Racist and genocidal: Zionist leaders and cheerleaders in their own words

By David Miller 

Although they spend a lot of time and resources pretending that they are "democrats" and not racists, Zionists are often, especially in a crisis situation, very clear about what they believe.

We see settlers regularly on the streets of occupied Palestine chanting provocative slogans such as “may your village burn”, and "death to Arabs" and also calling for a second Nakba. 

But the racist and genocidal nature of Zionism goes right to the top. 

What follows is a series of inflammatory and deeply racist statements by Zionists, all uttered after 7 October 2023 and the launch of the Al Aqsa Storm (also known as Al Aqsa Flood) operation by the Hamas-led Palestinian resistance. 

"I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals."

Yoav Gallant, Israeli military affairs minister, 9 October 2023

"Israel needs to increase the humanitarian pressure on the Gaza Strip so that eventually hundreds of thousands of hungry and thirsty Gazans will break through the Rafah crossing." 

Tzachi Levi, Israel National News, 20 October 2023

"I am very puzzled by the constant concern which the world, … is showing for the Palestinian people and is actually showing for these horrible inhuman animals who have done the worst atrocities that this century has seen." 

Dan Gillerman, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, 25 October 2023

"We are sons of light, they are sons of darkness. And light will prevail over darkness.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, 25 October 2023                 

"Do not leave a stone upon a stone in Gaza. Gaza needs to turn to Dresden, Yes! Complete incineration, No more hope…. Annihilate Gaza Now! Now!" 

Moshe Feiglin, leader of the libertarian Zionist party Zehut, former Knesset member, 26 October 2023

"If we were dealing with humans, we’d send humanitarian aid, but we’re dealing with animals."

Rabbi Meir Mazuz, October 2023

"It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, 12 October 2023.

"You have to be very careful. Let me tell you we are going to finish this war, we are going to win, because we are stronger.  After this Russia will pay the price.  Russia will pay the price.  Russia is supporting the enemies of Israel.  Russia is supporting Nazi people who want to commit genocide on us. And Russia will pay the price."

Amir Weitmann, a senior member of Likud party, on RT, 19 October 2023

"This is not Auschwitz – This is Hamas! We are not fighting against humans - we are fighting monsters! Israel will not stop until Hamas is destroyed! This is what I said at the General Assembly podium when I showed footage of Israeli civilians burnt alive by Hamas and of Hamas savages."

Gilad Erdan, Israel ambassador to the United Nations, 26 October 2023

“Are you serious asking about Palestinian civilians? What's wrong with you?”

Former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett on Sky News after being asked - "What about the babies in incubators in Gaza whose life support has been turned off because the Israelis have cut off the power", 12 October 2023

"Right now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 48. Nakba in Gaza and Nakba to anyone who dares to join!" 

Ariel Kallner, Likud party, member of the Knesset

"Be triumphant and finish them off and don’t leave any behind. Erase the memory of them Erase them, their families, their mothers and their children. These animals can no longer live." 

Ezra Yachin, 95, former Stern Gang terrorist, now back in the occupation forces. October 2023

These are only a sample of the many genocidal statements issued by Zionist leaders and cheerleaders from the past month alone. 

Many more can be found online in various useful threads, compilations and videos.

How Israeli settlers derive their privileges from oppression of Palestinians

This cruelty, permeating throughout the Zionist political body, reveals that the colonial occupation and the benefits derived from it are something from which all Israeli settlers or citizens benefit.

The epidemic of genocidal statements in the period after October 7 has shocked the world and rightly so. But, of course, Zionism has always been an ideology and a practical movement that is intrinsically racist and inherently genocidal. 

To establish a “Jewish state” in historic Palestine, Zionists deemed it necessary to find a way to eliminate the natives either by killing them or forcing them to leave.

In his 1896 book The Jewish State, a foundational text for the Zionist racist movement, Theodor Herzl explained that the Zionist movement should appeal to European imperial powers to support the creation of a "Jewish state" in Palestine. 

To help bolster support for Zionism among European imperialists, Herzl presented Zionism as a civilising mission, saying, “To Europe, we would represent a part of the barrier against Asia; we would serve as the outpost of civilization against barbarism."

During his trip to Palestine in 1898, Herzl said that “large-scale drainage operations and the elimination of swamps ... could make [Palestine] habitable [for Europeans]” and that, “Such Arabs, as are immune to the fever, might be used for the work”. 

He went on to say “If we move into a region where there are wild animals to which the Jews are not accustomed – big snakes, etc. – I shall use the natives, prior to giving them employment in their transit countries [i.e. before they are deported], for the extermination of these animals.”

In April 1905, at a talk in Manchester, England, leading Zionist ideologue Israel Zangwill said, “[We] must be prepared .... to drive out by the sword the [Arab] tribes in possession … or to grapple with the problem of a large alien population, mostly Mohammedan”.(Masalha, The Politics of Denial: Israel and the Palestinian Refugee Problem, Pluto Press 2003: 15)

The Council of the Jewish Agency responded to the 1938 Peel Commission by constituting a Population Transfer Committee, to plan the compulsory removal of Palestinians, to take place, as they put it, not “by preaching ‘sermons on the mount’ but by machine-guns”.(Porter et al. (eds), Faith in the Millennium Sheffield Academic Press 2001: 79)

Later, in 1941, Ben-Gurion, the Labour Zionist leader and first Prime Minister of the Zionist entity said, “It is impossible to imagine general evacuation [of Palestinians from the land] without compulsion and brutal compulsion”. (Masalha: 19)

Today the ‘brutal compulsion’ continues as the Zionists try and finish the job of eliminating the natives either by killing them or by forcing them out into the Sinai or Jordan. 

It’s not just the “far right”, it's not just the revisionists, it's not just the centrists, it's not just the labour Zionist tradition, it's not just the “socialist” Zionists.  

Zionism at its root is a racist and genocidal ideology. It must be eradicated.

David Miller is the producer and co-host of Press TV’s weekly Palestine Declassified show. He was sacked from Bristol University in October 2021 over his Palestine advocacy. 

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV)

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