Media Watch: debating genocide and male circumcision
- Maggie Hall
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Maggie Hall highlights a Gaza debate and this year’s Reith Lectures as thought-provoking viewing and listening for readers interested in the words we use to describe conflict and moral change. Also featured are discussions about John Stuart Mill’s essay On Liberty and male circumcision.
Can we talk about ‘genocide’ in Gaza?
I don’t usually include YouTube content in Media Watch because, frankly, much of it is rubbish. However, this discussion, recorded last October, addresses an issue that has been widely debated – including in this magazine – namely whether Israel’s actions in Gaza can legitimately be described as ‘genocide’. I therefore thought our readers might find it of interest.
The Line is an online phone-in show that usually addresses religious and/or political topics. In this particular episode, however, a caller challenges the hosts over their use of the term ‘genocide’ in reference to Gaza, which he argues is false and damaging. The two hosts mount a vigorous defence of their position, supporting their argument with video evidence and Google Earth images.
The programme is rather long at 52 minutes, but I would strongly recommend watching it in full. If you are short of time, I suggest viewing the section from 14:00 to 20:38, where one of the hosts, Forrest Valkai, defines the term after establishing quite clearly that the caller does not understand it. There is also a useful exchange on the common conflation of the terms ‘Israel’ and ‘Jews’ (21:30 to 22:46).
The discussion becomes very heated and passionate at times, but on the whole remains rational. It would be interesting to hear your opinion, which you can share in the comments box below.
The official UN definition of genocide is here.
The 2025 Reith Lectures on BBC Radio 4
This year’s Reith Lectures, on the theme of Moral Revolution, were delivered by the Dutch historian Rutger Bregman. There is much in them that should interest humanists – and indeed anyone with an interest in current attitudes to moral issues and the direction in which the world may be headed as a result. Here are the links to the lectures:
A discussion about the lectures can be found here: The Moral Maze.
John Stuart Mill on In Our Time (BBC Radio 4)
On 15 January, Misha Glenny took over from Melvyn Bragg as presenter of In Our Time on Radio 4, and the topic was John Stuart Mill’s famous essay On Liberty. Joining him in the discussion were Helen McCabe, Professor of Political Theory at the University of Nottingham; Mark Philp, Emeritus Professor of History and Politics at the University of Warwick; and Piers Norris Turner, Associate Professor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University.
To quote from the introduction on the BBC website: ‘Misha and his guests discuss the landmark work On Liberty by John Stuart Mill, published in 1859, and the increasing recognition for his wife Harriet Taylor Mill's contribution. The subject matter of the essay is “civil or social liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual” and it argues that the sole end for which mankind may interfere with the liberty of action of anyone is self-protection and even then only to prevent harm to others. This essay became enormously popular and a foundational text for liberalism’.
Mill is also an important author for humanists and this interesting discussion could serve as a good introduction to his works for anyone approaching him for the first time.
National Secular Society in discussion on circumcision on Sunday ( BBC Radio 4)
On the Sunday morning Radio 4 programme Sunday on 18 January (10.01), Dr Alejandro Sanchez of the National Secular Society and Rabbi Jonathan Romain discussed the issue of non-therapeutic male circumcision (NTMC) with presenter Edward Stourton. The NSS has been campaigning for some years for an end to religious circumcision and The Guardian recently reported on a draft document by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which states ‘…this can be a painful and harmful practice, if carried out incorrectly or in inappropriate circumstances. It may be a form of child abuse or an offence against the person.’ Rabbi Jonathan Romain, the convener of Reform Beit Din, Progressive Judaism’s religious court, defended circumcision as an ‘enormously powerful symbolic act of identity’, but added that ‘action was needed to ensure the number of medically qualified practitioners kept pace with demographic change’.
Update: This item clearly made a significant impression on listeners to the programme as the following week’s episode on 25th January (12:38-14:38) included some responses received from listeners, including a ‘Mr Levi’, who gave his personal viewpoint as a circumcised man who feels his life has been negatively affected by the procedure. Mr Levi said that he has been driven away from Judaism because of this, and rejects Rabbi Jonathan Romain’s characterisation of him as having ‘other issues’.
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