🩸 "If It Were Really Genocide, Wouldn’t More People Be Dead?" — The Cruel Logic of Bret Stephens

 

✍️ By Malik Mukhtar | July 23, 2025

So let’s all take a moment to appreciate the cold brilliance of Bret Stephens, New York Times columnist and self-appointed moral compass for the apocalypse. In his latest masterstroke of ethical reasoning, he argues that the claim of genocide in Gaza rings hollow — not because tens of thousands haven’t been killed, but because not enough have.

“It may seem harsh to say, but there is a glaring dissonance to the charge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.”

“If the Israeli government’s intentions and actions are truly genocidal — if it is so malevolent that it is committed to the annihilation of Gazans — why hasn’t it been more methodical and vastly more deadly?”

Ah yes, the ol’ “not genocidal enough” defense — a timeless classic. You see, according to Stephens, genocide must be more “methodical,” more “deadly.” A mere 60,000 deaths (as reported by Gaza’s health ministry) over two years of war doesn’t meet the quota. Perhaps Gaza should issue more corpses next time to help clarify the situation?

“Why not, say, hundreds of thousands of deaths…?”

Indeed, why not? That seems to be the bar for Stephens. The fact that we only have thousands of slaughtered children, destroyed hospitals, bombed bakeries, and mass graves of journalists and aid workers — that’s not evidence of genocide, but a sign of moderation. A moral restraint worth applauding.

He even praises Israel’s military ethics as if we should be sending thank-you cards to the IDF:

“It could have bombed without prior notice… instead of routinely warning Gazans to evacuate areas it intended to strike.”

As if dropping leaflets over a fenced-in prison with nowhere safe to flee justifies the carnage that follows. As if giving a 15-minute warning before a 2,000-pound bomb flattens a residential block makes it humanitarian warfare. Stephens is less concerned with the reality on the ground than with defending the intentions of the occupier.

“It is the leading military power of its region… It could have meted vastly greater destruction.”

Translation: Israel showed admirable mercy by merely decimating Gaza’s infrastructure, killing entire families, and turning neighborhoods into dust — because, let’s remember, it could have done so much more.

This isn’t journalism. This is a PR campaign for war crimes, sugarcoated in Ivy League language and sanitized for liberal readers of the New York Times. It’s a grotesque inversion of morality where genocide is redefined by the "body count you could have inflicted but didn’t.

And this narrative — arrogant, clinical, and chilling — is exactly why we must speak. Loudly. Relentlessly. Until no one can hide behind "intent" while thousands lie buried under rubble.

• Intent to destroy?
  Stephens waves it off. But what do you call it when senior Israeli officials describe Palestinians as “human animals,” “children of darkness,” and call for “flattening Gaza,” “no electricity, no water,” and permanent exile? Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared:

  “We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.”

  Sounds oddly intentional, doesn't it?

• Destruction of life and means of survival?
  ✔ 36+ hospitals destroyed
  ✔ 75% of water infrastructure obliterated
  ✔ UN says 1.1 million Gazans now face famine
  ✔ U.S. Famine Early Warning System: “complete collapse” of food production and access
  ✔ Death from starvation now outpacing bombs

  What a fascinating coincidence that starving people to death en masse isn't “intent” if it’s done under the guise of “military necessity.”

• Total displacement?
  ✔ 1.9 million people forcibly displaced (out of 2.2 million)
  ✔ Entire neighborhoods — Shujaiya, Khan Younis, Jabaliya — erased from the map

  Not genocide, according to Stephens. Just real estate clearance.

🧠 Genocide Denial: The Art of Distraction

Stephens leans hard on a favorite trick: moral comparison. "Well, the U.S. killed civilians in Mosul too!" he says, like that’s supposed to excuse a 9-month campaign that has turned Gaza into a graveyard for children.

Yes, Mosul was horrific — about 11,000 civilian deaths in 9 months. But in Gaza, the death toll is nearly six times that, with 60,000+ dead in under two years, over 17,000 of them children according to Save the Children. In Rafah alone, dozens of children burned alive in tents, 

Many orphaned twice over — first by bombs, then by the West’s silence.

The U.S. also didn’t:

• Ban food trucks,
• Bomb aid workers (272 killed, including 196 from UN agencies),
• Bury medics alive with their ambulances,
• Systematically destroy universities and mosques,
• Create a “Buffer Zone” that annexes more than 50% of Gaza.

But sure, let’s pretend this is just another “tragic dimension of war.”

