I Try Not to Compare Historical Periods. Then Israel Marks Palestinians With Numbers
Perhaps we are stuck trying to find historical precedents instead of looking at what is happening before our eyes
The Israel Defense Forces operated this week in Qabatiyah near Jenin. During the activity, Palestinian detainees were marked with numbers written on their foreheads and bodies.
This is reminiscent of certain historical periods. Shortly thereafter, a response also came. The commanders clarified to the forces the gravity of the act, it was reported, and lessons were learned.
Lessons were learned. It is hard to think of a more quintessential Israeli phrase. For decades, lessons have been learned here. After Palestinians are killed, lessons are learned. After detainees are abused, lessons are learned. After every act that was supposed to be an exception, lessons are learned. And yet, the lessons somehow are never learned in time to prevent the next incident. An Israeli patent.
Of course, this is not the first time various things have been imprinted on Palestinians. Lessons have already been learned in this context and forgotten. There was the Palestinian on whose face a Star of David was "unintentionally" imprinted from a "police officer's boot sole." Palestinian homes in the West Bank on which Stars of David were spray-painted as if they were swastikas. And see how easily we slide into public calls not to allow Arab doctors to treat Jews.
Not to mention the familiar fear of Palestinians who openly show their identity, in moments when the Jewish street becomes more violent, more nationalistic, more vengeful. I remember female relatives who removed their hijabs during night drives in tense periods. And even when I don't want to violate the prohibition "of comparing" to other periods, Israel comes along and imprints numbers on Palestinians. So what do you want us to think?
Even before the IDF announced that lessons would be learned, I wondered if it was a soldier acting on his own initiative, if a commander gave the order, or if it was a general atmosphere that conveyed that it was okay to number Palestinian detainees on their foreheads. Are they aware of the associations this evokes? Do they want us to see the pictures and compare? Or are they perhaps so immersed in their sense of power that no one even stops to think how it looks. And what is worse: to do such a thing consciously, or to do it without understanding at all what it conveys?
Sometimes I think we invest too much in the debate over whether it is permissible to compare. Perhaps there is no need to compare at all. "They," whose names we shall not utter, did not broadcast themselves blowing up homes and joking about destruction on TikTok, which did not exist then. They did not turn mass killing into a prime-time entertainment show. Perhaps we are stuck trying to find historical precedents instead of looking at what is happening before our eyes.
Perhaps Israel does not draw inspiration from anyone at all. Perhaps it is already at a stage where it provides inspiration. Here are reels of genocide shows. A broad public that is not only not shocked or embarrassed and ashamed, but cheers. Media that turns hunger into jokes told on a panel. Politicians who compete with each other over revenge formulations. Soldiers who document everything with pride. An entire nation that is gradually losing the ability to identify basic moral boundaries, not out of fear or obedience, but in an atmosphere of hafla, a festive celebration.