cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/36304935
[about f—ing time!]
Joseph Gedeon in Washington
Wed 17 Sep 2025 18.18 EDT“We, as Americans, must end our complicity in the slaughter of the Palestinian people,” he wrote. “Having named it a genocide, we must use every ounce of our leverage to demand an immediate ceasefire, a massive surge of humanitarian aid facilitated by the UN, and initial steps to provide Palestinians with a state of their own.”
He now joins a small but growing list of House members including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, as well as Vermont representative Becca Balint, who also called it a genocide earlier in the day.
“Today, I believe the Israeli government is committing a genocide against the Palestinian people,” Balint wrote in an op-ed in the Courier. “As the granddaughter of a man murdered in the Holocaust, it is not easy for me to say that.”
“The very term genocide is a reminder of what can happen if we fail,” Sanders wrote. “That word emerged from the Holocaust – the murder of 6 million Jews – one of the darkest chapters in human history. Make no mistake. If there is no accountability for Netanyahu and his fellow war criminals, other demagogues will do the same.”
And from a Jewish senator, nonetheless.
He’s got some morals
HeS aNtIsEmItIc!!!
this is a great relief.now this has been established, finally hamas will make peace with israel and it will all be over
Let’s reverse the roles. Would you support the genocide if Israel to root out some terrorist?
All the while you’re making new terrorists by killing innocent people. If you killed my family you best believe I would join Hamas.
He’s not the first.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/08/israel-gaza-war-elizabeth-warren-00151120
And Van Hollen and Merkley called it ethnic cleansing.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/11/democratic-senators-gaza-ethnic-cleansing
The direct proactive statement proclaiming it a “genocide” rather than answering a question or using “ethnic cleansing” is significant step though.
Genocide carries specific legal frameworks under international law, that ethnic cleansing doesn’t.
Words mean things.
Calling it a “genocide” instead of “ethnic cleansing” matter though. Why do you think everyone is always so hesitant to call things genocides? It’s because it’s a word that has legal implications. It’s an international crime that demands action.
So basically politicians loophole things by calling them ethnic cleansing instead.
A couple politicians calling it genocide doesn’t have any legal implications. Warren did it already and nothing changed in the legal implications, nor would they kick in if 3 (4 now) were doing it instead.
Your link doesn’t say that Warren called it a genocide, but that “she thinks it will legally be defined as a genocide”. That’s not calling it a genocide, that’s thinking it will be called that. There is a difference there
But you need to think of it from a political lens moreso than one politician saying it meaning it will immediately have legal consequences
If a majority of politicians say “it’s ethnic cleansing”, things will happen that are not meaningfully different than a majority saying “it’s genocide”. That’s the hurdle, not whether two senators who are on the right side of the issue (albeit after far too long) are using specific terminology.
“Ethnic cleansing” is a weasel term to avoid saying “genocide,” which is an actual legally-defined term that requires a response according to domestic and international law, which the US is a party to. If it’s genocide, the US and other countries are obligated to try to prevent it and to bring the perpetrators to justice. A politician calling it an ethnic cleansing does so either because they’re ignorant of the law (although most of them are lawyers) or because they want to sound like they’re taking a stand without actually doing anything.
I don’t think legality has anything to do with the choice. There’s no obligation from a handful of senators saying something. It’s not like Warren calling it a genocide obligated the Senate to adopt that position.
In reality, it just feels like a serious charge that doesn’t have to explain that genocide can exist without full Nazi death camps. None of their voters are going to think “it’s only ethnic cleansing, they don’t have to do anything about that”.
Why not call it genocide?
I do, but it you’re asking why I think they didn’t, I already answered that in the comment you just replied to.
Took him long enough. He’s still a Zionist.
Better late than never I guess?
Um, yes? Can we just all enjoy a small crumb of something steering toward the right direction?
Yes
@[email protected] I expect you to hand out flowers now, or fuck off.
It Is Genocide
September 17, 2025
Hamas, a terrorist organization, began this war with its brutal attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages.
Israel, as any other country, had a right to defend itself from Hamas.
— Bernie Sanders
he’s still a zionist.
the next three sentences:
But, over the last two years, Israel has not simply defended itself against Hamas. Instead, it has waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people. Many legal experts have now concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Way to clip some shit out of context. you really did something there
deleted by creator
Define zionist since you like to use the word.
And he still goes in with the history started on Oct 7th and everything that happened was just a response
