Genocide November 13, 2023 One of you sent me this open letter from pro-Palestinian Jewish students at Brown. It “comes from a good place,” for sure but is dead wrong, I think, in calling what Israel is doing “genocide.” To me, genocide is when you’re trying to kill people — indeed, an entire people — simply because of their ethnicity or religion. Israel has never wanted to do that and doesn’t want to do it now . . . any more than we wanted to do it when we killed God knows how many German and Japanese civilians in World War II. There’s so much to criticize about the current Israeli regime; and about the expansion of settlements in years past. But genocide? It’s not remotely that, I think. I loathe Netanyahu. Even so, I think his appearance on yesterday’s Meet The Press is very much worth watching. I wish every college student in America would read Noa Tishby’s book — which is deeply sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians, as we all should be — Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth. And speaking of genocide, this is worth your time as well: The Truth of Hamas Is in Its Charter. Biden is spot on in wanting Israel to provide more humanitarian aid (maybe like this?) and do more to minimize civilian casualties. But I think Hamas has to be defeated, as ISIS largely has been.