📉 Lies in a Suit and Tie

Stephens claims there’s “no evidence” of deliberate targeting of civilians. Has he heard of:

• The Flour Massacre? Where hundreds were gunned down at an aid convoy?
• The WCK Convoy Strike? Where Israel targeted aid workers after tracking them with drones for hours?
• The Red Crescent Ambulance Bombing? Where paramedics were blown to pieces while helping civilians?

🔪 Documented Massacres Since 27 May

• May 27–28: At Tel al-Sultan in Rafah, Israeli tanks opened fire on starving civilians waiting at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution point. Over 10 killed, 62 injured, most with gunshot wounds.
  [Source: The Guardian, Wikipedia]

• June 1: At least 31 killed, 175 injured at an aid site. Victims arrived at hospitals with head and chest wounds from sniper fire.
  [Source: AP News, Wikipedia]

• June 3: 27 killed, 100+ injured after tanks and drones fired into a crowd at another GHF site.
  [Source: 972 Magazine]

• June 4–6: Multiple sites attacked over consecutive days. Casualty numbers continue rising.
  [Source: OCHA Sit Reps]

• June 7–8: Sniper and machine-gun fire sprayed into crowds of women and children.
  [Source: Survivor accounts, UN officials]

• June 13–14: “The Hunger Games” massacre. Over 70 killed, hundreds injured along Al-Rashid Street. Israeli tanks fired shells directly at people waiting for food.
  [Source: 972 Magazine]

• June 17: 59 killed in coordinated sniper fire near Netzarim corridor.
  [Source: OHCHR]

• July 3: 15 killed in Khan Younis while waiting for aid; 25 killed at Netzarim corridor aid site.
  [Source: Wikipedia]

• July 5: Another 23 civilians killed at a GHF distribution point.
  [Source: Gaza Health Ministry]

• By July 13: UN OHCHR confirms 674 dead, Gaza officials report 743 killed, 4,800+ injured during aid line attacks.
  [Source: UN, Human Rights Watch]

• As of July 22: Total reported: 1,054 killed, 4,891 injured at or near aid sites.
  [Source: Wikipedia]

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📣 Survivor Testimonies: Mothers & Babies as Targets

• Witnesses report announcements made before some aid drops that only women should come forward — a deliberate lure. Snipers then targeted women holding babies, shooting them through the chest and head.
  [Source: Survivor testimony, The Guardian]

• Survivors described Markova tanks firing into unarmed crowds, while machine guns mounted on armored vehicles sprayed 600–900 rounds per minute.
  [Source: 972 Magazine]

• Dr. Tarek Loubani, emergency physician in Gaza, confirmed repeated headshots and genital wounds, consistent with deliberate sniper targeting.
  [Source: Democracy Now]

---

💣 Why This Isn’t Mere “War” — It’s a Deliberate Deadly Design

• Sniper fire and machine guns aimed directly at civilians seeking food — not "crossfire," but systematic executions.

• Multiple attacks on aid seekers over consecutive days, across multiple locations, each time following predictable humanitarian drop-off patterns.

• Israeli officials and commanders issued orders to open fire preemptively, even at unarmed civilians.
  [Source: Leaked military radio, UN reporting]

Oh wait — to Stephens, that’s not evidence. That’s just “bungled humanitarian schemes.”

🤡 The Final Punchline

He ends with a flourish: warning that calling Israel’s actions “genocide” cheapens the term. Because nothing says integrity like gatekeeping genocide while defending the world’s most surveillance-heavy, precision-bombing military from accountability.

To recap:
🧼 Ethnic cleansing = “military necessity”
👶 Starving children = “logistical mishaps”
🏚️ Leveling cities = “self-defense”
🧠 Genocide = “too strong a word”

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💔 Gaza’s Reality, Beyond Bret’s Bubble

“When you starve a population, block aid, bomb hospitals, and erase an entire society — you don’t need gas chambers to call it genocide. You just need cruelty and indifference.” — UN Official, July 2025

Stephens sees the number 60,000 and wonders why it’s not more.
The world sees 60,000 and screams why it's not enough to make us stop this horror.

So here’s a question for Bret Stephens:
If this isn’t genocide, what exactly would it take?

---

Let the world decide.
History is watching.
And so are the ghosts of Gaza’s children.

📚 Source Links 

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jul/22/food-aid-gaza-deaths-visual-story-ghf-israel

https://apnews.com/article/e3eead77195dc9c4dd07ac5fe640d00e

https://www.972mag.com/hunger-games-israel-gaza-food-aid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Gaza_Strip_aid_distribution_killings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Humanitarian_Foundation

https://www.ochaopt.org

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/7/14/gaza

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/jul/23/israel-gaza-war-aid-benjamin-netanyahu-hamas-middle-east-latest-news-updates