Gaza Genocide - Human Rights Watch and the Limits of a Rights-Based Approach

Human Rights Watch's report on October 7, holds Palestinian armed groups responsible for alleged war crimes committed during the assault. However, this analysis neglects the historical context of the occupation and its ongoing subjugation of Palestinians. Decolonization scholars argue that understanding the situation requires a wide historical lens encompassing global struggles for freedom as well as the enduring complexities of Israel as a settler-colonial, apartheid, and occupation state.

Key Takeaways:

Human Rights Watch's report on October 7 focuses on alleged war crimes committed by Palestinian armed groups, but neglects the historical context of the occupation and its ongoing subjugation of Palestinians.
Decolonization scholars argue that understanding the situation requires considering the complexities of Israel as a settler-colonial, apartheid, and occupation state.
Palestinian human rights lawyer Diana Buttu emphasizes the need to think in terms of decolonization, as the occupation is not the problem of one individual, but of Israeli society as a whole.
Buttu highlights that the ongoing genocide in Gaza is not addressed by focusing on individual perpetrators, but by understanding the root causes of the conflict and the need for decolonization.
The report by Haaretz documents how the Israeli army ordered the activation of the Hannibal Procedure, which included the killing of both detainees and their captors on October 7.
Mainstream news outlets, including CNN, repeat "facts" from the HRW report without providing context, and fail to mention the Haaretz report on the Hannibal Procedure.
Activist/scholar Steven Salaita explains that Palestinians have behaved as all communities facing extinction behave, and that understanding the situation requires considering the global and historical context.
Salaita describes a rupture between the radical and accommodationist wings of the Palestine solidarity movement, and highlights the need for a morenuanced approach to addressing the conflict.

Statistics:

Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has carried out a program of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.
The Gaza Strip has been sealed off by Israel since 2007, and thousands of Palestinians have been imprisoned in the West Bank.
The Israeli army killed both detainees and their captors on October 7, according to the Haaretz report.
The Palestinian population in Gaza has been subjected to genocide, with over 10,000 Palestinians killed by Israel since 2008.
Mainstream news outlets have failed to provide adequate context and coverage of the conflict, instead repeating Israeli propaganda and failing to mention human rights abuses committed by Israel.

Sources:

(https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/07/17/i-cant-erase-all-blood-my-mind/palestinian-armed-groups-october-7-assault-israel)
(https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231127-decolonisation-and-the-case-of-palestine/)
(https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/7/20/palestinians-have-a-legal-right-to-armed-struggle)
(https://theintercept.com/2024/03/20/intercepted-israel-palestine-human-rights/)
(https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/17/middleeast/hamas-israel-october-7-attack-human-rights-watch-report-mime-intl/index.html)
(https://www.palestinechronicle.com/my-israeli-friends-this-is-why-i-support-palestinians-ilan-pappe/)
(https://www.palestinechronicle.com/some-lessons-learned-about-zionism-and-anti-zionism-from-an-ongoing-genocide/)
(https://stevesalaita.com/some-lessons-about-zionism-and-anti-zionism-from-an-ongoing-genocide/)