They say talk is cheap\u2014but this is talk that kills.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
By Richard (RJ) Eskow, The Zero Hour Report<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our thoughts may shape our words, but our words also shape our thoughts. Excerpts from a new Israeli book show how the words used to justify the Gaza genocide both reflect and degrade its moral conscience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These words dehumanize Palestinians\u2014but they dehumanize their speakers even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Haaretz<\/a> reports that a new Hebrew-language book, \u201cLexicon of Brutality,\u201d has compiled such common Israeli expressions as \u201cdepopulation\u201d(i.e., genocide), \u201cvoluntary emigration\u201d (ethnic cleansing), \u201ckill zone\u201d (self-explanatory), and \u201cAmalekites\u201d (meaning people whom God has said must be exterminated, according to scripture.)[1]<\/a>Other phrases in the lexicon include \u201cno uninvolved people in Gaza,\u201d \u201cstarvation,\u201d \u201ctransfer\u201d and \u201cNakba 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the book\u2019s authors, Adam Raz, also marveled at his nation\u2019s changing attitude toward \u201clooting.\u201d Israeli soldiers commonly looted Palestinian property in the first Nakba, Raz told Haaretz, but \u201cit was nothing to boast about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToday,\u201d he says, \u201cthere are videos of soldiers looting that are almost pornographic. That is, they see it as something positive. They expect to earn cultural capital from their looting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A previous Haaretz article discussed a hit Israeli hip-hop song entitled \u201cHarbu Darbu\u201d\u2014which, the newspaper explains, means \u201cwar and blows\u201d in Arabic. The recording describes Gazans as \u201ca bunch of mice fuckers coming out of the burrow\u201d and, of course, as \u201cSons of Amalek.\u201d It also implicitly threatens a list of people that includes Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid and British singer Dua Lipa[2]<\/sup><\/a>, both of whom have criticized the genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These words, deeds, and chants serve to both reflect and inflame the lust for killing. They strengthen and perpetuate the iron will to exterminate. The language of brutality is an instrument of war, no less than a gun or a bomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What, then, are we to make of the West\u2019s language\u2014with its soft tones and occasional gentle rebukes, accompanied as always by the uninterrupted flow of weapons?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any attempt to deny the reality of genocide is worse than absurd. Israel admits it openly. \u201cWe intend to take control of the entire territory,\u201d says<\/a> Netanyahu. We are \u201cdestroying everything that\u2019s left of the Gaza Strip,\u201d says his finance minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Netanyahu has made it clear that any slow trickle of humanitarian aid will be purely for show. \u201cOur best friends in the world \u2013 senators I know as strong supporters of Israel \u2013 have warned that they cannot support us if images of mass starvation emerge,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note that all-important word: \u201cimages.\u201d The images<\/em> of mass slaughter and starvation make his US and European supporters look bad. Those images have even forced Israel\u2019s backers in France, Canada, and the UK to publicly chastise it. Their recent statement<\/a> says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Note the use of the future tense. Babies and other innocents are dying every hour. <\/em>If \u201cconcrete actions\u201d aren\u2019t needed now, how long do they plan to what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n For his part, President Trump floated a plan<\/a> that appeared to relocate Palestinians out of Gaza. Forced expulsion constitutes ethnic cleansing. Trump said later<\/a>, however, that \u201cnobody is expelling any Palestinians\u201d under his plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s advisors have said he\u2019s distressed by the humanitarian crisis, and he has publicly distanced himself from Netanyahu. But US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says he\u2019s \u201coutraged\u201d at the three countries\u2019 gentle reproach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And US weapons are still flowing to Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the media continues to underplay the catastrophe. Great Britain\u2019s state-run BBC undermined the credibility of Gaza\u2019s health ministry by describing it<\/a> as \u201cHamas-run\u201d after it reported that 57 children had already died from malnutrition. It failed to note that the health ministry is largely staffed by civil servants and that its figures have been found reliable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BBC also pushed back on a UN official\u2019s recent statement that 14,000 babies were at risk of dying from malnutrition within 48 hours. It pointed out, correctly, that this figure came from a recent report warning of 14,000 infant deaths over the coming year. But this \u2018brave\u2019 act of investigative journalism failed to provide some all-important context: at that rate, nearly 40 babies may already be dying every day. <\/em>That averages out to roughly one infant death every 38 minutes\u2014or 270 every week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The New York Times<\/a> didn\u2019t even go that far, writing only that \u201ca U.N. spokeswoman did not defend the claim.\u201d It didn\u2019t mention the earlier report at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019d think that a report which says that 270 babies could be dying every week would generate some serious media attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You would be wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They say talk is cheap, but the rhetoric of genocide kills. We now know that it comes in two forms: the language of brutality, and the language of hypocrisy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not sure which one is worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MAY 23, 2025 (progressivehub.net) |IN ACTION They say talk is cheap\u2014but this is talk that kills. By Richard (RJ) Eskow, The Zero Hour Report Our thoughts may shape our words, but our words also shape our thoughts. Excerpts from a new Israeli book show how the words used to justify the Gaza… Continue reading Hate Speech<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nImages of Genocide<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Outraged<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Head Count<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Genocide Spoken Here<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n[1]<\/sup><\/a>1 Samuel: \u201c<\/strong>Now David and his men went up and raided the [other tribes] and the Amalekites. Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes.\u201d<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Deuteronomy 7: \u201c\u2026 and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.\u201d<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Deuteronomy 25: \u201c\u2026 you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!\u201d<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
[2]<\/sup><\/a> The song\u2019s appropriation of hip-hop\u2014a Black musical form\u2014makes it a work of cultural as well as physical colonization.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"