Indonesian diplomat Aloysius Selwas Taborat recently responded to our article titled “Indonesia’s cabinet secretary is sanitizing genocide in Gaza.” His response argues that our criticism of Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya misrepresents a factual observation about declining casualty numbers and misunderstands the realities of diplomacy.

The disagreement, however, is not about statistics or the complexity of diplomacy. It concerns how mass civilian suffering is framed in public discourse.

Mr. Taborat argues that recognizing declining casualty figures simply reflects factual observation and may suggest that diplomacy is helping reduce hostilities. According to his reasoning, acknowledging that deaths have decreased from tens of thousands to lower figures does not imply that remaining casualties are acceptable but rather indicates that diplomatic efforts may be producing results.

This interpretation is deeply problematic.

A reduction in the rate of killing does not necessarily demonstrate diplomatic success, nor does it alter the nature of the violence itself. When allegations of genocide are being seriously debated within international legal and scholarly arenas, presenting a decline in killings as evidence of progress risks normalizing the continued destruction of civilian life.

The key question is not whether fewer people are dying than before, but whether the structures that enabled mass civilian killing remain in........

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