This article contains discussions of genocide, war, and civilian deaths that some readers may find distressing.
Queen’s is once again being called upon to divest from Israel, and once again, they’ve had nothing to say in response.
The University’s silence isn’t surprising—but it’s made me question my own. As a student journalist, I understand the fear of speaking out on “controversial” issues. But Tuesday marked two years since Hamas’ attack on Israel—a tragedy used to justify a full-scale genocide that’s become an attempt to erase the Palestinian people. Too many have died since Oct. 7 for silence to feel like an option.
Some will bristle at my use of the word genocide. It’s one of the most contested words in the English language—and one that many newsrooms, companies, and public figures won’t touch. Israel’s financial and media influence ensures that even the bombing of hospitals and refugee camps must be softened as “acts of war,” lest anyone risk their career by calling it what it is.
The term genocide entered international law in 1946, born from the horrors of the Holocaust. Yet even today, it’s a word without a clear arbiter—no single body decides what qualifies, leaving history’s violence filtered through politics and power.
Still, what’s happening in Palestine is unmistakable. When Palestinians are starved, denied aid, and killed by the tens of thousands, the intent to destroy a people isn’t theoretical—it’s playing out in real time.
When most people hear “genocide” or “the Holocaust,” they think of Nazi Germany and the murder of Europe’s Jewish population. But fewer remember what came before: the Armenian Genocide of 1915–16. In 1939, as Hitler prepared to invade Poland, he reminded his generals of the world’s selective memory, asking, “Who, after all, is today speaking of the destruction of the Armenians?”
Violence breeds violence—it’s a vicious cycle fueled by money, power, and hate. When we stay silent about destruction and genocide, we prove Hitler right. We live in a world where videos of bombed Palestinian children appear between puppy clips and makeup tutorials. The only way out is to stop flinching from the truth—and call a genocide what it is.
For institutions like Queen’s, silence is easier—but it’s also complacency. As Desmond Tutu said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” The more people willing to name what’s happening in Palestine as genocide, the stronger the call for action becomes.
Journal alum Omer El Akkad, ArtSci ’05, writes in his 2025 novel One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This that one day—when the violence is over and it’s no longer controversial—everyone will condemn Gaza’s destruction. Until then, citizens and institutions like Queen’s will keep looking away.
No more euphemisms. No more silence. Distance doesn’t dull grief. As John Donne wrote, “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.” No life is worth more than another—and it’s time we started acting like it.
Genocide denial is moral failure; a choice to which anyone who is silent can be held accountable for when it’s too late for anything to be done. It’s harder to get away with crimes against humanity if humanity condemns you in return.
Eva is a fourth-year English and History student and one of The Journal’s Features Editors.
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Ahmed
A genocide requires intent… Israels need of responding in war against a party (Hamas) that has no military bases but instead dresses as civilians to use them as human shields (a war crime) and store military equipment in hospitals and schools (a war crime) cannot be considered fulfilling the intent to commit genocide. If you actually care about Muslims and your intention is not to single out the one Jewish state, why not address what is happening in China to the Muslims, which actually fulfils the mens rea component of genocide. Or October 7, another genocide with a clear intention to kill all of the Jews in Israel stated by the perpetrators themselves?