If it ever had the right to exist, Israel lost it by becoming a racist, apartheid state that teaches children that all Palestinians must be killed - and delivers
"Israeli society is a copy of Nazism. Children’s head is stuffed with 'bad Arabs'. They're transformed into paranoids from a master race, like Hitler Youth“, Israeli historian Moshe Zimmermann
As the IDF started to “turn Gaza into a deserted island“ - as Israeli prime minister vowed in October - 94% of Israelis thought that their army is using firepower that is ‘appropriate’ (36.6%) or ‘too little’ (57.5%), while only 1.8% felt it is was a bit “too much”.
The percentage might be that high because, at the same time, 83.4% of Israeli Jews didn’t think that “Israel should take into consideration the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza”. Along that lines, 68% of them opposed “the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza residents”, thus supporting starvation policies.
“We gotta wipe them off the fucking map, flatten them like a parking lot! Once and for all get rid of them!“, one Israeli citizen told the camera. “Now is the time to erase Gaza. We need to kill all of them“, advised another.
“The only innocent people in Gaza now are the hostages. One they go back to Israel we will bomb all the hospitals and kill them all. It’s about time“, an elderly lady promised. And she is not alone with the idea of bombing hospitals; a group of influential rabbis wrote a letter to Benjamin Netanyahu affirming Israel's right under Jewish law to bomb Al-Shifa.
Heck, even the Israeli children were singing for the “annihilation” of Gaza - on national television! “Autumn night falls over the beach of Gaza. Planes are bombing; destruction, destruction… Look, the IDF is crossing the line to annihilate the swastika bearers. In another year there will be nothing there and we will return safely to our homes. Within a year we will annihilate everyone and then we will return to plough our fields.”
Unfortunately, the Israeli children are - as shown in a video from a classroom - systematically thought to"pity" non-religious Jews, "want to kill" Arabs and that "a great war will come in which all Arabs will be destroyed". When asked how they envision Jerusalem in 10 years, they answer: "Everyone will be believers (Jews), and Arabs will be slaves", which is rewarded by their teacher’s applause.
The politicians weren’t holding back neither. “Eliminate the Muslim Nazis in Gaza. We have to pick up the pace. If I had made the decision … I would have … given the order to cover all these hundreds of ants (with dirt), while they were still alive. They are not human beings and not human animals, they are subhuman and that is how they should be treated“, proclaimed the deputy mayor of Jerusalem Arieh King.
A member of Knesset - and former Israeli Minister of Information - Gal Distel voiced similar appeals: “Hate the enemy. Hate the monsters … Invest this energy in one thing: erasing all of Gaza from the face of Earth … A vengeful and cruel IDF in needed here. Anything less is immoral, just unethical.“
But this sort of wording is nothing new or unusual in the Israeli public discourse. Former Netanyahu officials, like deputy defense minister Ben Dahan reffered to Palestinians as “beasts“, while ex-justice minister Ayelet Shaked called for death to all “terrorists“, stating: “They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.” She also added that all mothers “should follow their sons“ into death.
“Those who are against us, there's nothing to be done; we need to pick up an axe and cut off his head”, proposed Avigdor Lieberman, former Israel's foreign minister. Netanyahu, however, used to be a little more gentile in this regard. “Beat them up! Not once, but repeatedly. Beat them up so it hurts so badly, until it's unbearable“, he called in a leaked tape from 2001.
When a Sky News journalist asked ex-Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett:"What about the babies in incubators in Gaza who's life support has been turned off because the Israelis have cut off the power", he couldn’t believe his ears. “Are you serious asking about Palestinian civilians? What's wrong with you?”, Bennet responded.
After October 7th, Netanyahu’s rhetoric took a darker turn… “This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle“, he wrote on social media, later reiterating that “this is a battle of the forces of civilization against the forces of barbarism.“
When announcing the ground invasion of Gaza, the prime minister warned: "You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible."In the Bible, God commanded total eradication of the Amalekites, as punishment for their sins, by saying: "Now go and smite Amalek, utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass."
The IDF soldiers, as expected, obeyed this command and could be seen cheering: “I’m coming to occupy Gaza … to wipe off the seed of Amalek!“ Next month, in November, the #1 song in the Israeli music charts was Charbu Darbu. It calls for genocide against Palestinians, calling them "rats and sons of Amalek", and invites the Israeli military to kill "terrorists Bella Hadid, Dua Lipa and Mia Khalifa".
Israeli snipers also jumped on the bandwagon, by killing the “Amalek” sheep in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu also promised to “realize the prophecy of Isaiah”, which is one of the messianic Old Testament prophecies cited by Evangelical Christian preachers who see Israel as a precursor to Armageddon. Namely, many Christian Zionists believe that the Gathering of Israel is a prerequisite for the final coming of the Christian messiah, after which a portion of Jews will convert and the majority of Jews will be killed and condemned to Hell.
