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Last Tuesday, the Kol Ezrachia party hosted a Zoom meeting with historian Adam Raz. The topic of the discussion was "Israel's Denial Strategy and the War in Gaza." The lecture was part of a weekly Zoom series held on Tuesday evenings.
Adam addressed the issue of ethnic cleansing from various perspectives and stated that two highly credible organizations, relying on facts and thousands of documented cases, concluded that what happened in Gaza amounted to ethnic cleansing and could be classified as genocide. He noted that, at the outset of the war, the Prime Minister openly declared his intention to "turn Gaza into a heap of ruins." Similar statements were made by numerous other politicians.
Raz emphasized that the Israeli public closed its eyes and denied the vast scale of destruction, killing, and starvation of innocent civilians by dismissing it as a "complex situation," "complicated," or by blaming Hamas for everything that happened. He argued that the dehumanization of all Palestinians rendered them legitimate victims of violence in the eyes of Israelis, turning them into objects it was permissible to kill.
He referred to a statement made by President Herzog, who said, "There are no uninvolved civilians in Gaza!" Raz also mentioned the President's signing of shells that were fired into the heart of Gaza. He questioned how the same public that protested against Netanyahu also granted him legitimacy for such actions over many months.
In his lecture, Raz reviewed the arguments of those denying these claims and explored the political and legal aspects from an international perspective. He also highlighted the adverse impact of denial on Israeli society.
During the second part of the meeting, Raz answered questions and responded to participants' comments. Below is a video featuring selected clips from the lecture, as well as a link to the full recording: