For the US, the meaning of genocide is a moving goalpost

What's genocide? According to the UN, genocide is "a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part." 

But when you ask, "what's the definition of genocide according to the US?" Well, that depends. Depends on the vested interest of the bearer and preacher of human rights, as long as it aligns with their political or economic, or both interests.

The Biden administration said Monday it doesn't believe that Israel is committing "genocide" in Gaza. Following that, The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that "the charge of genocide is meritless."

A double standard is as clear as the daylight, in the US's approach to conflicts in different regions, such as the Middle East and Eastern Europe. 

While the US has vehemently condemned Russian actions in Ukraine, it has turned a blind eye to Israeli actions in Gaza, despite both involving military atrocities in densely populated areas. 

If you did not know the basic definition of the word 'hypocrisy,' this is it. And it definitely undermines Uncle Sam's credibility and moral authority on the global stage.

The hypocrisy

Millions in Gaza endure the harrowing conditions of what can only be described as a concentration camp. They face relentless starvation and violence, are subjected to bombings within their homes, on the streets, while fetching water, while asleep in their tents, during aid reception, and even while preparing meals. 

In Gaza, inhabitants lament that obtaining drinking water comes at the cost of blood, bread is metaphorically dipped in blood, and any movement from one place to another risks injury and bloodshed.

The UN on 13 May stated that the overall number of fatalities in Gaza tallied by the Ministry of Health in Gaza is more than 35,000, since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas on October 7. And this number is not including more than 10,000 reported missing or under the rubble. 

If that's not genocide, what is? 

To put this into context, as of February 15, 2024, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) confirmed a total of 30,457 civilian casualties resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

When Biden calls atrocities in Ukraine a "genocide," he gives a pat on the back of Israel for so called "right to self defense".

On 14 May, The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken touched down in Kyiv, marking the inaugural visit to Ukraine by a senior US official following the recent passage of a long-awaited $61 billion military aid package by Congress. 

During his stay, Blinken plans to offer reassurances to Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, regarding the enduring support of the US. But when it comes to Palestine, the US changes its colour.

Everyone else calling it a genocide 

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, has stated that there are "reasonable grounds" to believe that acts committed against Palestinians in Gaza meet the threshold of genocide. 

At least 115 world leaders and intellectuals have signed a "declaration on genocide" calling for an immediate ceasefire. 

The letter states: "Under these circumstances, this Declaration calls not only for the denunciation of Israel's genocidal assault but also for taking effective action to permanently prevent its repetition."

To everyone's utter dismay, the US is safeguarding Israel from facing sanctions. Within the intricate maze of the State Department's procedures enabling the transfer of weapons to Israel, even amidst instances of violations, lies a complex scenario. 

Over time, the US government has established specific mechanisms aimed at insulating Israel from sanctions intended to penalise nations for human rights transgressions.

While President Joe Biden has temporarily halted a weapons delivery to Israel and acknowledged the use of the US-supplied arms by Israel in the deaths of Palestinian civilians, the US Department of State has declined to confirm whether Israel has contravened the US or international legal statutes in its conflict with Gaza.

It is not a war crime when the US and its allies do it 

Twenty years ago, at the signal of George W Bush's finger, thousands of American troops were racing across the deserts of Iraq toward Baghdad to depose Saddam Hussein. 

This set off nearly a decade of internal conflict and foreign occupation, yielding no evidence of weapons of mass destruction and resulting in the deaths of an estimated 300,000 Iraqis, with millions more displaced and their lives shattered.

The skyline of Baghdad became a haunting tableau of flames, with bombs falling indiscriminately, punctuating the nights more regularly than the ticking of a clock. For weeks on end, Iraqis prayed simply to see another morning.

Dubbed "Operation Iraqi Freedom" by the invading US military, the reality for countless Iraqis worldwide was anything but liberating. 

Unfortunately, in the two decades since, there has been a glaring absence of accountability for the multitude of falsehoods and misleading arguments put forth by both the former administrations of the US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, which precipitated a conflict that defined an era.

In the absence of accountability for Western nations, how can we anticipate that the rest of the world will uphold these principles? It is imperative that a thorough, impartial, and legal investigation be conducted into the actions of Bush and Blair. 

In stark contrast, it took current US President Joe Biden only a matter of weeks to denounce his Russian counterpart as a "war criminal" following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

There's little difference even between the language used by Bush and Putin before their respective wars. Ahead of the Iraq invasion, Bush used terms like "freedom," "liberation" and "war on terror". Putin similarly claimed he was liberating Ukraine and curbing "terrorism" in the region.

Yet while Russia has been hit by sanctions by multiple Western nations and their allies, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant against Putin, we saw none of this with the US, United Kingdom, Bush and Blair.

In the past, the US has even taken steps to make ICC investigations difficult. This includes sanctions against ICC officials looking into actions by US troops in Afghanistan. These actions haven't completely stopped investigations, but they created hurdles.

The US actions in Iraq haven't been classified as genocide by international courts. While there were civilian casualties and human rights violations, the specific intent to destroy an entire group (a key part of the definition of genocide) is difficult to prove in this case.

On the other hand, the UK parliament passed a law to block the trial of its soldiers and Tony Blair on charge of war crimes.

The West, beyond just the US and UK, often exhibits blindness to their own war crimes, sometimes even doubling down on such actions to conceal them. 

An instance is the case of former Australian Army lawyer David McBride, who received a sentence of five years and eight months for disclosing information regarding purported Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. 

Iraq is of course not the first time the US has been implicated in actions deemed by some as atrocities. These include the infamous My Lai Massacre in 1968, where Vietnamese civilians fell victim to US troops, sparking debates about the adequacy of subsequent prosecution. Moreover, the deployment of Agent Orange in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971 had severe and lasting health consequences for civilians, raising ethical concerns. Further, allegations of torture emerged regarding detention practices at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, tarnishing the US's human rights record. 

In a broader context, the US's refusal to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its efforts to impede investigations into its own actions through sanctions against ICC officials have been viewed as attempts to evade a ccountability, exacerbating global tensions over justice and sovereignty.