Authors of Religion Dispatches have described Christian Zionism as "one of the largest antisemitic movements in the world today", while Haaretz writer Joshua Shanes condemned CUFI founder John Hagee for promoting an "apocalyptic and deeply antisemitic worldview" and promoting some of the "most dangerous myths of the modern era." Hagee said that Hitler was sent by God to murder Jews who refused to emigrate to Israel, and described the Antichrist as a "half-Jew homosexual".
Of course, conservative Christians are amongst the strongest supporters of the State of Israel in the United States. With 7.1 million members, Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is the largest Zionist organization in the US. It is estimated that about 30 to 35% (90 to 100 million people) of the U.S. population is evangelical.
Therefore, the same Biblical prophecies are integral for the American politicians, who often shape their policies within those lines. For instance, Sen. Todd Young reminded the public that "many people of faith" view the very existence of Israel as "evidence of divine providence", whereas Goes the "isolationists" - whomever that might be - seek to "abandon" Israel, as well as Ukraine and Taiwan.
Ron DeSantis says his support for Israel comes from his “faith in God" and from “walking with a Bible in his hand and standing where David and Jesus stood”. He also boasts that he's the "most pro-Israel governor", while declaring Israel does "not occupy" any Palestinian territory.
The House Speaker Mike Johnson told a gathering of "pro-Israel" donors he personally assured Netanyahu that Congress will back the war "unwaveringly, till the end" "As a Christian, we believe the Bible teaches very clearly that we're to stand with Israel" Johnson said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, however, put it most bluntly: “We’re in a religious war here, I am with Israel. Do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself… Level the place!“
But gods are not the only thing that separates Jews and Arabs in Israel; it’s also apartheid. Four mayor human rights organisations - United Nations, B’Tselem, Amnesty International and Humans Right Watch - confirmed this.
“For 75 years, the Israeli government has maintained a military occupation over Palestinians, operating an apartheid regime. Palestinian children are dragged from their beds in pre-dawn raids by Israeli soldiers and held without charge in Israeli military prisons. Palestinians homes are torched by mobs of Israeli settlers, or destroyed by the Israeli army. Entire Palestinian villages are forced to flee, abandoning the homes and orchards and land that were in their family for generations“, read a statement from the Jewish Voice for Peace.
The organisation also pointed out that “the Israeli government may have just declared war, but its war on Palestinians started over 75 years ago”. “Israeli apartheid and occupation — and United States complicity in that oppression — are the source of all this violence … For the past year, the most racist, fundamentalist, far-right government in Israeli history has ruthlessly escalated its military occupation over Palestinians in the name of Jewish supremacy with violent expulsions and home demolitions, mass killings, military raids on refugee camps, unrelenting siege and daily humiliation. In recent weeks, Israeli forces repeatedly stormed the holiest Muslim sites in Jerusalem … Inevitably, oppressed people everywhere will seek — and gain — their freedom.”
And the thing about apartheid is that - it lingers. By treating a people as unequals, they become just that.
It is very well depicted in many pols. For instance, one analysis found that “over two-thirds of Israeli teens believe Arabs to be less intelligent, uncultured and violent”. The report becomes even grimmer, citing the ACRI's racism poll, taken in March 2007, in which 50% of Israelis taking part said they “would not live in the same building as Arabs, will not befriend, or let their children befriend Arabs and would not let Arabs into their homes."
Another study, conducted by the Israeli Democracy Institute in March 2022., revealed that 60 per cent of Jewish Israelis want segregation from Palestinian citizens of Israel. There was also a poll among Jewish high schoolers in which half of them said Arabs shouldn’t have a right to vote. On the other - or same - hand: almost half of Israeli Jews don't want Arabs teaching their kids.
Yet another presented that over half of respondents said they agreed to some extent with the statement: “Most Jews are better than most non-Jews because they were born Jews.” Another 88% of respondents said they would be disturbed to some degree if their son were to befriend an Arab girl. The number climbed to 90% when respondents were asked about their daughter befriending an Arab boy.
Of course, this is only normal for a country that doesn’t allow interreligious marriage to be performed withing its boarders. There is also a law that says that if an Israeli marries a Palestinian, or someone from another Arab country, that person isn’t allowed to move in with his/hers Israeli spouse.
To fortify the apartheid, in 2018. Israel passed a law that says that “the right to exercise national self-determination, i.e. have rights, is the exclusive right of Jews“.
