Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded the army shoot Palestinian women and children in Gaza during a cabinet meeting, according to the Israeli media on Monday.
“We cannot have women and children getting close to the border... anyone who gets near must get a bullet [in the head],” Ben-Gvir said during a debate with Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi on the army’s “open-fire” rules at the cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Ben-Gvir, who heads the extreme right Jewish Power party, told Halevi that Israel’s rules of engagement in Gaza were too lenient and ought to be broadened out to encompass civilians.
“You know how our enemies operate... they will try us,” Ben-Gvir said according to The Jerusalem Post.
“They will send women and children as undercover terrorists. If we continue like this, we will reach another October 7.”
Halevi did not argue with Ben-Gvir over the ethics of shooting Palestinian women and children, but rather claimed that it might lead to more “friendly fire” incidents.
Fanon talks about how colonialism dehumanizes both the colonized and the colonizer. The colonized become less-than-human, but the colonizers become greater-than-human. That's what the existential threat is, if Palestinians regain their humanity then Israelis have to become lowly humans again. It's not just an "us vs them" narrative, it's a structure of domination that makes Israelis superhuman.
The de-colonial struggle shows the settler that no, actually, they aren't superhuman. They bleed and die like the rest of us.
This is an excellent point, thank you. I think this is a crucial and overlooked component to fascist movements and their appeal to the disenfranchised, like the amorphous concept of “great”-ness that the MAGA crowd espouses.
I haven’t read Fanon, would you recommend a place to start?
Black Skin, White Masks is where he talks about colonial dehumanization. While he's talking in the context of Africa and France, it applies quite well to Israel and Palestine too.