A wounded woman cries as she holds the hand of her dead relative outside her home following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, Oct. 23, 2023. Photo: Abed Khaled/AP.
By Ramzy Baroud – Oct 26, 2023
Tutsis are cockroaches. We will kill you.ā
Arabs are like ādrugged cockroaches in a bottle.ā
The first quote was a line repeated frequently by theĀ Radio TĆ©lĆ©vision Libre des Mille Collines, a Rwandan radio station, which is largely blamed for inciting hatred towards the Tutsi people.
The second is by former Israeli army Chief-of-Staff, Gen. Rafael Eitan, in 1983,Ā speakingĀ at an Israeli parliamentās committee.
Rwandaās hate-filled radio stationĀ operatedĀ for only one year (1993-94), yet the outcome of its incitement resulted in one of the saddest and most tragic episodes in modern human history: the genocide of the Tutsis.
Compare āRadio Genocideā to the massive Israeli-US-Western propaganda, dehumanizing Palestinians almost with identical language to that used by Hutus media.
Many seem to forget that, long before the Gaza war on October 7, and even long before the establishment of Israel itself in 1948, the Zionist-Israeli discourse has always been that of racism, dehumanization, erasure and, at times, outright genocide.
If one is to randomly select any period of Israeli history to examine the political discourse emanating from Israeli officials, institutions and even intellectuals, one is to draw the same conclusion: Israel has always built a narrative of incitement and hatred, thus making a constant case for the genocide of Palestinians.
Only recently, this genocidal intent has become obvious to many people.
āThere is (..) a risk of genocide against the Palestinian People,ā the UN expertsĀ saidĀ in a statement on October 19. But this ārisk of genocideā is not born out of recent events.
Indeed, effective political or military actions anywhere in the world hardly take place without an edifice of text and language that facilitates, rationalizes, and justifies those actions. Israelās perception of Palestinians is a perfect illustration of this claim.
Prior to the establishment of Israel, Zionists denied the very existence of the Palestinians. Many still do.
When that is the case, it becomes only logical to draw a conclusion that Israel, in its own collective mind, cannot be morally culpable of killing those who have never existed in the first place.
Even when Palestinians factor into the Israeli political discourse, they become ābloodthirsty animals,ā āterrorists,ā or ādruggedĀ cockroachesĀ in a bottle.ā
It would be too convenient to label this as just āracist.ā Though racism is at work here, this sense of racial supremacy does not exist merely to maintain a socio-political order in which Israelis are masters and Palestinians are serfs. It is far more complex.
As soon as Palestinian fighters from GazaĀ crossedĀ into the southern border of Israel, killing hundreds, not a single Israeli politician, analyst or mainstream intellectual seemed interested in the context of the daring act.
The post-October 7 language used by Israelis, but also many Americans, created the atmosphere necessary for the savage Israeli response that followed.
The number of Palestinians killed in the first eight days of the Israeli war against Gaza has reportedly exceeded the number of casualties who were killed during the longest and most destructive Israeli war on the Strip, dubbed āProtective Edge,ā in 2014.
According to DCIāPalestine, a Palestinian child isĀ killedĀ every 15 minutes and according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health,Ā over 70%Ā of all of Gazaās casualties are women and children.
For Israel, none of these facts matter. In theĀ mindĀ of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, often perceived as a āmoderate,ā the ārhetoric about civilians not (being) involved (is) absolutely not true.ā They are legitimate targets simply because they ācouldāve risen up, and they could have fought against that evil regime,ā he said, referring to Hamas.
š®š± Israelās President: āThere are āno innocentsā in the Gaza Stripā.
50% of the population of 2 MILLION people in the Gaza strip are CHILDREN!
pic.twitter.com/5mUsdBmyKX— Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis (@DrLoupis) October 14, 2023
Therefore, āIt is an entire nation out there that is responsible,ā according to Herzog, who promised payback.
Ariel Kallner, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuās Likud party,Ā explainedĀ Israelās goal behind the Gaza war. āRight now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 1948,ā he said.
The same sentiment wasĀ conveyedĀ by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the man responsible for translating Israelās declaration of war into an action plan: āWe are fighting human animals, and we will act accordingly,ā he said on October 9. āAccordingly,ā here, meant that āthere will be no electricity, no food, no fuel. Everything is closed.ā And, of course, thousands of dead civilians.
Can someone respond to this tweet with all the genocidal rhetoric that came from Israeli/European/US politicians and diplomats in the past 7 days?
— Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd) October 14, 2023
Since Israelās top political authorities have already declared that all Palestinians are collectively responsible for the October 7 events, this means that all Palestinians are, per GallantāsĀ assessment, āhuman animalsā deserving no mercy.
Expectedly, Israelās supporters in the US and other Western countries joined the chorus, also using the most violent and dehumanizing language, thus cementing mainstream Israeli political discourse among ordinary people.
āFinish Themā: How Western Leaders Blame Palestinian Victim, Hail Aggressor
U.S. presidential hopeful Nikki HaleyĀ toldĀ Fox News on October 10 that the Hamas attack was not just on Israel but āis an attack on America.ā It was then that she made her sinister declaration while looking directly at the camera, āNetanyahu, finish them, finish them (..) finish them!ā
This is not just an attack on Israelāthis was an attack on America.
Finish them, @Netanyahu.
They should have hell to pay for what they have just done. pic.twitter.com/0KKDwvOITS
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) October 8, 2023
Though US President Joe Biden and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not use the exact same words, they both madeĀ comparisonsĀ between the October 7 events and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. TheĀ meaningĀ behind this requires no elaboration.
For his part, US Senator Lindsey GrahamĀ ralliedĀ American conservative and religious supporters, declaring on October 11, also on Fox News, āWe are in a religious war here. (ā¦) Do whatever the hell you have to do. (..) Level the place.ā
"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."
U.S. officials even topping post 9-11 Islamophobic rhetoric, which is quite extraordinary…
What will this do? Not only will it further destroy theā¦ https://t.co/9zQ5Na40rX
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) October 12, 2023
Much more, equally sinister language was ā and continues ā to be uttered. The outcome is being broadcast around the clock. Israel is āfinishing offā the Gaza civilian population. It is ālevelingā thousands of homes, mosques, hospitals, churches and schools. Indeed, it is producing another painful episode of the Nakba.
From Golda Meirās āPalestinians did not existā (1969) to Menachem BegināsĀ Palestinians are ābeasts walking on two legsā (1982) to Eli Ben Dahanās āPalestinians are like animals, they arenāt humanā (2013), to numerous other racist and dehumanizing references, the Zionist discourse remains unchanged.
Now, it is all coming together. The language and the action are in perfect alignment. Perhaps it is time to start paying attention to how Israelās genocidal language is translated to an actual genocide on the ground. Sadly, for thousands of Palestinian civilians, this awareness is simply too late.
Ramzy Baroud
Ramzy Baroud isĀ a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is āThese Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisonsā (Clarity Press). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website isĀ www.ramzybaroud.netĀ
