How Did Netanyahu Turn the Ordinary Israeli Citizen Into a Killing Machine?

In 1996, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen’s book proposed a radical reinterpretation of Holocaust history. Goldhagen argued that the Nazi genocide was facilitated primarily by a deep-rooted form of "satanic anti-Semitism" ingrained in German society.

He suggested that Hitler and the Nazi regime merely provided ordinary Germans with the opportunity to act on preexisting, virulent genocidal tendencies.

Despite its popularity, Goldhagen’s thesis has faced substantial criticism from Holocaust scholars. Critics argue that his simplistic, reductive approach overlooks the complex historical processes enabling systematic mass murder.

Hilberg identified two critical weaknesses in Goldhagen’s thesis, stating that not all the shooters were Germans, and not all the victims were Jews.

Drawing parallels between historical events and contemporary issues is fraught with complexity. After months of relentless Israeli aggression on Gaza, numerous accounts of indiscriminate killings, mass executions, systematic rapes, and videos of soldiers boasting about destroying civilian infrastructure, it might be tempting to attribute a similar "demonic" hatred to Israeli society, rooted in the history of Zionism.

Militarizing Society

While these observations reflect certain truths, they fail to capture the entirety of the situation.

The technological advancements used by the IDF, including AI for targeting long-range bombs, and the composition of the IDF as a popular army reflecting a wide cross-section of Israeli society, complicate the narrative.

Atrocities committed by individual soldiers, interpreted by Israeli media as a result of “lax rules of engagement," suggest a bloodier picture.

It implicates both the Israeli state and society in acts that can be characterized as genocidal, though it remains a multifaceted phenomenon influenced by factors both systemic and individual. 

Despite these differences, a common thread runs through these events, making comparisons inevitable.

Goldhagen's work, despite its distortions, has provoked useful discussions on the current manifestations of the Zionist project and its impact on the attitudes of "ordinary Israelis" involved in the conflict.

Examining the foundational doctrines of Zionism—from Jabotinsky’s “iron wall” to Yosef Weitz’s transfer committees, the Nakba, and the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza—it becomes difficult not to see these as the logical outcomes of Zionist settler colonialism.

This ideology has seemingly permeated Israeli society, leading to particularly severe manifestations today.

This perspective gained traction when the military police arrested nine Israeli soldiers suspected of gang-raping a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention center.

The ensuing protests by Israelis, who hailed the soldiers as “heroes,” and the subsequent Knesset debate over the legality of raping Palestinian prisoners, highlighted a troubling societal attitude.

Moreover, this internal media narrative has been actively shaped by the Israeli government and politicians, who have played significant roles in inciting the conflict.

Yet, this incitement fell on fertile ground. The shock of October 7 primed Israeli society, allowing the Zionist regime to capitalize on this event, making both society and state co-conspirators in the ongoing aggression.

War Crimes

The humanitarian atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers in Sde Teiman prison are not new revelations.

From the onset of the ground invasion of Gaza, Palestinians have been reporting these events, some captured on camera—largely ignored by Western media—while most went unrecorded but were consistently reported by eyewitnesses.

Accounts from survivors reveal a wide array of brutal practices demonstrating significant personal initiative by Israeli soldiers.

In November, Palestinians described how soldiers sniped at children in their mothers’ arms as they fled along Salah al-Din Street, forcing mothers to leave their children by the roadside.

Disabled individuals were compelled to walk unassisted, and those who fell were made to crawl through checkpoints.

Some civilians were stripped and forced into trenches, where they were either shot or left to sit among bodies before being allowed to continue their journey.

In February, Gaza residents recounted how Israeli soldiers and drones indiscriminately shot at people, often killing mothers and children as they fled.

In March, soldiers fired on starving Gazans seeking aid from food convoys, resulting in what became known as the “flour massacre.”

There were also widespread reports of Israeli soldiers arbitrarily abducting and torturing civilians. Some were taken to remote locations, stripped naked, and forced to return to their shelters through war zones. Others were used as human shields or bait.

During the first invasion of Shifa Hospital in November, soldiers shot medical staff and patients attempting to evacuate. Those who tried to help were also shot, their bodies left to decompose.

In the second invasion in March, soldiers shot patients in their beds and doctors who refused to abandon them. People were divided into groups with colored bracelets, and hundreds of civil servants were executed as they gathered to collect salaries.

At Nasser Hospital, mass graves discovered in April indicated executions of staff and patients, some with medical equipment still attached.

These accounts barely scratch the surface of the broader military strategy, which includes deliberate famine engineering, bombing bakeries, and aid convoys, targeting hospitals, bombing civilians on evacuation routes, and widespread economic and healthcare destruction.

Torture, rape, and humiliation in Israeli prisons, along with the bombing of entire neighborhoods, further illustrate the extensive violence.

Genocidal Society

Months after Palestinian testimonies emerged, some Israeli and Western media outlets published corroborating reports from anonymous Israeli soldiers and officials.

In May, CNN reported on torture at Sde Teiman prison, followed by the New York Times in June, detailing similar accounts, including rape.

+972 Magazine has also reported on AI systems used to target civilians deliberately.

In March, Haaretz described IDF personnel shooting unarmed civilians in designated “killing zones” without regard for engagement rules, freely shooting anything in sight, even identified civilians.

A July report by +972 confirmed this open-fire policy, detailing how soldiers labeled dead civilians as “terrorists” and how field commanders often turned a blind eye to soldiers' actions, allowing widespread atrocities.

This narrative reveals a complex picture: perpetrators of genocide exist at all levels of the military hierarchy.

While it serves the Israeli occupation to portray these acts as aberrations in military policy, the “lax rules of engagement” and clear incitement to violence by Israeli leaders suggest otherwise.

Israeli leaders understand their society; Netanyahu’s reference to “Amalek” and President Chaim Herzog’s statement that “There are no uninvolved civilians in Gaza” were interpreted as tacit endorsements for revenge.

This desire for revenge did not emerge in a vacuum. Pre-existing racism against Palestinians played a role in dehumanizing them, further inflamed by widespread propaganda following the events of October 7, capitalizing on the anger and desire for revenge among Israelis who would soon be drafted to carry out the military campaign.

Historically, the Israeli occupation might have been content to maintain Palestinians as second-class citizens under apartheid, gradually pushing them into smaller enclaves.

However, the Zionist aim to replace the indigenous population entirely means genocide remains a potential strategy, especially when faced with significant resistance.

The events of October 7 challenged the Israeli occupation’s security doctrine and its image as an invincible force, leading to a response of unprecedented severity.