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When Israel invaded the Gaza Strip, people quickly accused Israel of attempting genocide. However, when Russia invaded Ukraine, despite being much bigger and stronger and killing several people, that generally isn't referred to as genocide to my knowledge. What exactly is different between these scenarios (and any other relevant examples) that determines if it counts as genocide?
Israel is attacking an enemy that has purposefully dug into a crowded urban environment. This has led to a large amount civilian death, but it is clear from Israel's action that there is no intent on destroying a people.
I'm not sure how you could interpret what Israel is doing right now as anything but intent to destroy a people.
There's very clear statements of intent and desire to exterminate or displace all Palestinians coming from all sectors of Israeli society, from the President on down. That coupled with an almost total lack of concern for casualties or the death toll from the humanitarian crisis brought about by the denial of aid, disease, lack of water, etc spells out genocide pretty clearly.
Both instances are cases of genocide but for slightly different reasons and the recognition of them is for different reasons.
In the Russian context, Russia's desire to remove any "non-Russian" Ukrainian from Ukraine is more about one's loyalty to Russia than it is about a particular ethnic background. The core goal of the Russian offensive is the seizure of Ukraine and the expulsion/extermination of anyone who opposes that effort on the ground in Ukraine.
There are some very clear attempts by Russia to break up the Ukrainian identity that have been highlighted in recent months (stealing Ukrainian children, mass executions of Ukrainians, etc) which does count as genocide. As clear cut as it is, it's a fairly recent phenomenon in terms of how proactive it is. Russia has had an antagonistic relationship with regional non-Russian ethnic groups and identities for decades and if you were "legitimate" or not largely depended on your willingness as a group to bend to Russian will.
That complicated relationship isn't well understood in the West and antagonisms between Russian nationalists and other ethnic groups isn't well known.
In the Israeli context, there's a long history of awareness that Israel wants to get rid of the Palestinians. It's a project 75 years in the making and the original founders of Israel made it clear that they would need to get rid of the Palestinians in order to have a Jewish state.
Most people alive today grew up with an awareness of Israel's antagonism towards the Palestinians and what we're seeing in Gaza right now is a culmination of decades of the same types of efforts just on a smaller scale. I've been involved in the Free Palestine movement for years and this type of thing was always expected sooner or later.
The situation is also more well known in the West.
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What do you think Israel sees different in the West Bank vs Gaza?
I'm not sure that I'd call repeated raids, continuous bombing, arrests, and the blockade as being "left alone."
They literally just are.
Gazans are dying from the conditions imposed by Israel and Israel is firing on people trying to retrieve aid being sent in. Most people have been pushed into Rafah and there's literally nowhere else for them to go.
Gaza is an extermination camp now.