“Noting that more than a thousand cultural sites had been damaged or destroyed since the beginning of the war, the Congress underlined that the targeting and looting of cultural sites appeared to reflect a systematic policy aimed at erasing Ukraine’s historical and cultural identity, consistent with a genocidal intent,” the Council said.
It’s not the first time Russia’s war in Ukraine has been designated a genocide by international authorities. Multiple European national parliaments have already done so with the Council of Europe deeming Russia’s forced transfer of children as an act of genocide in 2023.
And yet they still won’t call the destruction of Palestine a genocide…
Which angers me as a Ukrainian. Yes, circumstances are different and I despise misinformation coming from a loudly obnoxious subset of pro-Palestinian side, but Israel officials had been clearly stating genocidal intent from the early days.
When picking which genocide to support, the correct answer is „none”. But support for Israel kinda aligns with „Russia cannot lose” approach, so I guess things are consistent in that regard.
And that quite a lot of Ukrainians support Israel and don’t see the similarities between their struggle and the Palestinian’s — I don’t get it.
E: and to the down voters, I am Ukrainian diaspora and lived in Kyiv until the war and visit regularly. I have these conversations frequently when I’m there.
Do you have examples of this? I figured Ukrainians would understand the plight of the Gazans more than most
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Know who are literal Nazis? Opportunistic Russian trash. They literally joined in an agreement with the Nazis at the beginning of WW2 and Russia would be speaking German if not for America.
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Tankies: “No, you don’t understand, we meant WESTERN-sponsored genocide!”
No idea what you’re on about. The destruction of Palestinian cultural heritage is 100 times worse than that of Ukraine so the council of Europe recognising only the latter as genocide shows how little their declarations mean.
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In addition, there are objectively more sites damaged or destroyed in Ukraine.
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/damaged-cultural-sites-ukraine-verified-unesco
As of 16 October 2024 UNESCO has verified damage to 457 sites since 24 February 2022 – 143 religious sites, 231 buildings of historical and/or artistic interest, 32 museums, 33 monuments, 17 libraries, 1 archive.
The Palestinian Ministry of Culture has published reports on the impact of the war on Gaza’s cultural heritage. As of February 2024, they report that 44 people involved with arts and culture were killed and around 200 historic buildings were damaged or destroyed, along with 12 museums and numerous cultural centres.
The posted article also confirms this comparison.
What a nonsensical comparison to make. There’s no denying the incomprehensible horrors Palestinians are put through by Israel. From carpet bombings, to denial of humanitarian aid to the killings of humanitarian workers and journalists. The Palestinian genocide is one of the most well documented genocides we’ve seen with literal confessions of Israeli politicians and lawmakers. There is no excuse for the support from European governmental bodies to Israel.
Comparing which number of sites is bigger… K.
There are other cultural heritage sites there being destroyed. That area is extremely old and very important to multiple religions, including Islam and Christianity, and cultures. As of January, over 200 were destroyed. It’s probably even more now.
Over 200 is still less than 457.
Over 200 in a country smaller than some medical complexes is more than over 457 in a country the size of Texas.
Just because Gaza is getting it worse, doesn’t mean we can ignore other genocide. You should really be ashamed of yourself. I’m sure you’ll deny all the evidence of Muslim genocide in China.
I’m not advocating for ignoring anything. I’m stating some obvious hypocrisy which worries me because I have friends in Gaza who are being systematically murdered and denied access to food and hygiene. I want the governmental bodies that represent me to recognise those horrors and to stop funding and legitimising the perpetrators and I will never stop talking about it.
We all have friends in Gaza being slaughtered. We all have Muslim friends being slaughtered in China, too.
I also want my government to renounce the MOU based on genocide, but that will take 2/3 of congress and a presidential decision to ensure support is stopped without challenge.
I’m not sure what country you live in, but if you live in the states… just be sure your vote isn’t increasing trump’s chances of winning.
I’m commenting under an article about the European council why would you assume I’m in the US?
We don’t all have friends in Gaza, most people don’t which is why they are so good at ignoring what’s going on there.
Comparing the Palestinian genocide to China’s repression of Uyghurs is minimising the absolute horrors that are taking place in Palestine. Uyghurs are being repressed and China is violating their human rights, they are not being slaughtered.
The Palestinian genocide is funded by the West. Mostly by the US but the EU and my government is also complicit. I, as a EU citizen will always press harder on crimes that are committed in my name.
I didn’t assume. Clearly.
And yes, they are being killed in china. See the mass graves.
We can be mad about multiple acts of genocide at the same time. At least I can… apparently you are limited to the genocides that impact you indirectly. Shameful.
Pretty sure they will. The ICJ already said its likely in a preliminary finding, but they need to finish reviewing the mountain of evidence, which will take time
Is Israel’s strategy to just keep creating so much evidence the ICJ is swamped?
If the European council has enough evidence to call what’s happening in Ukraine a genocide, then they should have more than enough information to call what’s been happening in Palestine a genocide even before Oktober 7th of last year. They didn’t need a ICJ ruling for Ukraine, and they don’t need one for Palestine.
You do understand a year is a pretty short amount of time in the international law sphere.
This ukraine case had been filed two and a half years ago.
The Palestinian genocide has been going on for decades.
no, because according to the other site Israel are the “good guys”.
a systematic policy aimed at erasing Ukraine’s historical and cultural identity
Absolutely. Since before the war started, Putin has been calling Kyiv the home of the Russian people.
I’d say if he really wanted to trace the origins of the Russian people and ignore the fact that most of the Russian people’s ancestors most likely already lived in Russia before there was a Russia and just act like the ruling class was everyone, go with Stockholm.
Whoa, hey, how the fuck did Sweden get dragged into this sewage fire?
Not cool man, not cool.
Not my fault you guys decided to start colonizing down the Volga over 1000 years ago.
23 comments and only one top level comment is talking about anything related to the actual link.
I agree, and want to applaud you for saying this even considering my own contributions to discussion down the comments that were not relevant to the article. It is a duty in my opinion to counter misinformation where it is.
I wanted to say this myself but opted not to (based on perhaps unfounded fears of how it would be received), and I regret not doing so sooner. Thank you for pointing this out.
To clarify, this is not an undermining or comparison of both conflicts. This is more so to provide an alongside image to hold news stations accountable for what they determine as “crossing a line”.
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2024/gaza-before-after-satellite-images/
Are you suggesting that the genocide of Muslims in china is also happening, or are you going to deny it?
Keep trying.
That sounded sarcastic. I’m sure it wasn’t though.
Declared genocide but where are the ML to pretend it’s not happening?
Every single time white people have to try to steal the spotlight.
What’s the difference between the Council of Europe and the EU Parliament?
It’s not part of the EU. It’s what rules the European Court of Human Rights. Switzerland, UK, Turkey etc are members.
