Interview · moment 18 of 28

Targeting Civilians as Explicit Strategy

from Bonus Episode: Abby Martin

4 min

Guest

Abby cites Israeli officials' rhetoric calling Palestinians 'human animals' and calling for flattening Gaza as evidence that civilian targeting is intentional strategy to terrorize and displace the population, not collateral damage.

In this bit6 moments
  • Israeli defense minister and Knesset members explicitly call Palestinians subhuman and say they need to annihilate Gaza, not deny they're targeting civilians.
  • Targeting civilians across all sectors of civil society is a strategic approach to terrorize populations into fleeing, historically used in 1948 when 700,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed.
  • Jewish friends claim they have historical right to the land based on ancient presence, with scientists supposedly finding bone fragments proving Jewish occupation thousands of years ago.
  • Tim acknowledges he hasn't deeply researched the historical claim but notes the narrative that Jewish people were kicked out of countries due to anti-Semitism and wanted a state after the Holocaust.
  • Using religious fundamentalism and Biblical prophecy to justify ethnic cleansing of indigenous people is a ludicrous claim, regardless of Israel's historical presence in the region.
  • Infrastructure targeting in Gaza isn't just about terrorizing people into leaving—it's designed to make return impossible by destroying schools and all remaining resources.
Mentioned here

GazaIsraelPalestiniansJewish peopleMia KhalifaAlana Hadid

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