Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?

Welcome to the second piece in our series called "simple questions, simple answers" where we take hot-button claims and answer them as simple as we can.

Question: Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?

Short answer: Formally, Israel has not yet been found guilty or innocent of genocide in Gaza, but that shouldn't persuade us not to act.

Long answer: The issue of whether or not Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is currently being litigated at the International Court of Justice in a case brought against Israel by South Africa. There have been some rulings that found it is plausible that Israel is committing genocide, sufficient to issue some provisional measures of protection for Palestinians in Gaza, but these are not definitive findings of genocide. The court case is likely to take years before it finally rules on whether or not Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

Defining something as a formal genocide is generally an after-the-fact determination with all of the damage done. The motto "never again" isn't about waiting for a slow-moving court to define something as a genocide before acting. Instead, one needs to act when there is a plausible risk of genocide in order to stop it and uphold that motto.

From a human rights perspective, it is also much better to stop a potential genocide from occurring, before the bulk of the damage is done, rather than focusing on whether something will be declared a genocide years from now.