It is de rigueur today in certain circles to state as a matter of proven fact that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza. This is a lie. I’ll explain why below, but first I want to explain just how pernicious and awful that lie actually is.
Genocide is the worst crime any nation or group of people can ever commit. The Oxford Languages Dictionary defines genocide as “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.” In 2025, there is no more heinous crime than engaging in genocide. It is the very worst thing in the modern world, and moral people everywhere know that virtually any means of violence are justified in stopping actual, genuine genocide.
Which explains the illegal alien Egyptian who firebombed Holocaust survivors in Boulder, and the pro-Hamas activist who tried to burn down a Jewish governor’s official residence, and another pro-Hamas activist who gunned down two Israeli embassy workers at the Capital Jewish Museum. They thought they were fighting to end genocide. You see, to the men who perpetrated these crimes, they were entirely justified in what they did because their actions were moral, just, and necessary to end a “genocide.” There is a certain level of seemingly rational and moral thought there.
Except.
Except for the fact that “Gaza genocide” is a lie, and the people spreading that lie are partially responsible for the crimes these three men committed.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas—an avowedly terrorist organization and the ruling class of Gaza, whose charter specifically calls for the eradication of Israel and the death of all Jews living there—engaged in an act of war. There is no doubt whatsoever that the cross-border invasion and murder of scores of innocent, unarmed Israelis was an act of war under international law. Moreover, international law from the days of St. Thomas Aquinas onward has always recognized the concept of a “just war,” and no war can be more just than waging it against terrorists from a neighboring state who avowedly seek the destruction of your own country and demonstrate the military capacity to do so.
Just wars are NOT “genocide.”
Moreover, the Israeli Defense Forces practice state-of-the-art civilian risk mitigation measures, in full keeping with the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. If you are trying to commit “genocide,” you do not follow the Geneva Conventions. You just don’t.
If you are trying to commit “genocide,” you do not provide civilians early warning that you are about to strike legitimate military targets in their midst.
If you are trying to commit “genocide,” you do not distribute robust food aid to the alleged targets of your genocide.
If you are trying to commit “genocide,” you do not provide humanitarian medical assistance to the alleged targets of your genocide.
If you are trying to commit “genocide,” you do not evacuate sick and wounded children of the alleged targets of your genocide to hospitals.
If you are trying to commit “genocide,” you do not communicate that all armed conflict will end the moment Hamas lays down its guns and stops indiscriminately shooting rockets at Israeli civilians.
No, if you are trying to commit genocide, you do not fight a just war in keeping with the Geneva Conventions. Instead, you line everybody up against the wall and shoot them in the back of the head. That is genocide, and the war the Israelis are waging in Gaza looks nothing like that.
Alleging that Israel is engaged in “genocide” is the blood libel of the modern era, on par with the claim that Jews season their matzos with the blood of Christian babies.
I know, I know, “It’s not that I’m antisemitic; it’s that I oppose Zionism.” Bullcrap. If you have to commit a blood libel lie in order to support your hate, while never once caring about or even mentioning the actual genocides ongoing in places like Darfur and Myanmar, it’s a reasonable assumption that you are a raging antisemite (particularly when I click on your X account and it’s chock full of conspiracy theories about “the Joos”).
“Gaza genocide” is a LIE. It’s a hoax that bears no resemblance to objective reality, and if you are spreading this lie, blame for the blood and fire in Boulder, the ruined mansion in Harrisburg, and the dead bodies on the steps of the Capitol Jewish Museum rest in part on your blood-soaked hands.
Wipe that blood off your hands and start speaking truth, lest the lies consume you.
Cynical Publius is the nom de plume of a retired U.S. Army colonel and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, who is now a practicing corporate law attorney. You can follow Cynical Publius on X at @CynicalPublius.