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I know genocide. I have sat across a kitchen table from it. I have sat in the living room with it hearing its stories. I have sat poolside watching its remnants play poker and mahjong. I have heard it talk of friends that abandoned and betrayed them, and of family long gone to unmarked mass graves and gas chambers that led to crematoriums.
I am part of a family and a people that the word “genocide” was coined for because no word existed prior to name what happened to us.
I am part of a people rebuilding; after 78 years, we are still not at the numbers we once were.
So I know what genocide is and what it is not.
What is happening in Gaza is not genocide. There is no aim to kill the Palestinian people, to end their existence.
The aim in Gaza is to end Hamas. The aim is to keep Israel safe from an entity who does have a goal for genocide: a genocide of the Jewish people. It is not a goal that they try to hide.
I think the use of “genocide in Gaza” serves one purpose and one purpose only: to help spread hate against the Jewish people. Genocide is a strong word meant to evoke strong feelings, and it is being used as propaganda to fuel antisemitism worldwide. And it is working, antisemitism is up 400 percent since Oct. 7, and those are just reported incidents.
Our choice of words matter.
Leah Kresge
Winterport
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