9/1/2025–|Last updated: 1/9/202507:36 PM (Mecca time)
US Secretary of State Anthony Biden says – according to a report on the Tel Aviv Tribune English website – that his country’s government decided that the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces and the militias allied with them committed genocide in their war against the Sudanese Armed Forces that broke out in April 2023.
Blinken pointed out that 638,000 Sudanese are suffering from the worst famine in the modern history of Sudan, more than 30 million people are in need of humanitarian aid, and tens of thousands of deaths, considering these as reasons that justified this decision.
While Blinken used harsh terms in his criticism of the Rapid Support Forces and its leader, Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, “Hemedti,” the US administration continued to defend its ally, Israel, and its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, against similar accusations of genocide.
Isn’t the definition of genocide universally agreed upon?
Yes, it is so.
As defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide is acts aimed at “the destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnical, racial, racial or religious group.”
Under the same Convention, these acts include killing members of the group, causing serious physical or mental harm to them, intentionally subjecting the group to living conditions intended to bring it to its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures aimed at preventing birth within the group and forcibly transferring its children to another group.
But Blinken did not mention the Genocide Convention.
Why didn’t the United States use this agreement?
This matter is not clear, according to a report on the Tel Aviv Tribune English website.
Blinken has made several indications of the “racial” nature of what he described as the systematic killing of men and boys, including infants.
It was also stated that the Rapid Support Forces “deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence,” all of which human rights groups and international bodies have accused Israel of on numerous occasions.
Then, the rape and sexual violence that Blinken pointed to as reasons to conclude that the RSF are committing genocide are the same ones that have been repeatedly documented as weapons used by Israeli forces against Palestinians.
Didn’t the United States say that Israel is not committing genocide?
indeed.
To date, many human rights organizations and international actors have accused Israel of war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, while the United States has consistently defended its ally.
In November 2024, US President Joe Biden described the International Criminal Court’s issuance of arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Galant on charges of committing war crimes as an “outrageous” decision.
The United States has equally criticized – and in strong terms – other international measures aimed at stopping the Israeli attack on Gaza.
In December 2023, South Africa filed a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice against Israel for committing genocide in Gaza, and more than 10 other countries have since joined it.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby claimed – in January – that this issue was “completely baseless.”
The United States tried to reject the findings of Amnesty International, which said in December that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, joining many other human rights organizations that said the same thing.
How comprehensive is the evidence that the United States rejects?
Too many.
In addition to the more than 45,936 people killed by Israel in Gaza, there are many accounts of ethnic cleansing, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, as well as the systematic torture, sexual assault and rape of Palestinians by Israeli forces.
In October, the United States issued a 30-day “ultimatum” to Israel that it must do more to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, which was starving under Israeli bombing.
A month later, while famine was imminent in northern Gaza as a result of the Israeli “siege within the siege” and its continued denial of aid, Secretary Blinken chose not to do anything in his ultimatum to Israel.
However, his administration has acknowledged that few, if any, of the ultimatum conditions for increased aid have been met.
What else did the United States do?
In late December, the United States went further, reportedly ordering the withdrawal of a report that concluded that the Israeli blockade of northern Gaza had led to the famine that aid agencies had long warned about.
Meanwhile, in July, the Israeli authorities found a reason to investigate 10 soldiers involved in the mass rape of Palestinian prisoners in detention centers.
However, the United States seemed content to express “concern” about Israel’s actions, used its veto power in the UN Security Council to block calls for a ceasefire four times, and did not take any action against its ally.
Earlier this year, the current US administration announced plans to sell additional weapons worth $8 billion to Israel, with which President Biden will crown his term, which is about to end.
