Eid Musleh, a researcher in the Israeli affairs

The racial incitement practiced by the Israeli media discourse is clearly translated by the long series of massacres the Palestinian people have been facing during the past decades, the last of which was the assassination of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh.

In this article, we will highlight the pillars of the Israeli aggressive attitude against the Palestinian people. The focus will be on the religious and military pillars of this attitude in order to realize how the religious concepts and heritage can be employed in this aggressive attitude.

First: Bible

In the Bible, the Israeli aggressive behavior is summarized in what is said in the Book of Ezekiel: "Go through the city behind him, hit him, don't pity him, and don't excuse the Sheikhs, virgins, children nor the women. (Ezekiel, 9, p. 4-7).

Moreover, in the Book of Deuteronomy, it is said "when you get close to a city to fight… don't exclude a person from it" (Deuteronomy, 2, p. 10). Here, they said that God orders them not to pity the non-Jews. "Don't make your eyes pity them…" (Deuteronomy, 7, p. 17).

Second: Talmud

The Jewish Talmud, along with the Bible, can be described as racial and violent. It calls for killing, destructing, and not having mercy on the non-Jews. Through reading several Talmudic and biblical texts, it is clear that the behavioral values of the Bible and Talmud are discriminatory.

In the Talmud, it is mentioned that it is fair to kill whosever is non-Jew, whosever does not belong to Judaism is non-Jew, and whosever sheds man's blood makes an offering to get close to God. It also orders them to kill the non-Jewish good men, and deny them from helping anyone that is non-Jewish. Moreover, it is stated in the Talmud what indicates that the difference between Jews and non-Jews is like the difference between human beings and monkeys.

Third: Role of the Zionist Political Elites in Shaping the Israeli Aggressive Attitude  

Yitzhak Shapira, an Israeli rabbi, says in the book of "Bible of the King" that "it is not supposed to only kill the fighters who participate in any war against Israel, but it is a must to kill any citizen in the opponent country." Thus, it can be said here that the sharia of the Israeli military behavior is derived from the religious ideologies and texts, Shapira employed them in mobilizing the Zionist audience.

The depth of this impact can be realized in shaping the awareness and perception of the military and political elites through analyzing their statements, which were feeding the Israeli conscience with justifications of violence and brutality against the others.

Moshe Dayan -one of the executive and ideological pillars of the Israeli security doctrine- the impact of the biblical dimension was present and clear in what he said: "even if we own the Bible and consider ourselves the people of Bible, we have to own the lands mentioned in the Bible" (Garaudy, Roger, p. 41).

Within the same context, Menachem Begin stated "we were promised of this land, and we have the right to it" (Garaudy, p. 225)

Also, the former Prime Minister Golda Meir believes that "the establishment of Israel is just an embodiment of the divine promise, and it is silly to be asked to prove its legitimacy after that."

Fourth: Instinct of Revenge and its Role in the Israeli Aggressive Attitude

The instinct of revenge is the religious, theological justification that stands behind "the Israeli aggressive attitude," which has become a doctrine in the Zionist minds, according to the former Prime Minister Moshe Shareet's point of view. He believed that "their loss of control over aggressiveness, which he named as "instinct of revenge" was planted in its owners' souls until it became a holy moral value! (Shahak, p. 133).

The depth and extent of the "instinct of revenge" or the "tendency of aggressiveness" can be noticed through the bloody massacres and events and the military operational orders given by the political and military elites.

The overwhelming desire to take revenge from the Arabs used to be the reason behind the occupation army's massacres, including the massacres of Deir Yassin, Kafer Qassem, and Al-Tantora. It also stands behind the assassination of the Palestinian revolution's leaders, Hamas leaders, and the long list of journalists, who were targeted recently; the last of which was Shireen Abu Aqleh.

The brutal way Shireen Abu Aqleh was assassinated shows that there is something deeper that the desire to revenge only; it refers to the presence of an ideological formation behind this attitude which paved a bloody way for committing such crimes.