Link to Video
MEHDI HASAN, ZETEO, OCT 20, 2024
Northern Gaza is under brutal assault right now. The charity Save the Children says “what we’re seeing now in Gaza looks like the depths of hell.” Palestinian journalists on the ground say the people there are being “exterminated” by the Israeli war machine.
This is what a genocide in the 21st century looks like. It is happening in plain sight. And therefore, we can’t say we weren’t warned, or we didn’t know.
We here, at Zeteo, have tried to sound the alarm – and expose the nature of this genocidal war.
With your incredible support, we have done a great deal of original journalism since our official launch in April: newsy scoops, exclusive interviews, podcasts, and more. Thank you.
But perhaps what we’re proudest of is the documentary we released in August, ‘Israel’s Reel Extremism’. It’s a film that highlights how most of Israeli society has embraced what Zeteo contributor Diana Butto has called “genocide fever.”Produced by the award-winning documentary-makers at Basement Films in the UK, the 40-minute film features exclusive interviews with some of the Israeli soldiers who filmed horrific and dehumanizing TikToks in Gaza, as well as challenging interviews with far-right politicians, pundits, and settlers in Israel.
Author and Zeteo contributor Naomi Klein calls it an “extraordinary investigation” while Israeli-American Holocaust historian Omer Bartov says it a “must watch” film.
So, have you watched ‘Israel’s Reel Extremism’ yet? And if not, what are you waiting for?
Transcript
00:09 To everyone who is asking why there are no lessons in Gaza. Oops, we forgot to tell you. Good job, good job.
00:19 Since the war in Gaza started, Israeli soldiers on the front line have been broadcasting the devastation and their dehumanization of Palestinians on social media. From a tank technician who boasted he crushed a Palestinian man seen through his viewfinder, to the torture of captives, the destruction of buildings, universities, hospitals, and the torturing of homes.
00:49 all circulated and amplified among Israelis back home. While terrorizing Palestinians and a world that has watched the horror of Gaza unfold in real time. I want to find out what these disturbing videos reveal about Israel. from the soldiers on the front line. To the media that dehumanizes Palestinians. To the right wing politicians who defend them.
01:25 The IDF soldiers are the most moral soldiers in the world. to the radicalized activists who want to resettle Gaza. These images were shot by an Israeli soldier on duty in Gaza. What they don’t show is the human side of the devastation. But gardens are also sharing their images of unimaginable suffering.
02:21 More than 35,000 Palestinians killed and more than a million people displaced from their homes. But Israelis fighting on the front line have been posting videos on social media sending an emphatic message. They’ve taken back control. I’ve worked in Israel for two decades, but I’ve never seen Israel’s Jewish citizens so deeply traumatized,
so vengeful.
03:03 On October the 7th, Hamas posted their horrific attacks on social media, terrorizing Israelis. More than 1,100 people were killed. More than 250 were taken hostage. Since these atrocities, Israelis have united in their war effort and have chosen to view their own version of this war.
I tracked down Ron Kami, known by his influencer name Barefoot Ron, back home in Tel Aviv. He’s an army reservist whose TikToks from Gaza have garnered millions of views.
03:56 So, Ron, tell me about your experience in Gaza and the videos you took. So in Gaza, I was surprised that the buildings are still standing. Like, you know, everyone say the airstrikes are bomb every day and all the tanks are bomb every day. But you understand there is so many houses in Gaza.
It’s so small place with so many people. You can’t take down every building in Gaza. But Rom referred to a UN school which soldiers did destroy and he posted for content. We were in a UN school and every room was broken.
SCREAMING
I just post it, it’s 10 seconds video and became viral and all the Palestinians take it and say they’re laughing about the UN school.
05:00 And when you’re posting videos from Gaza, do you have to get permission to post them from your commander? There is a, it’s called BAM, like a unit that checks the videos.
I ask for permission. But I know the rules. I know what you can upload, what to show, what not to show.
And actually, yeah, the unit needs to see the video first. I ran twice in Gaza, and my commander was very… They want me to do it.
I think it’s part of the war. You think it’s part? Part of the war. Part of the propaganda war? To terrorize the enemy? Yeah.
