The Israel Gaza genocide did not happen overnight. Analysts say Israel’s decades-long policy of dehumanising Palestinians created the conditions for the current mass killing campaign, which a UN commission has formally recognised as genocide.
Dehumanisation as a Precursor to Genocide
Navi Pillay, head of the UN commission that declared Israel’s actions genocidal, compared Gaza to Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
“You dehumanise your victims. They’re animals, and therefore, without conscience, you can kill them,” Pillay said.
The Israeli public, analysts argue, has been conditioned over decades to view Palestinian life as negligible, allowing a genocide-level war to be normalised.
Gaza Under Attack Amid Famine
Israel continues to pound Gaza City despite tens of thousands of civilians remaining trapped in what UNICEF has called “the last refuge for families in the northern Gaza Strip.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz even bragged that “Gaza is burning.” Yet Israeli protests rarely call for an end to the slaughter — focusing instead on securing the release of Israeli captives.
A poll by the aChord Center found that 76% of Jewish Israelis believed none of Gaza’s remaining 2.2 million residents were innocent, effectively justifying the deaths of more than 64,900 Palestinians.
Decades of Systematic Dehumanisation
The Israel Gaza genocide is the culmination of a process that stretches back to the Nakba of 1948, when Zionist militias expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to establish the state of Israel.
B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel have documented a long history of policies designed to maintain “Jewish supremacy” over all territory under Israeli control.
“We have separate education systems. We’re not taught their language, their culture, or their history,” said B’Tselem spokesperson Yair Dvir. “Most people don’t even know about the Nakba.”
Children Taught to See Palestinians as Animals
Research shows that Israeli children have been exposed to media and educational materials depicting Palestinians as “wolves,” “dogs,” and “vipers.”
By adulthood, many have internalised this narrative — with some soldiers today viewing Palestinian civilians as legitimate targets rather than fellow human beings.
Rise of the Religious Right and Settler Influence
After Israel withdrew settlers from Gaza in 2005, hardline religious and settler groups launched a deliberate campaign to capture state institutions — media, education, bureaucracy, and the military — to normalise their ideology.
Israeli analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg called it a “march through the institutions” that still drives policy today.
Mainstreaming of Genocidal Rhetoric
Even centrist figures have adopted extreme language. Former military intelligence chief Aharon Haliva reportedly said 50 Palestinians should die for every Israeli killed on October 7 — regardless of whether they were children.
“The notion that the Palestinian presence is temporary has always been there,” said Israeli sociologist Yehouda Shenhav-Shahrabani. “The Nakba is not an event. It’s a process — and it’s happening right now.”
A Continuous Process of Erasure
Analysts argue that Israel’s goal is not just to defeat Hamas but to empty Gaza and potentially the West Bank of Palestinians entirely. This is why dehumanisation is so key — it allows an entire population to be treated as expendable.
Source: Al Jazeera
