Israelis Used to Value Human Life. The Gaza War Changed That -
Knesset member Ayman Odeh's words, "Gaza won, Gaza will win," are not in need of quotation marks. Gaza's victory is now looking more like a fact because the goal Hamas aspired to on October 7 is now being realized by its people – the weak, the hungry, the dying, the dead, the wounded and the orphaned.
It is a victory that will grow and strengthen every time the Israel Defense Forces expands the area of the enclave under its control and pushes its two and a quarter million inhabitants deeper into hunger while gleefully adding to the body count.
The worries about the judicial overhaul prior to October 7, the dismissal of the attorney general, the expected appointment of a messianist to head the Shin Bet security service, the boycott of the Supreme Court president, the legislation that seeks to grant the cabinet unlimited authority and even the shock over MK Orit Strock's vile remarkshave all become secondary.
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Those struggling against all of this may believe that they are defending a "fortress" without which democracy will collapse, but it is increasingly irrelevant. Because at a time when thousands of words have been written about the impending death of democracy, the war is engaged in the work of genetic engineering on Israel and Israelis that will render the government's assault on democracy superfluous.
Day after day, Gazans are being killed on their way to collect miserable food packages. Not one or two people are being killed, but dozens of babies, children, women and the elderly who are being forced to choose between death by starvation or death by bullet. The bodies of entire families are buried under rubble because the IDF prevented anyone from removing them.
Palestinians carry aid supplies after trucks loaded with aid entered from Israel through central Gaza, on Tuesday.Credit: Khamis Al-Rifi/Reuters
Israelis' eyes and ears have become accustomed to all this horror. But this is not just another elaborate "war routine" that's justified by "security needs" and protecting the lives of soldiers.
The new foundation of Israeli belief states that the existence of the State of Israel depends on the elimination of Gaza.
This has been deemed a sacred mission that justifies abandoning the hostages to their fate, exploiting reserve and conscripted soldiers and their families to the limit, turning the drivers of the demolition bulldozers into cultural heroes and allowing the blood of thousands of civilians to be shed.
Israeli flag waved by IDF soldiers posted in the Gaza Strip, in November 2023.Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit
This mission broke down the war into goals that seemed within reach – "control over75 percent of the Gaza Strip," "the elimination of Hamas rule," "the return of the hostages" and "concentrating the population in a humanitarian city."
If we could only achieve these, the war would be won. But instead of the promised victory, we have been given the recipe for a forever war that is justified by continuing to wage it.
But let's assume for a moment that all these goals are indeed achieved. The Israeli flag is raised above the remaining mosques in Gaza, all its residents have been exiled, every last Hamas militant has been killed, the bulldozers are now preparing the ground for settlements and the communities surrounding Gaza are part of a magnificent Riviera. What kind of country will be left to celebrate the victory?
This picture taken from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows Israeli troops and an army bulldozer near the separation fence, earlier this month.Credit: Jack Guez/AFP
In less than two years, Gaza has turned Israel into a different country. In the name of war, it is now permissible to deny freedom of speech, arrest journalists, fire teachers, censor "inappropriate" plays and cultural performances, fire and/or oust members of Knesset, beat the members of hostage families, burn down Palestinian homes in the West Bank and torture prisoners.
No less, the war in Gaza has changed Israelis – their language and identity. From people who once valued human life, they have become, in the name of the holy mission in Gaza, human sacrificers whose victims are the hostages, their own sons and thousands of Palestinian children, women and elderly.
In taking control of Gaza, Israel has become a disintegrated, vengeful, immoral country, and above all, devoid of hope and horizon. No victory that comes at such a heavy price will be able to remove the deep scar that has marred the history of the state and the character of Israeli society.