Former AP correspondent Matti Friedman says the accusation that Israel is committing “genocide” was not created by the way Israel fought the war in Gaza. According to Friedman, the narrative had already been prepared before Hamas carried out the October 7 massacre.
Friedman said the same “machinery of condemnation” was already visible in essays he wrote in 2014, when international NGOs, major media outlets and the UN system promoted a similar narrative against Israel on a smaller scale.
He pointed to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and UN institutions as organizations that were already positioned to supply the accusations and shape international coverage.
Friedman also noted that by the evening of October 7 itself—before Israel had launched its military response—protesters in Western countries were already accusing Israel of genocide.
