Time for a harsh truth: even with Netanyahu gone, the killing won’t stop in Gaza | Owen Jones

Israel's election has ended Benjamin Netanyahu's majority, but the killing of Palestinian children will continue as mainstream politicians across the spectrum view them as legitimate targets. Moshe Feiglin, a far-right politician recently elected to Israel's legislature, declared: Every child, every baby in Gaza is the enemy. He has also called for more Palestinian babies to die and for Gaza's entire population to be expelled.

Feiglin formed an alliance with Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right finance minister, which Netanyahu welcomed as an important union. These views are not isolated extremism but reflect mainstream opinion. According to polling, nearly eight in 10 Jewish Israelis agreed with the statement that there are no innocent people in Gaza.

Systematic targeting

Israel has waged what Save the Children describes as a war on children. A UN independent commission concluded that Israeli forces had deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children. According to Palestinian health ministry figures, nearly 22,000 children in Gaza have been killed since Israel began its assault, including at least 1,100 under the age of one.

Opposition complicity

Leading figures in the opposition are bitterly opposed to cooperating with Palestinian-led parties. Yair Lapid, deemed a centrist moderate, declared: There will be no government with the Arabs again after 7 October. Avigdor Lieberman, an opposition leader and possible kingmaker, stated: There are no innocents in Gaza. Nissim Vaturi, a Likud politician, claimed: Gaza is full of terrorists and every child born there is already a terrorist, from the moment of his birth.

Meirav Ben-Ari, a politician from Lapid's centrist party, exclaimed: The children of Gaza have brought this upon themselves. Gadi Eisenkot, the main opposition leader, is associated with the Dahiya doctrine, which advocates disproportionate force. During the 2006 Lebanon war, nearly 400 children were killed – more than a third of the total killed.

Documented atrocities

The UN commission report documented cases including a 10-day-old baby shot in the head while breastfeeding, a 15-year-old boy shot dead while waving a white flag, and two 16-year-old girls shot in the head while attending a wedding. Amit Halevi, a Likud politician, claimed that 300 terrorists were born in the maternity ward during Israel's assault on al-Shifa hospital.

Naftali Bennett, another leading opposition politician, defended Israel's shoot-to-kill policy against Palestinians crossing the Gaza boundary, stating: They are not children – they are terrorists. When asked about babies in incubators facing loss of electricity, he replied: Are you seriously – keep on asking me about Palestinian civilians?

Continued violence

As Israeli politicians engage in horse-trading, their soldiers continue to slaughter children. This week alone, a 13-year-old boy was killed alongside his father in an Israeli airstrike on a shelter in Gaza, while Israeli soldiers shot dead a 14-year-old boy in the West Bank.

The dehumanization of Palestinians is so extreme that even their youngest, most defenseless members are regarded as legitimate targets by leading figures in both government and opposition. Only huge external pressure offers any hope: from a total arms embargo to sweeping sanctions. White South African society did not abandon apartheid out of conviction but faced resistance at home and mounting pressure from abroad until it felt it had no choice.