The combination of the Jewish holidays, the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks and the critical Israeli elections has proven to be an enabling environment for some of the worst manifestations of Jewish Israeli fanaticism.
The Jewish fall holidays began with Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew New Year) on Sept. 11, followed by Yom Kippur on Sept. 22 and concluded with the end of Sukkot (a week-long harvest festival) on Oct. 3. These religious holidays were followed by the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Gaza attacks, remembered using the Hebrew calendar on Oct. 5.
Israeli elections that could end the reign of Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his settler-influenced government have dramatically escalated anti-Palestinian violence and hate speech. The Israeli army’s killing machine claimed five more innocent victims (including four women, two of them being a Palestinian Christian mother and daughter) on Friday. The strike on a civilian apartment in Gaza City was based on an Israeli expectation — which proved false — that a wanted Hamas leader had taken refuge there.
In the West Bank, settler harassment and violence have also escalated with death and destruction, as well as the outright theft of the precious Palestinian olive harvest.
While the unprecedented escalation was taking place, hateful speech filled the airwaves and social media
Daoud Kuttab
And in Jerusalem, both inside Al-Aqsa and throughout the Old City, fanatical Israelis held Jewish prayers and religious Talmudic services while Israeli police prevented Palestinian shop owners from reaching or opening their shops. A record number of more than 11,000 Jewish extremists made uninvited visits to Islam’s holy mosque between Sept. 12 and Oct. 1, according to Palestinian authorities. The Israeli security forces protected these “visitors,” which included members of the Netanyahu government, as they carried out provocative religious ceremonies and raised Israeli flags.
While the unprecedented escalation was taking place, hateful speech filled the airwaves and social media, including calls for the killing of Palestinian women and children and the total ethnic cleansing of the besieged Gaza Strip. These continued without any official denunciations.
Former Knesset member Moshe Feiglin this week said that Jewish morality requires “wiping out” Gaza and the West Bank. When asked again, “Is it a Jewish point of view to wipe out all of Gaza … and annex the West Bank?” Feiglin replied: “100 percent.”
The rhetoric and violence appear designed to pressure Palestinians to leave their lands and homes so that Israel can easily annex the West Bank without having to worry about the demographic reality. As it stands, between the river and the sea, there is an equal number of Jews and Arabs. As a result, in the minds of Israeli expansionists, the only way to annex the Occupied Territories is to first ensure that they can take the land without the people.
This ethnic cleansing experiment might have already succeeded in Gaza if it were not for the resilience of the Palestinian people and the rejection of Egypt and all other countries of being part of the war crime of ethnic cleansing committed by Israel.
While the potential weakening and maybe the end of the Netanyahu administration appears to be looming, according to election polls, the days leading up to the Oct. 27 elections have Palestinians and others around the world in a holding pattern. Israel’s decision to grant tender contracts for the E1 settlement, which will effectively make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible, was set to take place on Oct. 25, two days before the general election. But the Israeli attorney general ordered the signing to be postponed so as not to be used for election propaganda. The thinking behind this date was to create an irreversible fact that would be difficult for any future government to circumvent.
The rhetoric and violence appear designed to pressure Palestinians to leave their lands and homes
Daoud Kuttab
Some in the international community have finally awoken to Israel’s sinister, encroaching annexation and creation of facts on the ground that will prevent any future Palestinian state. The decision by the UK, the Netherlands and others to ban products and services made in the areas Israel occupied in 1967 has fueled a tit-for-tat retaliatory cycle. Israel last month ordered the closure of the British Consulate in Jerusalem, which has been operating since 1838. Behind-the-scenes efforts by the UK to reverse the Israeli decision are taking place and London is threatening to expel 27 Israeli diplomats and their families if Tel Aviv carries out what appears to be an illegal closure on Thursday, 30 days after its initial announcement.
The EU has not been able to hold Israel accountable for its violations in the Occupied Territories due to consistent vetoes by a small number of its members. The bloc’s foreign policy requires unanimity for such decisions. An effort is underway in the EU to punish Israel using industrial regulations, which require only a qualified majority.
As the crucial Israeli elections approach, there is a split in the international community regarding its toxic daily human rights violations. Some argue that it would be more prudent to wait until the election results are known before acting. Others believe that the current situation, as reflected in public opinion around the world, requires immediate penalties for Israel’s human rights violations.
The concern is that, if Netanyahu leaves the prime minister’s office, it will be much harder to hold Israel accountable, even though many of its practices in the Occupied Territories will most likely continue. They may be carried out with less publicity and with lip service from Israeli politicians, who would denounce such actions while they continue on the ground.
Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He is the author of “State of Palestine Now: Practical and Logical Arguments for the Best Way to Bring Peace to the Middle East.” X: @daoudkuttab
