Why is this board trying to downplay the Gazan genocide?

That may have been a concern at first, but as Kimstu and I have shown there is no reasonable doubt that this is genocide, no matter which definition you want to use. UN agencies, Human Rights organisations and genocide experts all agree that it is a genocide.

You’ve banned the word genocide in the main thread discussing said genocide, how can that not be “putting (y)our fingers on the scales”.

So moderate those posters. If they can’t obey the rules when discussing the issue then deal with them appropriately. If they want to argue the definition then that discussion can move to another thread.

Again, banning discussion over the definition in the thread would be fine. This however is more like saying that you can’t refer to a shooting as a shooting, because some posters might turn it into a gun control debate.