By Alon Ben-Meir*
NEW YORK | 25 June 2025 (IDN) — Israel’s refusal to acknowledge Palestinian rights and humanity perpetuated a zero-sum narrative where Jewish safety is predicated on Palestinian dehumanisation and death
Israel’s and the US’s attack against Iran’s nuclear installations and the still-unfolding repercussions of these attacks, following the ceasefire brokered by Trump, should not distract us from Israel’s continuing campaign of death and destruction in Gaza.
Since June 1 alone, nearly 300 Palestinians were killed (adding to the more than 55,000 that have already been killed), and scores of buildings were levelled to the ground. The Netanyahu government keeps insisting that the fighting will continue until Israel achieves “a total victory,” which remains an elusive goal, as the carnage continues 20 months later.
In my June 28 article, “If This Isn’t Genocide, What Is?” I explained that while Israel has every right to defend itself and retaliate against Hamas for its savage attack that slaughtered 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians, its quest to punish Hamas was quickly transformed into a war of revenge and retribution.
Regardless of their innocence, tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children were indiscriminately killed, which, along with destroying or damaging 84 percent of Gaza’s healthcare facilities, “inflicting…conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction” as the Convention on Genocide indicates, causing serious bodily and mental harm, and more, amounts to genocide by definition.
Yet, I was condemned by many individuals for daring to label the Israeli war a genocide, calling my article a “blood libel.”
Over the last year and a half, I have spoken with dozens of reserve soldiers who fought in Gaza and came back. It is heart-wrenching to listen to what they have described as eyewitnesses. They confessed that orders are frequently arbitrarily given to shoot first and not even ask questions later.
This policy led directly to the deaths of three Israeli hostages, who were waving white flags and shouting for help in Hebrew when Israeli soldiers killed them. Bombing many buildings full of civilians only to kill a single Hamas operative, while killing hundreds of innocent people, is tantamount to genocide.
Several government ministers have been making statements advocating the INTENT TO DESTROY the Palestinians in Gaza, in whole or in part. Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu advocated for the completely wild idea of dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza, confirming the intent to eliminate everyone there.
He also stated that anyone waving a Palestinian flag “shouldn’t continue to live on the face of the earth.” This constitutes incitement, as the message to the soldiers is clear: kill, because no Palestinian deserves to live. Yet, Eliyahu continues to hold power, an implicit approval of his statements.
Among the many heinous things National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has said, one of the most egregious is advocating for killing women and children in Gaza to prevent another attack like October 7. Promoting the murder of women and children without question is undoubtedly broadcasting the intent to kill Palestinians without reservation—a clear sign of genocide.
Former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, while serving in that position, made countless dehumanising statements, including calling ordinary Palestinian civilians “human beasts.”
This rhetoric of dehumanisation echoes the genocide in Rwanda, when leaders repeatedly called Tutsis “cockroaches,” inciting Hutus to see their countrymen as less-than-human, actively promoting what became the horrific genocide there.
Nissim Vaturi, an MK from Netanyahu’s own Likud party and deputy speaker of the Knesset, has called for executing every single man in Gaza, calling them “scum” and “subhuman.” He said every child in Gaza is “already a terrorist, from the moment of his birth”—and we know precisely that Israeli politicians prefer that terrorists be put to death. Why quibble about the age if such views predetermine their fate?
The Israeli police have decided that remarks from Rabbi Eliyahu Mali, who runs a yeshiva that combines religious studies with military service, training those who may very well end up in Gaza, do not count as incitement. Jewish law, he said, requires the killing of everyone in Gaza, including children and the elderly.
“Whoever comes to kill you, kill him first. Whoever comes to kill you with this concept does not only include the young man aged 16, 18, 20, or 30 who is now pointing a weapon at you. But also, the future generation (the children of Gaza), and those who produce the future generation (women of Gaza), because there is no difference.”
Is there any way to describe these despicable remarks other than incitement to genocide? Yet again, if the implicit approval of his call for the wholesale slaughter of every last living person in Gaza is not a call to genocide, nothing is. How else could the deaths of more than 55,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom were women and children, have happened in the absence of these incitements?
I could go on and on, providing evidence not just in statements from government officials, but also in statements from soldiers executing orders from their superiors. Anyone who reads this and persists in calling it false and a blood libel enjoys the illusion in which a majority of Israelis and many other deniers of the Israeli government’s crimes against humanity bury their heads.
The wholesale death and destruction in Gaza is sending shockwaves around the world, especially to Israel’s friends and allies, who are at a loss to grasp how the Jews in Israel, the children of those Jews who have been the victims of history, have now become the victimiser.
Committing such crimes against humanity, which by extension is being done in the name of world Jewry, inflicts the greatest damage on Jewish communities everywhere. On many occasions, Netanyahu explicitly stated that he speaks on behalf of the Jewish people.
The unprecedented rise of antisemitism and now the frequent attacks on Jews outside Israel are a direct result of Netanyahu and his criminal gangs’ acts against the Palestinians, and any Jew who denies that is willfully naïve, or feeling shameful for admitting the unthinkable.
The tragedy that Israel has precipitated
The tragedy that Israel has precipitated as a result of its continuing brutal occupation and the massive destruction and death in Gaza is the nurturing of another generation of young Palestinians, many of whom will grow up with one mission: to avenge the horror that has befallen their people. They will not rest until they liberate themselves from the bondage and dehumanisation to which they have been subjected.
Instead, had Israel ended the ruthless occupation and offered the Palestinians hope for a better and secure future, young Palestinians would not resort to violence and terrorism but could grow and prosper in peace alongside their Jewish neighbours. Rabbi Mali’s call, “to kill the future generation, and those who produce the future generation because there is no difference,” is beyond outrageous.
Killing innocent children on the assumption that they will grow up to be terrorists, which Israel is deliberately nurturing to justify its ruthless occupation and dehumanisation of the Palestinians on security grounds, is the height of moral decadence for which the Israelis will pay dearly for years to come.
The greater tragedy is what Israel has inflicted on itself and the Jews around the world.
Israel’s image is stained by Palestinian blood, rendering it a pariah state. Beyond that, Israel has become a liability to diaspora Jewry, on whose behalf Netanyahu claims to speak, and instead of living in peace and dignity, they are now fearful for their lives.
The war is still grinding on, the death and destruction continue, and Netanyahu and his criminal gang are still reveling in the illusion of securing “total victory.” However, even if every single Hamas operative is killed, it will only start a new chapter in the annals of the tragic Israeli-Palestinian conflict that will not end until the Palestinians win their freedom.
Instead of defending the indefensible, every Jew with any integrity has a solemn responsibility to make their voice heard and call for the end of this horrific war and support the Palestinians’ right to a state of their own. History will condemn Netanyahu and his government for making Jewish safety and survival dependent on the Palestinians’ dehumanisation and death.
*Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Image: A protester holds a poster stating “Not in our name, Jews against genocide,” at a pro-Palestine march in Bristol, United Kingdom, 4 November 2023. CC BY 2.0
