Gaza: What’s Worse Than the Language of Brutality?

They say talk is cheap—but this is talk that kills.

Our thoughts may shape our words, but our words also shape our thoughts. Excerpts from a new Israeli book show how the words used to justify the Gaza genocide both reflect and degrade its moral conscience.

These words dehumanize Palestinians—but they dehumanize their speakers even more.

Hate Speech

Haaretz reports that a new Hebrew-language book, “Lexicon of Brutality,” has compiled such common Israeli expressions as “depopulation”(i.e., genocide), “voluntary emigration” (ethnic cleansing), “kill zone” (self-explanatory), and “Amalekites” (meaning people whom God has said must be exterminated, according to scripture.)^[1]Other phrases in the lexicon include “no uninvolved people in Gaza,” “starvation,” “transfer” and “Nakba 2023.”

One of the book’s authors, Adam Raz, also marveled at his nation’s changing attitude toward “looting.” Israeli soldiers commonly looted Palestinian property in the first Nakba, Raz told Haaretz, but “it was nothing to boast about.”

“Today,” he says, “there are videos of soldiers looting that are almost pornographic. That is, they see it as something positive. They expect to earn cultural capital from their looting.”

A previous Haaretz article discussed a hit Israeli hip-hop song entitled “Harbu Darbu”—which, the newspaper explains, means “war and blows” in Arabic. The recording describes Gazans as “a bunch of mice fuckers coming out of the burrow” and, of course, as “Sons of Amalek.” It also implicitly threatens a list of people that includes Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid and British singer Dua Lipa^[2], both of whom have criticized the genocide.

These words, deeds, and chants serve to both reflect and inflame the lust for killing. They strengthen and perpetuate the iron will to exterminate. The language of brutality is an instrument of war, no less than a gun or a bomb.

What, then, are we to make of the West’s language—with its soft tones and occasional gentle rebukes, accompanied as always by the uninterrupted flow of weapons?

Images of Genocide

Any attempt to deny the reality of genocide is worse than absurd. Israel admits it openly. “We intend to take control of the entire territory,” says Netanyahu. We are “destroying everything that's left of the Gaza Strip,” says his finance minister.

And Netanyahu has made it clear that any slow trickle of humanitarian aid will be purely for show. “Our best friends in the world – senators I know as strong supporters of Israel – have warned that they cannot support us if images of mass starvation emerge," he said.

Note that all-important word: “images.” The images of mass slaughter and starvation make his US and European supporters look bad. Those images have even forced Israel’s backers in France, Canada, and the UK to publicly chastise it. Their recent statement says,

“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.”

Note the use of the future tense. Babies and other innocents are dying every hour. If “concrete actions” aren’t needed now, how long do they plan to what?

Outraged

For his part, President Trump floated a plan that appeared to relocate Palestinians out of Gaza. Forced expulsion constitutes ethnic cleansing. Trump said later, however, that “nobody is expelling any Palestinians” under his plan.

Trump’s advisors have said he’s distressed by the humanitarian crisis, and he has publicly distanced himself from Netanyahu. But US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says he’s “outraged” at the three countries’ gentle reproach.

And US weapons are still flowing to Israel.

Head Count

Meanwhile, the media continues to underplay the catastrophe. Great Britain’s state-run BBC undermined the credibility of Gaza’s health ministry by describing it as “Hamas-run” after it reported that 57 children had already died from malnutrition. It failed to note that the health ministry is largely staffed by civil servants and that its figures have been found reliable.

The BBC also pushed back on a UN official’s recent statement that 14,000 babies were at risk of dying from malnutrition within 48 hours. It pointed out, correctly, that this figure came from a recent report warning of 14,000 infant deaths over the coming year. But this ‘brave’ act of investigative journalism failed to provide some all-important context: at that rate, nearly 40 babies may already be dying every day. That averages out to roughly one infant death every 38 minutes—or 270 every week.

The New York Times didn’t even go that far, writing only that “a U.N. spokeswoman did not defend the claim.” It didn’t mention the earlier report at all.

You’d think that a report which says that 270 babies could be dying every week would generate some serious media attention.

You would be wrong.

Genocide Spoken Here

They say talk is cheap, but the rhetoric of genocide kills. We now know that it comes in two forms: the language of brutality, and the language of hypocrisy.

I’m not sure which one is worse.

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^[1]1 Samuel: “Now David and his men went up and raided the [other tribes] and the Amalekites. Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes.”

Deuteronomy 7: “... and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.”

Deuteronomy 25: “... you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!”

^[2] The song’s appropriation of hip-hop—a Black musical form—makes it a work of cultural as well as physical colonization.