A Jew coined the word ‘genocide.’ Now it’s being used against the Jewish state.

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn(RNS) — Though the word has been applied over the decades to mass killings of Rwandans, Bosnians and Cambodians, the word “genocide,” coined by a Jewish lawyer after World War II, is still nearly synonymous with the destruction of European Jewry during the Holocaust.Now, in a remarkable twist of history, the Jewish state is being accused of the crime.
On Thursday (Jan. 11), the International Court of Justice in The Hague will begin considering a complaint filed by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. More immediately, the complaint asks the court to issue a provisional measure to halt the fighting in Gaza, where more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed and millions displaced.
The South African filing says that Israel has attempted to eradicate the Palestinian people in Gaza by creating “conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.”
Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jewish lawyer who fled to the United States in 1942, lost most of his family, including his parents, in the Holocaust, in which at least 6 million Jews died. Lemkin became determined that international law recognize and outlaw the systematic destruction of any national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
Raphael Lemkin. Photo c …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]