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Words Matter: Reject the Dangerous "Genocide" Libel
(JTA) William C. Daroff and Betsy Berns Korn - Violence rarely begins with violence. It begins with words. Before people are attacked, they are vilified. Before they are excluded, they are portrayed as dangerous or uniquely evil. Language prepares the ground. That is why New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's video accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of genocide demands a clear response. Genocide is not a synonym for a brutal war or civilian suffering. It requires the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. The accusation therefore turns not simply on the tragic consequences of war, but on an intent to destroy a people. Presenting genocide as established truth is not serious analysis; it is a defamatory libel, false and dangerous. By stripping away Hamas, the hostages, Israel's military objectives and the extraordinary difficulties of fighting terrorists embedded among civilians, Mayor Mamdani transforms a complex war into a morality play in which Israel represents absolute evil. Those with whom the mayor disagrees are not merely mistaken. They are portrayed as monstrous, sinister or complicit in history's gravest crime. Jewish New Yorkers are living amid persistent antisemitic threats and violence. In such an atmosphere, repeatedly portraying Israel and its supporters as beyond the bounds of moral legitimacy contributes to a climate in which hostility toward Jews is normalized and those already inclined toward hatred feel emboldened. Israel is stripped of context, subjected to standards applied to no other country, and cast as uniquely illegitimate. The Jewish people are again told that their collective existence stands outside the ordinary protections afforded to others. In effect, Israel is treated the way Jews have so often been treated: singled out, demonized and denied the benefit of the doubt. William C. Daroff is CEO and Betsy Berns Korn is chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.