06:08 I asked Rom about this now notorious image of a wounded and bound Palestinian captive. The Israeli army has described this as a field questioning, not torture. It told us where suspicion of a criminal offense arises, an investigation is opened by the military police. I think the guy in the chair, I think he’s good.
because it’s good for that image to be seen you think yeah because we want even if
he’s in a torture situation yeah of course because it’s part of the war and we want our enemy will see it because we want our enemy will be scared from us and we’ll see what happened that everyone that mess with israel you won’t believe where my
unit found this weapon next to this school there is a house where we found two Soldiers are also posting videos with weapons they claim to have found. We could not independently verify these videos. Either way, can decimating entire neighbourhoods and posting about it online ever be justified?
07:17 The UN report says it will take 80 years to rebuild 370,000 homes. Well, you know, in this situation now, the world was told by Israel that his army was targeting Hamas. Yeah. But when they see some of these videos that are coming out, posted by soldiers,
do you understand that some people have the impression that it’s actually not trying to destroy Hamas, but trying to destroy Gaza? Do you understand why people have that impression?
Yeah, for sure. What is the story you believe?
07:57 In the wake of October the 7th, and with so many hostages still in captivity, Israeli public opinion has remained strongly in support of the brutal assault in Gaza. The majority even believe the military was using too little force. The once small but vocal Israeli peace movement has all but disappeared.
All this as the International Criminal Court has requested five arrest warrants for war crimes. From Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his defense minister. From Hamas, it’s Gaza leader Yair Sinwa and two others. Now the most mobilized activists in Israel are radical groups like Sav Teisha, led by Reut Ben Haim.
Today they’re trying to block vital food aid getting to Gaza.
She’s sharing her message to her online followers.
09:04 Okay, a few more hours, terrorists, cowards, are going to spy on these trains, and to make fun of them.
They don’t blame the trains, they blame the honor of the people of Israel, they blame us.
From where does this small terrorist organization have the ability to continue to hurt the people?
From where? Because we hate them.
They’re on their way to Nitzana, one of three aid entry points into Gaza that remain open. According to one Israeli think tank, two thirds of Jewish Israelis oppose the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza residents. What I can’t understand is how a mother of eight is trying to block food to starving children in Gaza.
10:00 How’s your baby doing? It’s hard, but I can stay at home. Are you not concerned that by blocking the aid going to Gaza, a lot of Palestinians who are already suffering are starving?
It’s a wrong question, OK? Because the aid gets to Hamas. The aid goes to Hamas.
We hit a roadblock with the border police. There’s blurred lines between Reut and those there to enforce the law. But mom is still on her mission to get to the border. Since the beginning of the onslaught in Gaza, the delivery of food has been weaponized. In March of this year, UN experts called out Israel’s imposed starvation.
11:05 The first item of the ICC arrest warrant request says Prime Minister Netanyahu and his defence minister bear criminal responsibility for the starvation of civilians in Gaza. Hunger, terror, death. There’s no respite for the Palestinians. One of the most notorious social media videos from Gaza is of an Israeli soldier, face blurred, holding a banner advertising a barbershop.
Beside him, three bound and prone Palestinians, presumed dead. This is Ido, the barbershop owner, who lives just outside Tel Aviv.
This is his team. Two days before they left for Nisiga, They caught three volunteers who planned to attack the place where they slept. And at that moment, he sent me a message that not only am I alive,
12:10 I am alive and present, and with God’s help, your business will be alive and present. This is the flag of my store.
Here are three volunteers who were arrested.
So that’s your brother, and then there’s the dead here. No, no, they’re not dead. They’re dead. But in this video, here, you see the people, but they’re not moving. They’re not moving. If you see, look, look, a dead person, you didn’t put your hands like that and they’re dead. But they’re not moving in the video.
They’re not moving at all. So how can you be certain that they weren’t killed?
Yeah.
13:10 Okay? Do you understand that people around the world are shocked by this video and other videos coming out?
I showed a video that conveys hope, conveys a very clear message to my people. I don’t think it’s a problem to smile when you catch the same person who, on the contrary, thinks you need to smile. There is no way to verify the identity of these Palestinians.
13:54 The Israeli army told us it examines events and videos of this kind and handles them with disciplinary measures. It added, where behavior of the soldiers is inappropriate, it is handled accordingly. These soldiers’ videos from the front line are also gaining traction on mainstream TV. This is a special forces operator, Hen Cohen.
His viral videos from Gaza landed him a spot on one of Israel’s most popular national bulletins.
We bought this kitchen, of course.
