Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 April 23

= April 23 =

Has Saudi Arabia been committing a genocide in Yemen????
With the recent news that Greece is providing its new ally Saudi Arabia with Patriot Air Defence System in the latest act of military cooperation between the two countries, I came across someone claiming that Saudi Arabia has been committing a genocide with its armed intervention in the ongoing civil war in Yemen during the past few years. Is there any evidence supporting such a claim? If so, which specific ethnic/religious group are the Saudis trying to destroy? StellarHalo (talk) 06:03, 23 April 2021 (UTC)
 * There are no clear estimates available for the enormous number of civilian casualties, but whatever the number, the Saudi government can always claim they were collateral damage, whereas, to be considered genocide, such killing requires intent. --Lambiam 11:02, 23 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Genocide is a crime against humanity, and as a crime, it generally takes courts and lawyers and judges and tribunals and stuff like that to decide if any particular action by any particular person, group, or country counts as a genocide. That's not for this reference desk to speculate.  -- Jayron 32 11:10, 23 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The Saudi government (and others) fight against the Houthis (and others). "The Houthi movement is a predominately Zaidi Shia force". Is it genocide? Can a genocide happen in the 21st century before the world's eyes? --Error (talk) 14:21, 23 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The Darfur genocide has lead to indictments for genocide. The Rohingya genocide and Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL have been recognised as genocide by various parts of the UN. Nil Einne (talk) 15:19, 23 April 2021 (UTC)

The Houthi movement is pretty wannabe-genocidal itself, if you look at the Slogan of the Houthi movement. I'm not sure how sympathetic I am towards those who want to commit genocide, but can't do so due to lack of military strength... AnonMoos (talk) 23:27, 23 April 2021 (UTC)
 * To be scrupulously fair, the slogan may sound worse in translation than intended in the original Arabic. In English, we sometimes contrast "Down with X" not with "Up with X" but rather with "Long live X." In a similar vein, according to our relevant article, the Arabic term often translated literally by non-Arabic media (who may have an agenda) as "Death to X" has a colloquial meaning more akin to "Down with X."
 * I'm personally less sanguine about the "Curse on the Jews" part, having Jewish relatives (and possibly ancestry) myself, but the doctrinal and political history involved is nothing if not confused. We must also be cautious about conflating the political Houthi Movement with the ethnic Houthi Tribe. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.219.35.136 (talk) 09:52, 24 April 2021 (UTC)