The term “genocide”, and its codification in international law, has its origins in the mass murder of Armenians in 1915–16.

Up to 1.2 million Armenians were killed by massacre or through systematic ill-treatment, exposure and starvation by the ruling Ottoman Turks.

Genocide is now a crime under international law, defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group".

Before World War I, Armenia comprised a peripheral area to the north-east of the Ottoman Empire. Historically, it held a significant position as the first nation (in 301 AD) to adopt Christianity as its state religion. In the early 1800s, however, Eastern Armenia was ceded to Russia after wars between Russia and Persia, while Western Armenia remained under Ottoman (Muslim) control; the Ottomans at that time considered Christians and Jews to be dhimmi (meaning “protected”), a benefit they proffered in exchange for loyalty to the state and payment of tax.

Nevertheless, with the advent of World War I, the Ottoman Turks sided with Germany and beat back an initial Russian invasion. Ottoman troops then invaded the Caucasus (Armenia and Georgia), and encroached upon the Persian Empire. They were, however, eventually repelled by the Russians, and retreated from the Caucasus in 1915.

The 1915-16 genocide was spearheaded by the ruling administration in Constantinople, and was implemented primarily through the mass murder of Armenians during death marches to the Syrian Desert, and the forced Islamisation of women and children. Ottoman leaders regarded isolated instances of Armenian resistance to be evidence of widespread discontent (though no specific rebellion was evident). Mass deportation was implemented to forestall the possibility of Armenian independence, resulting in several massacres and widespread destruction.

The more recent conflict between Israel and Gaza has its origins in 1917 when the Balfour Declaration was issued by the British Government to create a “national home for Jewish people” in Palestine. Later, in 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israeli independence, causing about 200,000 Palestinians to flee or be expelled from their homes to settle in the Gaza Strip as refugees.

Since then, there have been numerous periods of conflict between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza, the most notable of which occurred during the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel sought to control the area.

In 2005, the Islamic Resistance Movement (commonly known as Hamas) won an election in a bid to gain control of the Gaza Strip. It has governed the area since 2007. Hamas’ primary objective (guided by Islamic principles) is to liberate Palestine with the creation of an independent Palestinian state, and to eliminate Israel as a political entity in the process. It has been widely condemned as a terrorist organisation.

In response to Hamas’ activities, Israel imposed a land, air and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2007, turning it into an “open-air prison”. The blockade was widely condemned as a form of collective punishment, but Israel defended it as necessary to stop Palestinian rocket attacks.

The most recent incursion was a response to the 7 October 2023 raid by Hamas terrorists into southern Israel, during which 20 Israeli towns were invaded, and the Nova Music Festival near the town of Re’im was attacked. More than 1200 Israelis were tortured, mutilated and killed, including women, children and the elderly; over 200 were abducted back to Gaza.

Hamas’ murderous attack on Israel was cruel and unacceptable – but the level of response from Israel was equally brutal. This included:

• large-scale killing by aerial bombardment of Gaza;
• forced evacuation of Muslim civilians;
• use of starvation and thirst as weapons of war;
• extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure, particularly hospitals; and
• killing and incarceration of healthcare workers and aid-seekers.

The Gaza Ministry of Health has calculated that the number of deaths that have resulted from the Israeli attacks since the 2023 raid has exceeded 65,000, while more than 161,000 people have been injured. More than 80% of Gaza’s infrastructure has also been destroyed, including hospitals, schools and homes, resulting in over two million people living in parlous conditions. Hunger is rife, with more than half the population suffering from malnutrition due to the blockade.

Israel’s security cabinet has recently approved Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to take control of Gaza City by whatever military means are necessary, a decision that has been met with widespread criticism throughout the world.

There are many similarities between the Armenian and Gazan genocides – and there was worldwide condemnation in both instances. Perhaps the most significant parallel is the fact that the perpetrators in both cases (that is, Turkey and Israel) continue to deny the fact that their actions have ever comprised “genocide”. Perhaps more significant is the fact that both the Ottoman and the Israeli military authorities tried to prevent journalists and photographers from documenting the atrocities during the conflicts.

While the immediate response to the Armenian genocide was limited during World War I, international bodies, scholars and governments later severely condemned the actions of the Ottoman administration. The Treaty of Sèvres, The Whitaker Report, the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the European Parliament have all since condemned it as genocide.

Significantly, the IAGS also recently passed a resolution with respect to the Gaza conflict that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)”.

The crimes that were committed against the Jews during World War II that led to the Holocaust were horrific, and the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state after the war was consequently perceived by many nations as just compensation for the atrocities delivered to a religious group that was horrendously decimated. It is consequently difficult to comprehend how Israel can now continue to assert the rectitude of its current destructive actions in Gaza.

Perhaps the most fitting description of the situation was made by a British politician in 2009. Sir Gerald Kaufman (who was brought up as an orthodox Jew and Zionist) noted succinctly: “My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town … a German soldier shot her dead in her bed. My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The present Israeli Government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians. The implication is that Jewish lives are precious, but the lives of Palestinians do not count.”

Kaufman’s words seem amply appropriate.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.