Let’s start with the apology:

I wish to express deep regret and beg forgiveness for an article I authored which was posted on 5TJT.com, Times of Israel and was tweeted and shared the world over.
I never intended to call to harm any people although my words may have conveyed that message.
With that said I pray and hope for a quick peaceful end to the hostilities and that all people learn to coexist with each other in creating a better world for us all.
Yochanan Gordon

It’s unclear what he’s apologizing for. In some way he seemed to have called to harm some people in some way?

Here’s what’s clear: HE’S SO VIRAL! His article was posted two places and then it was TWEETED AROUND THE WORLD!!! It was SHARED AROUND THE WORLD!!! He’s hotter than a pistol!

Gordon, who grew up in Brooklyn, achieved this feat by writing an op-ed blog post (not an article) on the Times of Israel site, headlined “When Genocide is Permissible.”

(By the way? Never.)

The op-ed has since been taken down, but it has been captured various places (AROUND THE WORLD!!!), such as Mediaite.

Quite often headlines, which may not be written by the authors of the pieces, don’t accurately describe the contents. Is that the case here? Is it really about when genocide’s okay?

Let’s look and see if that’s accurate. Speaking of the violence in the Gaza Strip, Gordon writes, “[T]his is a war. We are at war with an enemy whose charter calls for the annihilation of our people. Nothing, then, can be considered disproportionate when we are fighting for our very right to live.” Hmm.

Gordon says of Hamas, “What other way then is there to deal with an enemy of this nature other than to obliterate them completely?”

Well, Hamas is a political and military organization, not a people. So that’s not quite advocating genocide.

(Which is never permissible.)

Gordon says the media are all upset about the deaths of innocent people in the Gaza Strip. “But anyone who lives with rocket launchers installed or terror tunnels burrowed in or around the vicinity of their home cannot be considered an innocent civilian.”

(Not so. Consider guilty babies, for example.)

What if the civilians have no choice in relation to Hamas? That shows how awful the enemy is – “which should automatically cause the rules of standard warfare to be suspended.”

(No. Those rules are meant for warfare. That is when they are to be followed.)

He ends with a question for “all the humanitarians out there.”

“If political leaders and military experts determine that the only way to achieve its goal of sustaining quiet is through genocide is it then permissible to achieve those responsible goals?”

That’s right, he made an argument for genocide, using that very word. So the headline is fair.

In the flurry of WORLDWIDE TWEETING (Yeah, yeah, they hate you on Venus), the Times of Israel said the post was “both damnable and ignorant,” took it down, and said Gordon’s blog is now discontinued. (Almost as if they don’t think genocide is permissible.) They said it violated their editorial guidelines.

(Gordon tweeted that he was “Disappointed in Times of Israel for caving to pressure, deleting my article ‘When Genocide Is Permissible’” and posted a link to the pdf. Since then he seems to have withdrawn from Twitter.)

The other place he posted it, 5TJT.com or the 5 Towns Jewish Times, a Long Island publication founded, edited, and published by Gordon’s father Larry, also took it down. They said it “dealt with the question of genocide in a most irresponsible fashion.” Oh? Say more.

“We reject any such notion or discussion associated with even entertaining the possibility of such an unacceptable idea. The piece should have been rejected out of hand by editors but escaped their proper attention. We reject such a suggestion unequivocally and apologize for the error.”

What about Gordon’s apology, which led this post? It’s vile. He apologizes, but glides over what he’s apologizing for. You don’t see the word “genocide” in the apology.

He doesn’t take responsibility for the message his words “may have conveyed.” I think the sly boasting about his worldwide reach shows what he really cares about.

Look at that again: “I never intended to call to harm any people although my words may have conveyed that message.” No, he probably didn’t intend to lead a genocidal attack, he just suggested that… other people might… simply have to commit genocide. Because it’s the responsible thing to do.

I don’t know what will finally solve the troubles in Gaza, but I know it won’t include genocide.

Not of any people.