I am also the father of a son who spent the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, huddled in a bomb shelter in Jerusalem, where he was studying for the semester, while Hamas conducted its murderous attacks. The terror and destruction Israelis faced that day \u2014 and its lasting trauma \u2014 is impossible to grasp if you did not experience it yourself.<\/p>\n
Defining the contours of a new American foreign policy towards Israel requires building bridges at home, not burning them unnecessarily. And the Democratic party cannot build a morally serious and durable foreign policy in the region when natural allies are ostracized over differences in terminology.<\/p>\n
In the months following those attacks, while still fearing for friends and family in Israel, I shuddered at the horrors unfolding in Gaza: the indiscriminate destruction, the apparent indifference to civilian casualties, and the credible accusations that starvation was being used as a weapon of war.<\/p>\n
And yet, I watched as the battle over what word Democrats called these actions became almost as consuming as the effort to stop them.<\/p>\n
In progressive circles, conversations on the war seemed to begin or end based on whether you accepted the word \u201cgenocide\u201d as the appropriate characterization. Those who resisted the term were viewed with suspicion, as if they were minimizing Palestinian suffering or offering cover for Israeli war crimes.<\/p>\n
Personally, I do not believe calling it genocide is fair. As horrified as I am by some of the actions of the Israeli army \u2014 and as repellent as the rhetoric from zealots like Minister of National Security Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich often is \u2014 I do not believe the Israeli Defense Forces are acting with the intent, as is required for the genocide label under international law, \u201cto destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.\u201d Then again, I understand how people of good faith come to a different conclusion. But I\u2019m not interested in arguing. I see their point. I just want them to see mine.<\/p>\n
For many, using the word \u201cgenocide\u201d reflects a desire to bring moral urgency to a situation they feel is being ignored. I get that. Yet in the mouths of some, I feel the word morph from an expression of moral outrage to a tool used to vilify and discredit the entire project of modern Israel. A way to level a charge not just against Netanyahu and his most lunatic allies \u2014 but to throw all Israelis, and all the Americans who support them, in with history\u2019s worst of the worst.<\/p>\n