During a recent visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced scrutiny over his department's differing stances on human rights abuses, specifically regarding the treatment of Uyghurs in China compared to Palestinians. Critics, including officials and journalists, questioned Blinken's rationale behind formally accusing China of genocide against the Uyghurs, a move he made early in his tenure, despite there being zero documented deaths among the Uyghur population attributed directly to genocide. In contrast, Blinken has refrained from labeling Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide, despite documented mass death in Gaza. This discrepancy has drawn criticism, with some accusing Blinken of denying Jews the right to exist in their ancestral homeland and others highlighting the rising tide of antisemitism. The debate underscores the complex geopolitical and ethical considerations in designating acts as genocide.
Unsurprisingly, Blinken doesn't have a great explanation for why one of his first actions in office was to formally accuse China of "genocide" against the Uyghurs -- despite zero documented deaths -- but "genocide" conveniently would not apply to the documented mass death in Gaza https://t.co/XjL3WqLcqI
During a visit to Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was questioned why he denounced China’s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide but does not apply the same label to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians https://t.co/dOC3NvjSRr
Blinken denying that Jews have the right to exist in their ancestral homeland of Judea & Samaria is shameful, particularly in light of the rising tide of antisemitism calling for an end to the world’s only Jewish state. Blinken & the Biden Admin should focus on defeating Hamas… https://t.co/TJfo4Psd24
Why is China’s treatment of the Uighurs an obvious case of genocide and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians nothing of the sort? A question for Blinken: https://t.co/xCZxT5VYqE https://t.co/xCZxT5VYqE
Blinken avoids answering why Uyghurs are considered a genocide and Gaza not: "We've been very clear about the Uyghurs...I had the opportunity to lay out...when it came to the Rohingya exactly why we see the genocide being perpetrated...that's simply not the case...[in] Gaza" https://t.co/my77Uymu5O