The American New York Times reported, in a detailed report, that images of Palestinians swimming and enjoying the sunshine on a Gaza beach shocked Israeli journalist Yehuda Schlesinger, who expressed his disgust at the “disturbing” images during an appearance on Israeli Channel 12.
“Those people over there deserve to die,” complained Schlesinger, the religious affairs correspondent for the mass-circulation right-wing newspaper Israel Hayom. “We should have seen more revenge there, more rivers of Gazan blood,” he added without any remorse.
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The report’s author, Megan Stack, pointed out that it might be thought that Schlesinger is a marginal figure, or that Israelis will be shocked after hearing his “bloody fantasies,” but he is not like that and many will not be like that.
More extreme
She continued that Israel has become more extremist, and the signs of this are clearly visible: inhuman language and promises of extermination from military and political leaders, opinion polls showing widespread support for the policies that have caused devastation and famine in Gaza, images of Israeli soldiers proudly showing off in Palestinian neighborhoods destroyed by bombs, and even repression. Mild forms of opposition among Israelis.
She added that at a time when the Israeli left had become a “withered trunk” of a movement that was once active, the October 7 attack allowed the true positions of the Israelis on the “Palestinian issue” to be revealed, without embellishment.
As expected – the newspaper adds – the attack that occurred that day sparked a popular thirst for revenge, especially since many Israelis had long come to view the Palestinians as a threat that would be better eliminated.
Opinion polls indicate that this is the war that the Israeli public wanted, as a poll conducted in January confirmed that 94% of Israelis believed that the force used against Gaza was appropriate, or even insufficient.
Last February, an opinion poll showed that most Israelis opposed the entry of food and medicine into Gaza.
Aggravating factors
Megan stated that the hardening of Israel’s position can be partly explained by the change in generations, as a new generation has come to the forefront and has experienced the images and operations of the Palestinian resistance so that they almost never leave their mind.
Added to this is the demographic factor and population structure, whereby contemporary Orthodox Jews have a greater number of children than their secular compatriots.
More importantly, many Israelis emerged from the Second Intifada with an anti-negotiation view and, more broadly, of the Palestinians, who were derided as incapable of peacemaking.
This logic erased Israel’s involvement in sabotaging the peace process through land seizures and settlement expansion.
The New York Times quoted Tamar Herman, a senior research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, as saying that settlement issues or relations with the Palestinians had been off the table for years, highlighting that they were presenting a list of issues to Israelis to arrange, and resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was in last place in all matters. Almost times.
According to Herman, many Israelis feel confused when asked to define the borders where Israel ends and the West Bank begins.
The writer pointed out that such ignorance is considered a luxury for Israelis, while for Palestinians, knowing the timing and location of checkpoints open on a particular day, and the methods that they may use and what they may not use, is the primary concern, because not being sure of them could be fatal.
Continuous settlement
With the world focused on Gaza, the far-right government in Israel has worked to intensify its control over the Palestinians, and the largest Israeli land seizure in more than 30 years occurred last March when Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the state’s seizure of 10 square kilometers of land. West Bank.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health says that the land seizures are accompanied by a bloody campaign of terrorism, in which a mixture of soldiers and settlers have killed at least 460 Palestinians in the West Bank since last October 7.
At the same time, the Israeli police distributed weapons to settlers and created armed militias under the pretext of self-defense, but questions about what and by whom these new armed groups should defend created a state of unease.
The prominent Palestinian lawyer, who founded the Adalah Center, Hassan Jabareen, confirmed that many Arab citizens of Israel live in fear.
According to Diana Butu, a Palestinian lawyer who lives with her family in Haifa, the past months have been full of anxiety.
The writer emphasized that the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu worked to promote Jewish supremacy long before the current war, and the “Nation-State Law” of 2018 codified the right to national self-determination as a “unique right of the Jewish people,” removed the Arabic language as an official language and established “settlement.” “The Jew as a national value” that the government must support.
The uprisings will continue
In 2022, Israel re-passed its controversial family reunification law, which largely prevents Palestinians who marry Israeli citizens from obtaining legal status if they are from the West Bank or Gaza. The law also applies to people coming from “enemy countries.” Such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
As legal flaws and social pressures mounted, Palestinian citizens of Israel began to look for outside support. Jabareen indicated that his organization is preparing a request to the United Nations regarding international legal protection for Palestinians inside Israel.
She said that American officials do not understand the current state of Israeli politics, as Joe Biden administration officials continued to talk about a Palestinian state, but the lands allocated to the state became steadily covered by Israeli settlements.
She said that the attack of last October 7 should have confirmed the futility of isolating themselves from the Palestinians, and stressed that as long as the Palestinians are trapped under military occupation and deprived of their basic rights, the Israelis will live under the threat of uprisings, and there is no wall thick enough. Enough to oppress a people who have nothing to lose forever.
