Comment on Germans: what genocide?
barsoap@lemm.ee 7 months ago
Genocide, as in the legal definition, requires intent. As far as I see it Germany is not even trying to deny anything Israel did or does, all the government is basically doing is arguing “Your honour, our client can’t have intent because they’re demonstrably criminally insane, we know because we caused that insanity”. Not in that many words, but to that effect.
Your honour, our client can’t have intent because they’re demonstrably criminally insane, we know because we caused that insanity". Not in that many words, but to that effect.
That’s completely made up, either by you or by another person. What they actually say is that Israel’s intent is to defend against the armed attacks of the Hamas, not to commit a genocide.
More like: “Your honor, our client is just trying to defend themselves, they are not doing this to commit a genocide”
Mere defensive intent does not match up with the evidence unless you assume psychosis, and Germany very much is not denying the evidence.
Germany provided Israel with anti-tank weapons and also training muniton. That’s it (according to official statements). Doesn’t sound like something you could commit a genocide with to me…
The insanity started way before Nazi genocide:
That’s a spark, not the kindling, much less the oil we poured on top of it. Without that, the “holocaust oil”, Israelis would probably be like French levels of patriotic today.
pyr0ball@lemmy.world 7 months ago
And a sane person/nation would willingly engage in genocide? Insanity doesn’t negate intent. Inb4 India China and Russia of course but you take my point?
barsoap@lemm.ee 7 months ago
With individuals, criminal insanity means that you can’t be held accountable on account of not being able to tell good from wrong: Lacking that ability, you cannot have an intent to do wrong. It’s also not a get out of jail free card, it’s quite often a get locked into a closed institution for an indeterminate amount of time card, until the doctors decide that you’re not a danger to yourself or society. Being judged criminally insane can turn a five-year sentence into de facto life.
And it’s not like I personally agree that the notion is really applicable to a people, or that it should be considered when it comes to the genocide convention, but darn someone has to be their defence lawyer – they certainly aren’t capable of defending themselves, pretty much everything they say just makes people more mad, justifiably so. Given Germany’s history don’t blame us for taking on that role.
HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de 7 months ago
The thing about insanity is made up by the person eho posted that comment. What they actually say is that Israel’s intent is to defend themselves against the armed attacks by the Hamas, so self-defense, and not to commit a genocide.
bartolomeo@suppo.fi 7 months ago
That’s such a weird take. I mean you’re right, that is exactly the argument, but it doesn’t hold any water. To defend against Hamas attacks, Israel would need a huge border fence (check), a vastly superior military (check), constant surveillance on Gaza (check), Iron Dome (check), and even morally questionable methods like full control over the Palestinian population registry to track criminals (check). The fact that they had all those and still failed self-defence just adds to the argument that killing tens of thousands of civilians and destroying the majority of civilian infrastructure (while making the vast majority unusable) and completely debilitating the medical infrastructure and blocking humanitarian aid (also via criminal methods) and
is actually genocide.