THIS IS GENOCIDE: THE SYSTEMATIC ERASURE OF A PEOPLE
By Vincent Lyn
With billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars, Israel perpetuates a campaign that aims to obliterate Palestine. This is not merely a conflict — it is a systematic and calculated attempt to erase an entire people. The infrastructure of Palestinian life is under siege: homes are demolished without warning, neighborhoods are flattened, schools and hospitals are bombed, and basic necessities like water, food, and electricity are denied to millions. This is not just a war — it is the deliberate dehumanization and extermination of Palestinians, carried out with impunity.
The complicity of the United States cannot be overstated. Every bomb that falls on Gaza, every bullet fired at civilians, every missile that turns a home into rubble bears the stamp of U.S. funding and approval. For decades, the U.S. has provided Israel with billions in military aid, ensuring that its war machine remains unparalleled in the region. This unconditional support is not just financial — it is political and moral. By consistently shielding Israel from accountability in international forums, vetoing resolutions, and labeling justified criticism as “antisemitism,” the United States enables and emboldens Israel’s crimes.
At the United Nations the global community took a stand, 124 nations voted in favor of a resolution demanding Israel’s withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territories in accordance with international law. The resolution also called for an immediate halt to arms exports to Israel, the imposition of sanctions, and reparations for the Palestinian people. These measures are not radical — they are the bare minimum required to address decades of illegal occupation, apartheid policies, and systemic violence. Yet, predictably, the United States voted against it, standing in stark opposition to the overwhelming majority of the world.
This moment is part of a long and tragic history. Since 1948, Palestinians have faced dispossession, displacement, and denial of their most fundamental rights. Over 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homes during the Nakba (“catastrophe”), and millions more have since been confined to refugee camps or stateless limbo. Today, Gaza — a 25-mile strip of land home to over 2 million people — remains under a suffocating blockade that has turned it into what many describe as the world’s largest open-air prison. The West Bank, too, is carved up by illegal settlements, checkpoints, and a separation wall that isolates Palestinians from their own land.
The language of “self-defense” used to justify these actions collapses under scrutiny. Israel’s military, among the most powerful in the world, is not responding to an existential threat — it is enforcing a system of colonial domination. It is erasing entire communities, targeting civilian infrastructure, and inflicting collective punishment on a population that has already endured decades of suffering. Bombing refugee camps, hospitals, and schools is not defense — it is genocide.
What is happening in Palestine is a litmus test for humanity’s commitment to justice and human rights. The silence of world powers, the empty statements of concern from Western leaders, and the outright support for Israel’s actions reveal a glaring double standard. These same nations that champion democracy and human rights in other contexts turn a blind eye when Palestinians are massacred.
The moral and legal implications are clear. Israel’s actions meet the criteria of genocide as defined by the United Nations Genocide Convention. The deliberate killing of Palestinians, the targeting of their homes, and the conditions imposed to make life unsustainable all point to an attempt to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, or racial group. Calling it anything less than genocide is a denial of reality.
The complicity of the United States in this genocide must be confronted. By continuing to arm and fund Israel, the U.S. government is an active participant in crimes against humanity. It is not just standing by — it is enabling the obliteration of Palestinian life. This betrayal of international law and basic morality is a stain on the global conscience.
The global community must act with urgency. Statements of concern are not enough. The world must implement an immediate arms embargo on Israel, impose economic sanctions, and hold it accountable for decades of violations. Reparations must be made to the Palestinian people, and those responsible for war crimes must face justice. This is not about politics — it is about the survival of a people.
To normalize this genocide is to surrender our humanity. The time for equivocation and inaction has passed. We must stand unequivocally with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom, dignity, and justice. Their liberation is not just their fight — it is a fight for all who believe in a world where oppression, apartheid, and genocide cannot be tolerated.
The future will judge us by our response to this moment. Will we choose silence and complicity, or will we demand accountability and justice? The answer cannot wait. Lives are being destroyed every day. We must act now.
Vincent Lyn
CEO & Founder of We Can Save Children
Deputy Ambassador of International Human Rights Commission (IHRC)
Director of Creative Development at African Views Organization
Economic & Social Council at United Nations (ECOSOC)
Chief International Director at 365 Security Services
Rescue & Recovery Specialist at International Confederation of Police & Security Experts