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By: Stephen Smith - May 21, 2021
Words have meaning. And in fraught times, in matters of war and peace and life and death, it is critically important to use the right words. To resolve our disputes, to solve our problems, we must accurately describe what is happening, so that we can respond to facts, not to rhetoric.
Which brings me to the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Rep. Rashida Talib has said that Israel “is practicing ethnic cleansing.” The foreign ministry of Qatar put out a statement urging Israel to end “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians. In a letter to the editor published in the Los Angeles Times this week, a reader wrote: “If you don’t understand what the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ really means, try to take a deeper dive into understanding what the state of Israel is doing to the Palestinians.”
There is only one problem: There is no ethnic cleansing going on in Gaza. There is no ethnic cleansing going on in the West Bank. Israel holds an overwhelming military advantage against its Palestinian neighbors, and one may deem some of Israel’s defensive actions as overly provocative or unnecessarily destructive. But Israel is not engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Read More: Jewish Journal