All of this is very well known to Palestinians living in Hebron who had to build fences above their streets because Israelis throw their garbage, plastic bags filled with urine or acid there. They also throw stones, breaking Palestinians’ cars and hurting children. And they do so with the protection of Israeli occupation troops, who watch the attacks from their guard towers.
Also, Israel has segregated roads for Jews only. That means that an Arab cannot walk somewhere where a Jew can. This was summed up really neatly by Israeli minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir. "My right, my wife's right, my child's right to move around freely on the roads of Judea and Smeria is more important than the right of movement of the Arabs", he described apartheid perfectly.
“What Israel is doing is much worse than apartheid. To call it apartheid is a gift to Israel, at least if by ‘apartheid’ you mean South African-style apartheid. What’s happening in the Occupied Territories is much worse. There’s a crucial difference. The South African Nationalists needed the black population It was 85 percent of the workforce of the population, and that was basically their workforce. They needed them … The Israeli relationship to the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories is totally different. They just don’t want them. They want them out, or at least in prison. And they’re acting that way”, Noam Chomsky once explained.
This is particularly true regarding Gaza, as for last 16 years the Israeli government has suffocated Palestinians in the strip under a draconian air, sea and land military blockade, imprisoning and starving two million people and denying them medical aid. The IDF routinely massacres Palestinians in Gaza; ten-year-olds who live in Gaza have already been traumatized by seven major bombing campaigns in their short lives.
As Gazans are “out of sight and out of mind“ - with the Israeli national propaganda depicting them as terrorists and subhuman - an interesting phenomena developed during the ongoing conflict. Namely, the Israeli public started a trend of mocking the suffering of Palestinians and posting it online.
To be frank, this is not a totally new practice. For instance, Israelis have a tradition of coming to hill tops to watch the bombardment of Gaza, bringing along chairs and sofas, exclaiming of joy as the death toll of Palestinians rises. Large crowds of Israelis also gathered on the streets and openly celebrated the mass murder of civilians in Gaza during their 2014. assault.
In 2024. the same crowd is cheering from their balconies at the sound of bombing or decides to hold a party while blocking humanitarian aid from entering the Strip. To demonstrate their full commitment to the goal of starving Palestinians to death, Israelis took to Telegram to make fun of Yazan Al-Kafarna, a 9-year-old Palestinian boy with cerebral palsy, who was tragically killed due to the compounded effects of malnutrition and a lack of access to essential medical supplies, including food and oxygen. The internet warriors made fun of photos that were captured of the boy in his final moments on this earth.
But the Jewish Israeli did not find pleasure only in ridiculing the dead. So, a viral video trend emerged of mocking Palestinians taken captive and tortured by the IDF soldiers. It was inspired by a footage of a group of Palestinians being forced to listen to a children’s song on repeat for hours and hours. After seeing it - and, obviously, enjoying it - Israeli journalist Yinon Magal filmed his kids acting as the detainees, with the music playing in the background. It soon spread like wildfire.
It gained so much momentum that the singer of the song Meni Mamtera was then brought to an Israeli army base to perform. Another popular artist, Moshiko Mor, also visited the soldiers and performed. “Who doesn’t have water, food and electricity? Gaza! … Who is going to live in tents? Gaza! Air force bombed the buildings down“, he sang, as the troops carried him on their shoulders.
Chants were also invented by the Isreaeli mothers, teaching their children "to destroy Gaza". “Missile after missile … we will destroy Gaza! … Our army is coming for you, we will make you evaporate! We will eliminate you all!“, went the lyrics, as the kids merrily went along.
A common theme on the Israeli social media was also bragging about enjoying access to electricity and running water, casually acknowledging that the Palestinians in Gaza have been enduring a harsh Israeli blockade for the past 15 years.
Jokes have also been made on the theme of ethnic cleansing. For instance, there is a video of an Israeli soldier knocking on a door of a destroyed building, wondering: "Why don't they open the door?" Israel's Channel 14 also decided that it would be funny to air a skit about how reducing Gaza to rubble can be a real estate development opportunity. As the army bulldozed houses, the guests in the studio laughed about a “discount“ that the soldier offered.
That the settles started to feel like home in Gaza was also depicted by the way they handled their physiological needs. For example, they have stripped Palestinian prisoners naked, murdered them and used them as a urinal, peeing on their corpses. When it came to number two, the Occupation Forces soldiers filmed themselves placing a prayer mat by a toilet, stepping over it and shitting inside a bag.
The soldiers even started taking care of the animals in Gaza. One of them, while approaching goats, called them over by saying: “These are the only uninvolved civilians in Gaza. We are taking care of them. Come here Fatima!” On the other hand, regarding the “involved“ civilians, another technique was used. Namely, they tied dead Palestinians to ropes and dragged them around with tanks.
