A new survey showing that 82 percent of Jewish Israelis support the expulsion of Gazans was met with disbelief among those who stubbornly believe that the extremists are outliers. But these trends are as consistent as they are shocking
The survey conducted by Professor Tamir Sorek of Pennsylvania State University,
published here in Haaretz together with Professor Shay Hazkani, examined what the authors called
"eliminatory" attitudes among Jewish Israelis and their theological roots.
Other findings were grim: A majority of 56 percent of Jews supported the "transfer (forced expulsion) of Arab citizens of Israel to other countries." And when asked directly whether they agreed with the position that the IDF, "when conquering an enemy city, should act in a manner similar to the way the Israelites acted when they conquered Jericho under the leadership of Joshua, namely, to kill all its inhabitants?" nearly half, 47 percent, agreed.
The survey found a strong correlation between various indicators of religious identity and observance, and militant attitudes – a classic pattern in Israeli Jewish public opinion. But there was strikingly high support from secular Israelis for the expulsion questions too.
Rate of Jewish Israelis Supporting Expulsion of Gaza Residents:
Secular: 70%
Traditional: 91%
Oothodox: 90%
Haredi: 97%
Rate of Jewish Israelis Supporting Expulsion of Israeli Arabs:
Secular: 38%
Traditional: 65%
Oothodox: 68%
Haredi: 91%
Rate of Jewish Israelis Believing That All RESIDENTS of a Conquered Enemy City Should Be KILLED:
Secular: 31%
Traditional: 60%
Oothodox: 59%
Haredi: 63%
I was COMPLETELY DISGUSTED by these poll results and wrote the following response tanka
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXC1: "Ezekielian vision"
a dream, and yet ....
in Gaza's mass graves dry bones're
reshaped into skeletons
the skeletons filled out with flesh
then they stand on their feet, alive
FYI: The title of CXCI: "Ezekielian vision" and the imagery of Ls 2-5 allude to Ezekiel's vision of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
And Survey Researchers:
Shay Hazkani, professor of history and Jewish studies at the University of Maryland
And professor in the History Department of The Pennsylvania State University
Published in
Haaretz, May 28 : Yes to Transfer: 82% of Jewish Israelis Back Expelling Gazans
Twenty years ago, Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, the spiritual father of the 'hilltop youth,' sketched out his vision for destroying Israel's democratic institutions and establishing Jewish supremacy. After October 7, it seems that his vision is coming to fruition
Religious interpretations play a key role in shaping these views. Nearly half (47 percent) of respondents agreed that "when conquering an enemy city, the Israel Defense Forces should act as the Israelites did in Jericho under Joshua's command – killing all its inhabitants." Sixty-five percent said they believed in the existence of a modern-day incarnation of Amalek, the Israelite biblical enemy whom God commanded to wipe out in Deuteronomy 25:19. Among those believers, 93 percent said the commandment to erase Amalek's memory remains relevant today.
Two months ago, Supreme Court Justice David Mintz rejected a petition by the human rights group Gisha to order Israel to supply humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Mintz, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Dolev, asserted that this was a "war of commandment" just like in the Torah. He effectively authorized the denial of food, water and medicine to 2 million Gazans. The ruling, joined by Supreme Court President Isaac Amit and Justice Noam Sohlberg, a resident of the Alon Shvut settlement, is already taking its toll...
The educational system, part of the second shell, has become a workplace where Jewish teachers promoting universal values risk dismissal (Arab teachers have long been familiar with this danger). Scholars of education point to a sharp shift in the curriculum's nationalist, ethnocentric direction since the second intifada. It has led to growing support for expulsion and extermination, especially among those who completed their education in the past 20 years.
Some 66 percent of those under age 40 support expelling Palestinian citizens of Israel, and 58 percent want to see the army follow the path laid down by biblical Joshua in Jericho. A generational gap in political positions is not an unusual phenomenon, but in Israel, it has widened greatly since 2000.
Some see the shock and anxiety that gripped the Israeli public in the wake of October 7 as the only explanation for this radicalization. But it seems the massacre only unleashed demons that had been nurtured for decades in the media and the legal and educational systems. Zionism, besides being a national movement, is also a movement of immigrant-settlers, seeking to displace the local population. Settler-immigrant societies always encounter indiscriminate violent resistance from indigenous groups. The desire for absolute and permanent security can lead to an aspiration to eliminate the resisting population. Therefore, virtually every settlement project has the potential for ethnic cleansing and genocide, as indeed happened in North America in the 17th through 19th centuries or in Namibia in the early 1900s...
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXCII: "a bag of flour"
written in response to
Haaretz, June 1: "31 Killed, 170 Wounded in IDF Strike Near Gaza Aid Site"
a bag of flour
on the muddy roadside
just beyond reach
of an old Gazan's hand
in a pool of blood
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXCIII: "smell of decay"
the smell of decay
blends in with the sewage
and piles of trash ...
swarms of rats on the march
in Gaza's smoky night
