When 'genocide' is no longer enough: Why the Palestinians are pushing 'wholocide' - analysis

A Permanent Arab Committee for Human Rights has called for the adoption of a new term, 'Wholocide,' to describe Israel's actions against Palestinians, asserting that the word 'genocide' is no longer adequate. The committee argues that the scale and nature of these actions necessitate a stronger descriptor.

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The Committee argued that Israel's actions are so extreme that the word 'genocide' is no longer strong enough.

The committee emphasized that adopting this terminology is part of broader Arab efforts to establish a shared collective memory, document alleged crimes, safeguard victims' rights to justice and redress, support legal prosecution of those responsible, and prevent impunity. Palestine's Permanent Representative to the League of Arab States, Ambassador Al-Aklouk, stated that the neologism 'Wholocide' was inspired by victims describing their experiences as akin to 'the horrors of the Day of Judgment.' He urged human rights organizations, educational institutions, and media outlets to adopt the new term.

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adopting this terminology forms part of "broader Arab efforts to establish a shared collective memory, document the crime, safeguard victims' rights to justice, redress, and remembrance, support legal efforts to prosecute those responsible, and prevent them from escaping accountability."

This initiative to introduce 'Wholocide' highlights a wider phenomenon: an escalating effort to redefine the conflict through increasingly expansive moral and historical language. The goal appears to be the international institutionalization of these narratives.

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the neologism 'Wholocide' was inspired by the "genocide victims themselves who described what they endured as being like 'the horrors of the Day of Judgment.'

Historically, the term 'genocide,' coined by Raphael Lemkin after the Holocaust, has been considered the highest crime, defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. The Palestinian narrative's use of 'genocide' is relatively recent. Prior to this, terms like 'occupation' (prominent since 1967) and 'ethnic cleansing' (gaining traction in the 1990s and 2000s) were more commonly used in Palestinian, Arab, and international discourse concerning Israel.

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The attempt at pushing a new word points to a wider phenomenon: the escalating effort to redefine the conflict through increasingly expansive moral and historical language, culminating in attempts to institutionalize those narratives internationally.