The Israeli discourse on the “Al-Aqsa Flood”

This article aims to analyze the Israeli discourse towards the Palestinians during the “Al-Aqsa Flood” war, by monitoring statements made by Israeli politicians and officials. By using racist rhetoric towards the Palestinians, the Israeli establishment has targeted two categories of the public: an external group and an internal group. The racist discourse directed at the Western public differs, apparently, from the racist discourse directed at the Israeli public, but they meet in goal, which is to justify the killing of Palestinians and the practice of the harshest forms of violence and destruction against them.

The Israeli discourse directed at the European and American West is based on exploiting the “Islamophobia” syndrome (fear of Islam) that is rampant in the West. According to Edward Said, Islamophobia has been linked to Orientalist concepts based on portraying the Muslim as a violent, bloodthirsty person who hates others, especially Jews. In this context, we find the Israeli army spokesman Doron Spielman’s description of the situation in Israel, following Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” as “similar to the attacks of September 11, 2001,” which targeted the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in the United States of America. In conjunction with this, “Avichai Adraee” (the Israeli army’s spokesman for Arab media) wrote on his VX page (formerly Twitter), “Hamas and ISIS are two sides of the same coin.” He described the Palestinian resistance factions as ISIS and terrorists.

Israeli army spokesmen strike a sensitive chord in the Western collective consciousness, in which the scenes of September 11 and the practices of ISIS are linked to the growing phenomenon of Islamophobia. Comparing the “Al-Aqsa Flood” to the events of September, and the resistance factions to ISIS, is an extension of an Israeli media strategy adopted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, when he compared the former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to the leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, in order to justify getting rid of him, and the goal of this comparison. Insinuating to Western society that there is a common denominator with Israel, which is the fight against “terrorism,” and that Israel is facing “terrorists,” not freedom seekers or a national liberation movement. This goal is clearly demonstrated in a letter by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed to the French ambassador, following the ISIS attacks in France in 2015, when he said: “We are proud of our values, our friendship, and our freedom... When the civilized powers diagnose the problem, they will have no choice but to unite for Eliminate these animals. These animals have a name, which is extremist Islam. We are obligated to stand together to fight extremist Islam.”

We see an echo of the racist, Orientalist Israeli discourse in the speech of US President Joe Biden, when he described the Al-Aqsa flood operation as “pure, pure evil,” and that “Hamas” is “a group whose declared goal is to kill Jews,” considering the Al-Aqsa flood a form of terrorism, declaring that “the brutality of 'Hamas' brings to mind the worst rampage of ISIS." Thus, we find a similarity between the Israeli discourse and the American discourse in describing the resistance of the Palestinian people as terrorism, and stripping it of the national liberation movement, while labeling it as ISIS, in order to justify violent Israeli practices towards the Palestinians.

internally; The Israeli discourse directed to the Israeli public was based on dehumanization of the Palestinians. This is embodied in the statement of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant when he spoke about launching an aggression against the Gaza Strip, saying: “We are fighting human animals.” This is his justification for cutting off electricity, water, and food from the Gaza Strip. Gallant's statement comes as an extension of a long series of Israeli statements that aim to dehumanize the Palestinians and liken them to animals and insects. Previously, Israeli Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan described the Palestinians as "cockroaches," while former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir compared them to "grasshoppers." Knesset member from the right-wing Likud Party, Yechael Hazan, described Arabs as “worms.”

The Israeli racist discourse aimed at dehumanizing the Palestinians and Arabs was fused into the racist Jewish jurisprudential heritage. This was demonstrated in the speech of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (the spiritual leader of the Shas movement, and the former chief rabbi of the Sephardic Jews in Israel), and his saying: “When a Jew kills a Muslim, it is as if he had killed A snake or a worm, and no one can deny that both the snake and the worm are dangerous to humans, so getting rid of Muslims, like getting rid of worms, is a natural thing to happen.”

The Israeli racist discourse aimed at dehumanizing the Palestinians intersects with the practices of European colonialism, which are based on a superior Orientalist view towards the colonized peoples. The European colonialists have always viewed the colonized peoples as being lower in status than them, and they have been stigmatized with inhuman characteristics that dehumanize them. Whether by likening them to insects or animals, in order to justify killing and getting rid of them.

Conclusion:

We can say that there is an integrated Israeli racist discourse towards the Palestinians. On the one hand, they are demonized and guerrillaized worldwide, and on the other hand, they are dehumanized, with the aim of removing any sympathy for them and justifying violent practices against them, whether by killing through bombing or siege. Starvation, or destroying buildings on the heads of their occupants, including civilians and defenseless children, women and the elderly.

When the Palestinians are demonized, dehumanized, and branded as terrorists and ISIS, it becomes easy for the Israeli military machine to continue its bloody practices, as if it is not committing a crime, or any moral transgression. Those targeted by this killing, destruction, siege, and starvation are not human, or belong to the human race. Rather, they are “human animals” and insects that must be eliminated, without any mercy, compassion, or being affected by the scenes of innocent children and their remains after their homes were bombed.

Source" Institute of Palestinian Studies