TEHRAN – Prime Minister Netanyahu and his co-ideologues, including Itmar Ben Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, Amichai Eliyahu, and many others, are filled with hatred for Palestinians even when there is no hot war. Otherwise, there would be no justification for such atrocities against the Palestinian people, and there would be no justification for not resolving this decades-old conflict.
While it is true that Hamas attacked Israel for the first time on October 7, 2023, and it is not difficult to understand why, the scale of the atrocities against ordinary Palestinians greatly shocked the world. It was completely unbalanced.
Far-right extremists inside and outside Israel do not recognize the rights of Palestinians. They consider all Palestinians to be their enemies. Ultra-Orthodox Zionists want no Palestinians left in their homeland.
The level of hatred towards Palestinians is reflected in their words and actions. Early in the war, when Israel cut off water, food, medicine, fuel, and electricity to Gaza, Yoav Gallant described Gazans as “human animals.”
On January 21, 2025, when Israel again halted the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza for approximately six to seven weeks, but allowed a limited flow of aid in early March following international pressure, the Israeli military has been incredibly targeting people seeking food, an expression of intense disgust among Palestinians.
Between May 27 and October 9, more than 2,600 Palestinians were killed while attempting to deliver food and aid at or near chaotic GHF distribution points.
The starvation policy that brought the people into a famine-like situation is nothing but a strong hatred towards the nation.
There are countless examples of hostility toward Palestinians, manifested in starvation of civilians, attacks on shelters, bombings of health centers, arrests and torture of doctors, and more.
There is no shred of human conscience in asking what sins the elderly, women and children have committed to deserve such excruciating pain and brutality.
In the first week of October, Claire Magone, general secretary of the French branch of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), told Le Monde newspaper: “The (Israeli) military is carrying out a strangulation strategy, attacking water tankers, for example. Just like one of our clearly identified vehicles attacked in mid-September, cutting off all essential services.”
Similarly, it is unimaginable that 200,000 tons of bombs were dropped on cities and refugee camps in the small territory of Gaza.
The extreme hatred towards the indigenous Palestinian people is primarily aimed at exterminating them. Israeli extremists seem to forget that it was they, or their ancestors, who moved to Palestine, drove the Palestinians out of their villages and cities, and forced them into camps in Gaza, the West Bank, or in neighboring countries. Many people there still depend on international aid and live in squalid conditions.
Even after a fragile ceasefire under President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan went into effect on October 13, Israeli forces have killed at least 97 Palestinians, injured 230 others, and violated the ceasefire agreement 80 times.
Horrifying scenes involving both dead and surviving Palestinians also emerged during the cease-fire exchange.
Al Jazeera reported on October 18 that some of the prisoners were blindfolded and handcuffed, indicating that they had been tortured before being killed.
Mahmoud Abu Faul, a 28-year-old from northern Gaza, told Al Jazeera that one day a guard hit him on the head so hard that he lost consciousness, and when he regained consciousness he realized he had lost his eyesight.
One particularly documented case of abuse was last year’s gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner by a guard at Israel’s notorious Sde Teyman detention center. An Israeli prison guard was seen on video using a shield to hide from cameras before raping a victim who was unable to walk, Israeli media reported.
Unfortunately, many Israelis, especially military personnel and prison guards, under the influence of extremist and ultra-Orthodox ideologies, not only harbor deep hostility toward Palestinians, but also engage in harmful acts aimed at criminalizing, humiliating, and destroying their spirits. However, despite these actions, Western countries continue to work with Israel and portray it as a partner in respecting human rights and human dignity.