TEHRAN - For many around the world the Israeli war minister referring to Palestinians as “human animals” in the early days of war, was indicative of what Israel had in store for Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants.

“We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly,” that’s how the minister declared the regime would be denying Palestinian civilians food, water, electricity and fuel. 
Yoav Gallant seems to have pretty much gone on with what many feared would follow his incendiary remarks on October 9. Since then, the Israeli military has perpetrated appalling acts of violence against Palestinians. The death toll has almost reached 13,000, with over 70 percent consisting of women and children. Schools, hospitals, homes, mosques, and churches lie in ruins, and Palestinian civilians have nowhere to seek shelter. For those living in the besieged Gaza Strip, the specter of death looms ominously, casting a dark shadow over every corner of their existence.

For people who found the Israeli war minister’s infamous remarks horrifying, subsequent comments by the regime’s Knesset deputy speaker were even more appalling. “The people of Gaza cannot be described as animals because animals are better than [these] humans,” said a social media post by Nissim Vaturi on Sunday. He also suggested that Israel was acting “too humane” towards Palestinians and that the regime should “burn Gaza” as soon as possible. 

Such inflammatory sentiments are not exclusive to far-right Israeli politicians in their 50s or 60s. A chilling video circulating online this week showed Israeli children singing for "annihilation" in Gaza. "In another year there will be nothing there/and we will return safely to our homes/within a year we will annihilate everyone/and then we will return to plow our fields," chant the children as CGI-enhanced footage of strikes on buildings plays in the background.

But why do Israelis express their blatantly racist and neo-Nazi beliefs so nonchalantly?

In order to perpetuate the acceptance of its horrendous crimes against Palestinians, Israel needs to rely on the dehumanization of the people of Palestine. 
For more than 70 years, the regime has been trying to depict Palestinians as barbaric, primitive, and devoid of an understanding of the laws of war—portraying them as people who make no distinction between civilians and combatants, ultimately branding them as immoral. 

With a short look through history, it becomes evident that the tactic of dehumanization has been frequently employed by white colonizers seeking to rationalize their occupations. The origins of European racism can be traced back to the 19th century, when both the British and French argued their superiority over what they deemed as backward and barbaric African people—whom they considered to be subhuman.

Today, Western nations, the former colonial powers of the world, seem to be reinforcing their support for an entity mirroring their shameful past. In October, as Israel's assaults on Palestinians were underway, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen avoided to condemn the denial of water, electricity, and heating to men, women, and children. Instead, she made a personal visit to the Israeli president, emphasizing that Europeans stand as "friends of Israel."

The European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell recently characterized the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel as a "war crime" but refrained from labeling Israel’s brutal offensive on Gaza in the same manner. Several Western leaders including Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, and Olaf Scholz have meanwhile espoused Israel's right to "defend" itself without addressing the regime’s ruthless attacks on Gaza's civilian population.

Western media has also come to Israel’s rescue. The Economist suggested that the high number of child casualties in Gaza is due to the territory’s “youthful demography”, and not because Israel is deliberately bombing civilians. 

The Time quoted an expert as saying that “Israel's retaliatory bombing of Gaza, however indiscriminate, and its current ground attacks, despite the numerous civilian casualties they are causing among Gaza's Palestinian population, do not meet the very high threshold that is required to meet the legal definition of genocide”. This “very high threshold” seemed to sit lower when Western politicians were slamming Russia’s offensive on Ukraine as a “full-scale genocide”. That’s while Israel has killed more children in one month than Moscow did in a span of 2 years. 

Even international bodies are being forced to toe the line and normalize Israeli violence towards Palestinians. 

When you talk about children getting massacred inside a school, you might want to mention who carried out the attack. But UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was only “shocked” that two UNRWA schools were struck in Gaza in less than 24 hours. In his post on X, he refused to mention that Israel was the one to bomb the schools whatsoever. 

Despite the Palestinians’ desperate cries for the right to live, all they receive at the end of the day is the West’s deafening silence and at times animus. It appears that the racist and apartheid regime of Israel is permitted to unleash violence freely, reminiscent of how Europeans subjugated Africans and indigenous Americans centuries ago.