Zetco: Israel vs. Rwanda – What Defines Genocide?
January 1, 2025Rwanda vs Israel: A powerful question—what does it take to label genocide?
English Script:
US State department speaker 1994: How many acts of genocide does it take to make genocide?
Journalist: How many acts of genocide does it take to make a genocide?
US State department speaker 1994: That’s just not a question that I’m in a position to answer.
US State department speaker 2024: So, look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do with the way that you phrased that question, but let me just say again unequivocally that the allegations of genocide we find to be unfounded.
Journalist: It’s true that you have specific guidance not to use the word genocide in isolation but always to preface it with these words: “acts of”.
Journalist: Today, several patients and medical workers at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, one of the last remaining medical facilities, was attacked by Israeli drones. There’s this harrowing image of a teenage boy in a wheelchair who was killed. This is after a week of Israeli forces killing a the Save the Children staffer, three Central Kitchen workers, a head chef of the Gaza Soup Kitchen, an ICU director, shooting a 10-year-old girl. And that’s in a matter of days. So how do attacks like these that apparently are not an aberration, considering we’ve seen these over and over again, have anything to do with Hamas?
US State department speaker 1994: I have guidance, which I try to use as best as I can. I’m not, I have, there are formulations that we are using that we are trying to be consistent in our use of…
US State department speaker 2024: I will use the hospital that you mentioned as an example. We have been incredibly clear that fighting in and around hospitals should not happen and that parties are called on to respect the protective status of these kinds of facilities and that’s something that we’ll kind of will continue to stress additionally. The point, Prem, is that these things are not mutually exclusive. These things, we can continue to have these areas of deep concern and continue to stress their importance and stress how there needs to be better decision making, there needs to be additional steps taken, whether it be on civilians or humanitarian situation, that does not equate to allegations of genocide being accurate or founded.
