BOTH the Tory Party and Labour have responded to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) case on possible genocide by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza by trying to ban or shout down anyone using the “G-word” — genocide.

This definitely isn’t because they are precious about calling things “genocide” or any worry that the term could be devalued; the top members of both parties have been very free to call “genocide” in the much less sure case of the Uighurs in China.

South Africa made a case at the ICJ that the IDF’s war is not just a response to the Hamas-led massacre of Israelis on October 7 2023. Instead, the IDF’s actions are “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group […] in the Gaza Strip.”