Dr. Port: Yeah, it’s not the first time. So for those of you who can’t see, um, Dan has written, “You say never again, but Germany supports Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. How do you reconcile that hypocrisy?”
I would say this, I used to be, I used to react to the Germans say, very allegedly to this claim that the Israelis were committing genocide in Israel. The more I did research and the more I learned about the UN genocide convention, I certainly can see why some people would make the case. And I’m not going to comment on that whether or not I do think it’s, um, it’s genocide. Um, but it is certainly a legitimate, um, question is, is it hypocrisy? Well, you know, I, I think, um, it’s not something that I Iooked at. I focused on Cambodia, on Bosnia, and Rwanda and I think it would be very interesting for someone to examine how Germans, uh, talk about it. Yeah, obviously work has been done on this and you know, Dirk Moses with this German catechism that he published, which led to a major debate has brought this topic out into the open. I, l, l think there’s a lot to be. So there is a hypocrisy. Well, you know Germans are in a very difficult position there and you can imagine, you can imagine what it would be like for the Germans to accuse Israelis of genocide, and l think we have to have an understanding for, for the past and for the, the difficult situation you know they face.”
[Dr. Port] displayed bravery in going out of script and expressing his thoughts on a challenging topic — is Israel committing genocide against the Palestinian people? My observation is that he was slightly equivocal, wanting to let the audience know that, by UN Genocide Convention, Article II, the charge is true but not willing to state his agreement. The question remains bogged in debate and polemical exercises that resolve nothing. Genocide never receives agreement until the deadly crime has culminated Then comes the usual soul searching, accusations, recriminations, and a chorus of, “Who can predict the future,” followed by “never again,” and followed by a genocide happening again.
