Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara was indignant over John Kirby’s comments that South Africa’s filing charging Israel with genocide was “meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact.” Bishara said that he had read the Pretoria filing twice, looking for weaknesses in it. However, he found that it is all “sourced,” largely based on the UN, international organizations, and Israeli publications. He singled out the 10 pages of quotations from Israeli officials as evidence of genocidal intent against Palestinians in Gaza.
Bishara said the documentation of damage showed that Israel’s attacks were directed more at women and children than against Hamas. (He added as his personal take that whatever damage was done to Hamas should almost be classified as “collateral damage” to what was done to civilians.) Hence, he proved that by dismissing so offhandedly such a well-documented filing, Kirby has insulted South Africa. Bishara added that even Israeli experts on genocide call its actions genocide. Bishara concluded that Kirby proves that there’s denial in Washington, that it is the American response that is “meritless, counterproductive, baseless.”
