The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
Rubin: Charge both Israel and Russia with genocide
By Trudy Rubin
Published: January 20, 2024, 6:01am
Share:
If Israel is being charged with genocide at the International Court of Justice, why isn’t Russia?
This is a question I find very troubling. Despite harsh critiques of the civilian carnage in Gaza caused by Israel’s bombs — of which I have written my share — that war originated with a grisly Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. And Hamas explicitly calls in its charter for the military destruction of Israel and the death of its Jews.
Ukraine, on the other hand, never attacked Russia. Yet Vladimir Putin unleashed a brutal war against a peaceful neighbor that specifically targets civilians. Moreover, he has made no secret of his intentions, which are the critical element in finding a verdict of genocide.
Putin has said repeatedly that Ukraine has no right to exist separately from Russia.
According to the 1948 Genocide Convention, a charge of genocide requires deliberate “intent to destroy in whole or part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such.” Intent is the key word, and Putin has made crystal clear his intention to swallow Ukraine into the Russian empire as a subjugated entity, as he has done with Belarus.
“The idea of the Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians,” he declared the night before the 2022 invasion, “has no historical basis.”
Putin’s front men have been blunt about wiping out any remnants of Ukraine-ness from that country. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, on whom Putin leans to dispense cannon fodder troops to the front lines, says that “Ukronazi trash” and “rodent pests” (i.e., Ukrainian leaders) should be “wiped from the face of the Earth.”
Talking heads on Russian state-controlled TV, along with some parliament members, have proposed drowning Ukrainian children. They also talk of killing millions of Ukrainians and turning Ukrainian children into Russians. Officials have documented at least 19,000 Ukrainian children who have been taken away to Russia, and the number could be much higher.
Ukraine has successfully charged Putin with war crimes for kidnapping children before the International Criminal Court — a separate venue from the International Court of Justice that handles cases of genocide.
Meantime, Russia systematically bombs infrastructure — electric grids, heating units, schools, hospitals, markets, hotels, pizza parlors, even blowing up a dam — and leveling whole cities such as Mariupol. I have seen unbelievable horrors with my own eyes, shattered apartment buildings nowhere near any military installation, blasted churches and shredded restaurants. All targeted to convince Ukrainians they have no alternative but to surrender to Russian rule.
That doesn’t tell us why no other country has brought a genocide case against Russia — as South Africa has done with Israel. One answer is that power talks.
“The world is afraid of the consequences of charging Russia,” argues Peter Doran of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “A lot of statesmen fear the idea of putting Putin in the dock because they want to go back to the world as it was pre-February 2022, when the Russians invaded. … But you can’t go back.”
To charge Israel and not Russia makes the genocide charge look like a political tool to bash the West rather than a search for justice in an ugly world.
Morning Briefing Newsletter
Get a rundown of the latest local and regional news every Mon-Fri morning.
