To determine which of the options fails to meet the legal definition of a mass atrocity, it's important to clarify the definitions of each term:
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Crimes Against Humanity: These are serious offenses committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, including murder, extermination, enslavement, and torture.
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Genocide: This refers specifically to acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.
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War Crimes: These are serious violations of the laws and customs of war, including acts such as killing civilians or prisoners of war, taking hostages, and unnecessary destruction of property.
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Ethnic Cleansing: While not a legally defined term in the same way as the others, it generally involves the deliberate removal or extermination of an ethnic group from a particular territory. It is often associated with acts of genocide or crimes against humanity.
From this analysis, while all listed options can involve mass atrocities, ethnic cleansing is not legally defined and may not meet the specific legal criteria of mass atrocity in the same sense as the others, which are explicitly defined in international law. Therefore, the response that fails to meet the legal definition of a mass atrocity is ethnic cleansing.