The rest of civilians - women and children - were tormented in another way. While passing a checkpoint with a camera and facial recognition, a loudspeaker was harassing Palestinian refugees as they are forced to flee their homes: “Khaled Mashal did you send your suit to the dry cleaning today?”, was one of the hilarious Israeli jokes.
The men weren’t so lucky. Dozens of them packed in a bus, with hands tied behind their back and blindfolded, were filmed by a soldier who made say they were “very afraid“ and promise to be"slaves forever" who want “to work for them in sewage and gardening”.
But the real depravity of the IDF soldiers was unveiled in February, when Haaretz published a piece on how the army was directly running the Telegram channel 72 Virgins, which posted extremely graphic daily content from the front to glorify war crimes against Palestinians. It included snuff videos of beheading Palestinians and running them over.
An October 11th post read: “Burning their mother… You won't believe the video we got! You can hear their bones crunch. We'll post it right away, get ready.” Photos of Palestinian men captured by the IDF in the Strip and the bodies of Palestinians were captioned: "Exterminating the roaches… exterminating the Hamas rats… Share this beauty." On October 14, alongside the caption "Exclusive video of a good night, don't forget to share and repost" was a video of an Israeli vehicle repeatedly driving over the body of a Palestinian. “Very good, Gershon!!! Run him over run him over!!!! Screw the bastards! Flatten them,” the accompanying text read.
So, how has this treatment reflect on the Palestinian society? In September 2022. the majority in Gaza and the West Bank preferred “negotiations” or "peaceful popular resistance" as a means of resolving their issue with Israel. In December 2023. the majority favored "armed struggle".
A 2022. report by a group Save the Children pointed out that “there is no such thing as a post traumatic stress disorder in Gaza because the trauma in the enclave is continuous”. It also stated that the psychological wellbeing of children in Gaza at “alarmingly low levels“.
In October 2023. Reuters wrote:"Gaza children ... have started to develop serious trauma symptoms such as convulsions, bed-wetting, fear, aggressive behaviour, nervousness, and not leaving their parents’ sides."
Of course, this is nothing new. A 2005. study that was published in the Journal of World Psychiatry, looking at the traumatized populations under war conditions, found that the Gaza children are worse off in this regard. This is before Hamas was elected to rule.
“This population has been traumatized severely. Of course they’re full of rage! I’m not justifying anything they did, but I’m saying: ‘What do we expect from this population that has been suppressed and tormented and crucified for decades?”, Gabor Mate, a physician and one of the best-selling author on the subject of trauma, asked the interviewer.
Mate, a holocaust survivor of Jewish descent, also pointed out that “most Israelis are simply not aware“ of the “illegal, brutal, inhumane and rapacious occupation“. “I’ve been to Israel and talked to people. They have no idea what is happening a few miles away from where they’re sitting in Tel Aviv and having coffee, how that people, who are under occupation, are living“, Mate recalled.
“Anybody who said ‘occupation corrupts‘ was absolutely right. We are occupying West Bank and the Gaza Strip for the last 25 years and this is corrupting us“, was a warning of the Israeli Major General Mattityahu Peled from 1992. Peled was a member of the General Staff during the Six-Day War of 1967., a notable scholar who headed the Arabic Language and Literature Department of Tel Aviv University and a member of the Knesset.
“There is a whole segment of Israeli society that is a copy of Nazism. The children’s head is stuffed with 'bad Arabs', antisemitism, how everyone is against us. They're transformed into paranoids from a master race, exactly like Hitler Youth“, noticed Moshe Zimmermann, an Israeli historian and director of the Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
“I saw In Auschwitz that if a dominant group wants to dehumanise others, as the Nazis dehumanise me, the dominant group must first dehumanise themselves, the same holds nowadays for Israel. I am appalled about how hateful, how dehumanised, that they do not see any human aspect in any Palestinian anymore. The Zionists have no right whatsoever to use the Holocaust for any purpose, they have given up everything which has to do with humanity and with empathy”, witnessed Hajo Meyer, a Jewish physicist, Holocaust survivor and political activist.
In a conversation between the film directors James Cameron and George Lucas, the former pointed out how in Star Wars “the good guys are the rebels” who are “using asymmetric warfare against a highly organized empire”. ”I think we call those guys terrorists today. We call them mujahideen and Al-Qaeda“, Cameron argued.
"When I did it they were Vietcong. (It was about) fighting the largest empire in the world and we’re just a bunch of hayseeds, coonskin hats that don’t know nothing … The irony of that one is that in both of those the little guys won and the big highly technical empire lost. That was the whole point", Lucas responded.