15:12 I’m trying to understand the motivation behind these humiliating videos from everyday Israelis, guys like this who fit your kitchen. and I came to show the Israeli people as well, the kitchen in Gaza, as a part of protecting the integrity during a war. Some of them find it interesting because it gives them a good feeling to see that
we are in Gaza and that we are winning,
and some of it gives them a sense of belonging to the private space of the Hazatis, or that Israel is invading
We’re missing a bit of the tunnel, we’re missing the microwave, we’re missing the stove, we’re also missing the cooler, but we have integrated hands and fans. It’s clear that there’s a sense of superiority. Every day I go with a sense of superiority towards Gaza.
16:09 That’s why I’m in the place I’m in, and they’re in the place they’re in. They’re busy digging tunnels and making bombs and killing themselves and us, and we’re busy with life and medicine and development and economy and businesses and family. Who doesn’t feel superior to them?
No door is locked, there are no doors, the immigrants can’t get rich because they don’t exist, I asked him if he’s not worried about the impact of the soldiers’ viral social media posts. Personally, I really don’t care, and I don’t think I should be alive the day after in Gaza. So it doesn’t concern me, this point.
17:14 Does it matter? Will they return? Will they not return? What will be there? I don’t think I should stay in this place alive. I want to find out more about the link between the soldiers’ social media posts and the mainstream media. I’ve come to Channel 14, Netanyahu’s channel of choice.
This is Itamar Fleischman, panelist on The Patriots Show, one of Israel’s most influential talk shows. Their ratings and fandom have skyrocketed since October the 7th. I’m afraid. He says everything that’s true. How important is this program for Israelis? It’s the only show that I watch. It’s the only channel that I watch. The news is the truth.
18:10 You can’t trust any other channel. I trust them. This clip from Itamar on The Patriot Show caused a stir online. Is your show popular with soldiers? Do they feel encouraged by you? Tell me about that. Tell me about the response. We get many, many videos of soldiers watching the show on the front lines.
These are our brothers, our sisters, our cousins. They are older. And what are they saying to you about the program? Keep it up. Keep it up. Keep pushing us. Keep pushing us forward. Keep insist on the right of Israel to fight this war. I am a servant of our soldiers.
19:02 Anything they need, I will be there for them.
Why do you say it’s great? Because the bomb is going to go off in one second.
Yes. Yes, don’t cross our border. Every place that was complicit in this crime will be destroyed in this way. But that’s a huge amount of civilian infrastructure as well, isn’t it? I will again advise you to go to Gaza and see for yourself what is the meaning of civilian infrastructure.
To everyone who asks why there are no studies in Gaza, Here’s a soldier saying that they’ve destroyed the university.
20:00 There’s no more education now in Gaza. You think the education in Gaza was something you need to preserve? Burning of houses. Yeah. And there’s a… Any connection to this tribe would be destroyed. Do you find it humiliating? Maybe humiliating. As I told you before, I don’t see any problem with humiliating the Palestinians.
There is nothing wrong with humiliating. It doesn’t matter what we do. It will always be the response of the West. We are exaggerating. But we are walking against. We are genocidal thoughts. I return to the activists blocking the aid. It seems the echo chamber between the Israeli mainstream media and social media is
21:15 encouraging this kind of direct action. Riot and her team have reached the crossing point into Gaza.
Riot’s live stream continues at the border fence.
As she tends to her baby, I meet another activist from the group.
So have you managed to block the gate now? Yeah, the gate is closed, as you can see here. We closed it, and the gate will remain closed until they evacuate us if they manage to. The aid is being blocked, people are starving, and Israel’s responsible for that. The ones who are responsible is Hamas.
22:11 They are the legitimate government of Gaza. They need to take responsibility. We are at war. It is a war. And I want Israel to win that war. And we need to put pressure on Hamas. And this is the right and the most efficient way to do so. For the Saftesha group, their blocking is a success.
No aid trucks got through that day. In the ensuing weeks, local media identifies some activists from the group ransacking aid trucks. Individuals within the Israeli forces reportedly tip them off about where to target. Young settlers also stepped in, beating up drivers, looting aid, and even torching trucks heading to Gaza. The extremism reflected in these activists,
23:09 both online and in the mainstream media, is coming from the top. From the prime minister himself, calling up biblical references of brutal retaliation.
Remember what Amalek did to you, we understand.
To his defense minister.
