Extremist Rhetoric Becomes the Norm in Israeli Politics
Netanyahu has called the current war in Gaza a holy war
Zvika Fogel, a member of Itamar Ben-Gvir’s ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party, told an Israeli news station that there should be a “final war” that “subdues them [Palestinians] once and for all.”
“It would be worth it because this will be the final war,” he said. “And after that, we can sit and raise doves and all the other beautiful birds that exist.”
The tone of the remark is not unusual in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Knesset. But Fogel’s comment was made in January, and, since the 7 October Hamas attack, the inflammatory rhetoric has just gotten more extreme.
Yoav Gallant, the head of the country’s military, was criticized in the early days after the invasion when he said Israel was “fighting human animals” and would have to act accordingly.
The New York Times, which compiled a list of some of the incendiary comments, also quoted Naftali Bennett, the former prime minister, who said, “We’re fighting Nazis.”
Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, the coordinator of government in the territories, said days after the Hamas attack, “Hamas became ISIS and the citizens of Gaza are celebrating instead of being horrified. Human beasts are dealt with accordingly. Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza: no electricity, no water, just damage. You wanted hell—you will get hell.”
TRENDPOST: Bennett, who is considered even more extreme than Netanyahu, has become one of the faces of Israel’s response to the Hamas attack and has tried to present himself as a rational actor. But in 2013, he said Palestinians are terrorists that should be “killed, not released.”
In 2018, Bennett said Israeli forces should have a “shoot to kill” policy, including for minors.
Remember Amalek
Netanyahu has called the current war in Gaza a holy war and said during a recent press conference that Israelis would do well to remember “what Amalek has done to you.”
The Times, citing scholars, reported that the comment was meant as a call to exterminate their “men and women, children, and infants.”
Moshe Feiglin, a former member of the Israeli Knesset, said in an interview in October that Israel has yet to even the score with Hamas because it did not burn Gaza down to the ground.
“We have to realize that the fact that 18 days have passed since then and we still have not revenged, in a biblical way, and have not caused all of our neighbors and all the antisemites all over the world … we have lost the basic right of every Jew on the globe to exist,” he told Israel’s Arutz Sheva-Israel National News. “And this is because we did not burn Gaza to ashes immediately, immediately! And even worse than that. We have invited the Americans to come. We didn’t do this in 1948, in 1956, in 1967 or in 1973. Thanks to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] Bibi we have created a Banana Republic here under the wings of America.”
TRENDPOST: Amir Weitmann, the head of the libertarian caucus in Israel’s Likud Party, appeared on Russia’s RT last month and expressed his outrage at Russia’s stance on the war since fighting broke out.
Russia has been critical of Israel’s response to the Hamas attack and has accused Netanyahu of killing an unnecessarily high number of civilians.
“Russia is supporting the enemies of Israel. Russia is supporting Nazi people who want to commit genocide on us and Russia will pay the price,” Weitmann said, according to Newsweek. “We’re gonna win this war. Afterwards, we’re not forgetting what you’re doing, we’re not forgetting, we will come, we will make sure Ukraine wins. We will make sure that you pay the price for what you have done, you as Russia.”
TRENDPOST: Genocide is defined: the deliberate killing of many people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.
Craig Mokhiber, the head of the UN’s human rights office in New York, said there has been a “wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist settler colonial ideology.”
Mokhiber, who has reached retirement age, announced he will step down from his position and said the UN is failing in its mission.
“Once again we are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes and the organization we serve appears powerless to stop it,” he said.
Amichai Eliyahu, Israel’s Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister who said in an interview that a nuclear strike is an option for Gaza since there are no innocent civilians, also said Israeli settlements in Gaza should be reestablished after the war ends.
Israeli officials have not held back when considering the future of Gaza.
Norman Finkelstein, the Palestine scholar, posted some of the remarks on his Substack page.
“We need to put them [the Palestinians] on boats and send them to wherever will be good for them. They’re wanted in Scotland? We’ll hand them over,” Nissim Vaturi, the deputy speaker of the Knesset, said earlier this month.
Another official said, “We are now rolling out the Gaza Nakba. From an operational point of view, there is no way to wage a war—as the IDF seeks to do in Gaza—with masses between the tanks and the soldiers … Gaza Nakba 2023. That’s how it’ll end.”
Israel Israel über alles...
... and the rise of Jewish Fascism
https://fritzfreud.substack.com/p/israel-israel-uber-alles
Thank you for this excellent summary. Regardless the facts (vs. legend),
the Israeli .gov and the supporters of that regime are wrong to declare
their desire or intent to eliminate other groups that reside on land they
want. The world will hear and see that attitude and the trend will be resentment
toward all Jews regardless. That is a shame. However, while there are exceptions,
possibly many, the underlying attitude toward non-Jews isn't a very nice one.
On the whole, Jews will openly say they believe themselves to be superior to all
others groups and peoples. Non secular Jews may not be so blatant about their
attitudes but they may still exist. I have observed this since I was a child so I know
what I am talking about. "Oh look, another pig nose", an uninhibited friend's mother,
(dementia), stated in response to seeing my first born son. Got it?