Chappaqua and elsewhere really know what the words “genocide” and “apartheid” mean.
Genocide is when a government or military organization targets an ethnic group for the sole purpose of annihilation based solely on race, color, creed, national origin or religion.
Apartheid is when a societal and governmental entity for purposes of segregation and denigration ostracizes a segment of its population resulting in unethical and ruthless harm and denial of civil and legal rights to that segment of a population.
Of all people, the State of Israel, born in part from the attempt of Nazi Germany to do just these things, knows full well what those words mean.
These are definitions that come from any dictionary and Wikipedia as well. Should we be led to believe that the students who participated in this march in Chappaqua have looked up these definitions and been privy to the fact that there was a ceasefire on Oct. 6, 2023? Have they seen the pictures of beheaded babies, dismembered torsos and sexual violations that families were forced to witness on Oct. 7?
Are they privy to the historical facts surrounding the 1948 founding of Israel, and that the Palestinians refused then to apportion land to them (greater than the post-1967 war), and that in 2000 former PLO leader Yassir Arafat refused 95 percent of what they wanted in a negotiation attempt with Israel and Ehud Barak? Are they privy to the fact that 20 percent of the population in Israel is Arab/Palestinian with dual citizenship? While problems exist, they have every right and privilege as Jewish Israeli citizens.
Are they aware that between 1994 and 1999 Israel unilaterally uprooted 8,000 settlers and 21 settlements or more to give Gaza back to the Palestinians? They left built cities, neighborhoods, farmland, infrastructure and greenhouses for them to create their own paradise. The result has been a fully militarized 150-square-mile area on Israel’s border committed to the destruction of Israel. Perhaps these students have not been taught this.
Do they understand that only in Israel do Arabs and Palestinians would not have anything close to these rights and/or liberal freedoms if they are gay, lesbian or transsexual? These groups would be hanged in public in Gaza and other Arab nations.
The notion that Israel has stolen Palestinian land is preposterous. Expansion has occurred only after Israel has been attacked and forced to go to war, and as one would expect, have even greater needs for security.
Finally, are these students being taught that the Hamas charter, which at least 80 percent of Palestinians in Gaza voted for, calls for the destruction of Israel and that Hamas has vowed to do an Oct. 7 over and over again until this goal is reached?
No one with an ability to look up what the word genocide means would think that dropping leaflets letting citizens know when and where military activity is going to occur (despite putting the IDF at a disadvantage) and creating safe corridors for evacuations is tantamount to genocide. Collateral damage is an awful and unavoidable biproduct of military conflict, but is neither genocide or apartheid.
F. Scott Gray, MD
Ridgefield, Conn.
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