“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.
Biden needs to green-light the Ukrainian use of western weapons on targets inside Russia. The US is still tying Ukraine’s hands in the third year of this war! If Russia didn’t want to be shot at, they should not have invaded. This has gone on for much too long.
I wonder if Putin would ever relent, or if they would have to essentially siege Moscow and St. P to get an agreement?
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.
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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.
How exactly?
The Dome of the Rock is not in Gaza, it’s in the West Bank, and in excellent shape: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Rock
Designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, it has been called “Jerusalem’s most recognizable landmark”[9] along with two nearby Old City structures: the Western Wall and the “Resurrection Rotunda” in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.[10] Its Islamic inscriptions proved to be a milestone, as afterward they became a common feature in Islamic structures and almost always mention Muhammad.[1] The Dome of the Rock remains a “unique monument of Islamic culture in almost all respects”, including as a “work of art and as a cultural and pious document”, according to art historian Oleg Grabar.[11]
Gaza itself isn’t what you’d call a cultural touchstone, it’s just an autonomous zone run by its duly elected government named: (*checks notes) Hamas? That doesn’t sound right.
But hey, if you’re really pissed off, tell Egypt to re-open their border crossings, might help ease the suffering.
The reason they haven’t is because the last time someone was nice to the Palestinians, we had https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September
The PLO’s strength grew, and by early 1970, leftist groups within the PLO began calling for the overthrow of Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy, leading to violent clashes in June 1970. Hussein hesitated to oust them from the country, but continued PLO activities in Jordan culminated in the Dawson’s Field hijackings of 6 September 1970. This involved the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) seizing three civilian passenger flights and forcing their landing in the Jordanian city of Zarqa, where they took foreign nationals as hostages and blew up the planes in front of international press. Hussein saw this as the last straw and ordered the Jordanian Army to take action.[10]
Jordan allowed the fedayeen to relocate to Lebanon via Syria, where they later became involved in the Lebanese Civil War. The Palestinian Black September Organization was founded after the conflict to carry out attacks against Jordanian authorities in response to the fedayeen’s expulsion; their most notable attack was the assassination of Jordanian prime minister Wasfi Tal in 1971, as he had commanded parts of the military operations against the fedayeen. The following year, the organization shifted its focus to attacking Israeli targets and carried out the Munich massacre against Israeli athletes. Though the events of Black September did not reflect a Jordanian–Palestinian divide, as there were Jordanians and Palestinians on both sides of the conflict, it paved the way for such a divide to emerge subsequently.[12]
Not great neighbors to have.
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.
The Council of Europe is a bunch of wanks that’d declare their own grandmother a genocide if they’d think it’d help Ukraine without them having to actually lift a finger
no, because according to the other site Israel are the “good guys”.
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.
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.
Every single time white people have to try to steal the spotlight.
How dare Ukrainians not want to checks notes be genocided by their much larger neighbor!
That’s nice dear. They’re receiving more support than all other genocide victims.
Declared genocide but where are the ML to pretend it’s not happening?
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.
