Everyone has no-doubt heard of the Israeli respondse to a killing of civilians in Gaza in their one-liner "intentional harm to civilians, especially children, is strictly prohibited". Well, a recent study from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue followed the use of another set piece heard in this conflict.
The analysis is on the digital spread found thus of ‘no innocents’ rhetoric which holds Palestinians collectively responsible for the actions of Hamas and claims there is no distinction between civilians and combatants.
During the peaks of 23 October and 27 November 2023, the share of high-traction posts supportive of ‘no innocents’ rhetoric likewise rose, reaching 90 percent during the week of the first peak and 75 percent during the week of the second peak compared to 68 percent overall.
"This indicates that Hebrew-language dehumanising discourse spiked directly before/ following Israeli military escalations, encouraging and pre-emptively justifying civilian casualties."
The third peak followed the Israeli operation around Nuseirat Camp on 8 June which rescued four hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians. Israeli journalist Almog Boker argued that all of those killed in the operation were “fully involved” because they did not inform the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of the hostages’ location.
The report goes on... Quantitative analysis shows 817 (67.8 percent) of the most shared 1,200 Hebrew-language posts supported ‘no innocents’ rhetoric. Approximately two-thirds featured straightforward ‘no innocents’ discourse (538 posts, 44.8 percent of the total dataset) while the remainder sought to extend guilt to Gazans beyond those directly involved with Hamas (279, 23 percent of the total dataset). 202 Hebrew posts (16.8 percent) were critical, although this increased as a percentage of overall volume over time.
By contrast, most English-language posts were critical. Between October 2023 and February 2024, 76 percent of posts criticised supporters of ‘no innocents’ rhetoric, especially high-profile Israeli decision-makers and commentators, military forces and commentators from the US and Germany. One notable exception was September 2024, when the share of critical posts fell sharply to 39 percent while 61 percent of posts were supportive.
Their conclusions...
By extending the category of ‘guilty’ or ‘involved’ beyond combatants, ‘no innocents’ discourse undermines basic norms and distinctions, encouraging and justifying violence and hatred. The impact of ‘no innocents’ rhetoric is most acutely felt in Gaza but it supports reciprocal violence: previous ISD research has documented the ‘myth of the Israeli civilian’ narrative, which characterises Jewish Israeli civilians as legitimate military targets.
The promotion of dehumanising rhetoric also risks inflaming tensions and polarisation beyond the region. The conflict has triggered a surge in reported anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate online, while antisemitic hate incidents have risen dramatically in the UK and US. Examples include the killing of a Palestinian-American child in October 2023, the shooting of three Palestinian students in Vermont in November 2023, the fatal shooting of two Israel Embassy staff in Washington D.C. in May 2025, and a firebombing attack targeting a June 2025 rally for Israeli hostages in Gaza which killed a woman.
Framing Palestinians as an alien ‘other’ and undermining basic norms around the equality of human lives compounds the risk of violence against Muslim, Arab and Jewish communities globally. Defending universal human rights and norms while combatting dehumanising rhetoric is not just critical for Israel and Palestine, but also for the peaceful co-existence of different communities outside of the region.
Dehumanizing your “enemy” is how you get support and power. In quotes because many enemies are scapegoats.
Hamas does it. That bothers me, but everyone knows it. Israel does it (as does every country at war), yet they call folks antisemites for pointing it out. That bothers me - perhaps even more - because it is self-defeating.
@trollslayer You're right on that. One can't see the wood for the tree any more. I try to point to general Petraeus and his effective dealings in Iraq and there's nothing but the same sort of insults thrown back at me. My guess is that there's indeed much more going on than one sees on the surface. The point is that unlike back in WW2 there was someone like Marshall or Ike that did slap Patton down whenever it was morally needed. There's no morality left any more in the conflict, and that's the key to solving the whole mess. Of course, like many others I'm more urged to turn to amorality in the sense of switching off and let them achieve their messianic mission. It's staggering how some are now so shameless in their utterances
@NativePortlander1970 Lebanon was totally FUBAR in the 80’s w the Maronite’s , Druze, etc.. all fighting each other . Beirut has been a bucket list place for me for decades . I hope one day to go there.
