The Geneva Conventions were established in 1949, and in 2024, they will celebrate their 75th anniversary.
Quietly, I hope.
We toss around the term Geneva Conventions to indicate that we know there are some parameters within which wars are fought: there is protection for civilians, the sick, the wounded, prisoners of war, and medical and religious personnel. Acts of murder and terrorism, including collective punishment, are forbidden, as is the mistreatment of the dead.
In 1949.
It was then that the world marked the passing of the second war to end all wars by imprisoning nazi death camp supervisors and the like. The bombings of World War II had been horrific, involving more than just Hiroshima and Nagasaki's 214,000 deaths. The blitz (in England) had cost 20,000 lives—the ongoing bombing of Hamburg, Germany, 42,000; Tokyo, 100,000.
I'm not trying to give a history lesson here, and I seldom think about the Geneva Conventions since My Lai, Oklahoma City, and 9/11. But there was something particularly odious about yesterday's Israeli attack on Hezbollah, the coordinated detonation of perhaps thousands of pagers that has left twelve dead (so far) and around 3000 injured.
I'm not a fan of Hezbollah, Hamas, or any other terrorist group, though in the current climate, pointing out terrorist acts committed by Israel labels the observer an anti-Semite. Yet two children died in yesterday's attack, and though I understand that thousands of innocents have died in Gaza these past 11 months, the fact that someone gave the go-ahead to detonate all those pagers, despite knowing that there would be immense collateral damage, is appalling and repulsive. Yes, so was the October 7 massacre; two things can be true at the same time.
I've heard people say this is concerning. Can we stop using the word "concerning" to label horrible and inhumane acts? Maybe I'm concerned about whether my team will win their game next weekend. That's concerning. Maiming and disfiguring innocent bystanders is more than concerning. It's troubling. It's damnable and barbaric. Let's expand the vocabulary to match the deed.
Unfortunately, America must come down on one side or the other. The MAGA party, which could not care less about Jews (or anyone) but seems fond of Netanyahu, is using this war to pander to Jewish voters, many of whom, ironically, loathe Netanyahu to begin with. Kamala Harris has been; labeled anti-Semitic, though she promises to continue supporting Jewish interests. Her open criticism of the horrors perpetrated by both Middle Eastern factions (Bad people on both sides—like Trump's Charlottesville gaffe from 2017 in reverse) will undoubtedly (and unfairly) cost her some votes.
And amid all this, the Geneva Conventions celebrate their 75th anniversary. I don't think there will be cake.
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