We are firing a specific fire on the city of Gaza. And his far-right coalition partner, Itamar Ben-Gavir, seen here at a rally in this clip, shared online.
I went to speak to the influential former minister, Ayelet Shaked. She’s been echoing some sentiments of the ultra-nationalist voices in government. Soon after October the 7th, you gave an interview on Israeli TV, where you said that the Palestinians of Gaza should be removed, right? No, I didn’t say that.
24:14 With God’s help and with the help of the IDF, we will also turn the camp into a football field. I’m sure there will be international pressure at some point, yes, I hope that after we finish the mission, to settle Gaza and what to do with Gaza. And then we need to overcome it,
to overcome the destruction that we will face, to overcome it, to destroy the countries of the world, that each one will take a share.
We need two million to migrate. So, really, this is the solution.
But you also said that Khan Yunus should be flattened, turned to a soccer field. Khan Yunus is a terror city, and the IDF already did the job there. So you asked for it to be flattened, yeah? Not flattened, but the IDF… You said turned to a soccer field. But the IDF did a good job there.
25:03 Can you explain about the posting by many soldiers of… what they’re up to in Gaza on social media. Is that something that’s supposed to boost the morale of the troops and Israeli society? So the IDF soldiers are there for many months. Some of them try to laugh a bit, but I’m really proud of the IDF soldier.
They are really the most, the best and the moral soldiers in the world. I mean, there’s images like this being put all over social media. These images you’re proud of? I asked Shaked about the soldiers posing with looted lingerie from deserted or destroyed homes.
The UN has said that over 10,000 women have now been killed in Gaza.
In lingerie, wearing his lingerie, celebrating. Those are soldiers. You need to show pictures of soldiers that were decapitated by Hamas, not to show a picture of a few soldiers that make laugh after six months that they are in war. No, but there are many videos where, you know, soldiers are with captives.
26:21 Do you see those motherfuckers, my nephew? Those motherfucking sons of bitches?
Come on, get down, son of a bitch.
There’s videos where they’ve shown that they’ve tortured captives. They didn’t torture captives. You are lying. You are lying, and I… You are lying. They are not torture captive. This is a video where an Israeli French soldier… They are being investigated. Those murders are being investigated by the IDF.
The IDF soldiers are the most moral soldiers in the world. And I don’t… And I don’t… I don’t… I can’t accept the fact that you are sitting here and sell lies.
27:06 Did you see this little son of a bitch? Look, he peed on himself. Look, I’ll show you his back, you’ll remember, look. They tortured him. Did you see his back?
That soldier said that these captives had been physically abused and he was showing the abuse on the back of the captive. They didn’t physically abuse. It’s a war. War is a dirty thing. But our soldiers, they are doing this process because of the atrocities that Hamas did on October 7.
When you fight the Nazis, you are much more brutal. Believe me. In this volatile climate, extremists who were once considered fringe are becoming more mainstream, emboldened by the rhetoric they hear. These settler youth espouse a messianic ideology. Joseph de Bressa, one of the leaders, bears the symbol of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane,
28:18 whose party is outlawed as a terrorist group. So this painting is like a dream, like a dream of your return. But how are you going to go back there? There are Palestinians there, living there. First of all, there is no such thing as Palestinians. There is no such thing.
In the world, we think there is such a thing. There are Arabs. There are Arabs. Palestinians are bullshit. There is Syria, Jordan, Egypt. There are no Palestinians.
You don’t think there’s any such thing as Palestinians? They’re plotting to move into a devastated Gaza and re-establish the disbanded Israeli settlements. Their mission is championed by Kahane’s ideological successors in the Jewish Power Party, now in government and led by Israel’s controversial security minister, Itamar Ben-Gavir.
29:34 Here he is in a video that went viral on social media and drawing international ire. Ben-Gavir is seen dancing in celebration with other coalition ministers at a conference calling for the resettlement of Gaza. I follow Yosef and his group to a pro-war rally outside Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem.
How much do I think we need to kill until there is Hamas? If we need to kill a million, a million. Either me, my brothers, my friends and my family will die, or the Yazidis will die. Yosef is trying to push his extremist settler agenda on the back of a clamor for military escalation.
30:33 This rally is calling for the invasion of Rafah, the only designated safe zone in Gaza.
And meet an army reservist who had just come out of Gaza. We want the prisoners to return, only with military activity in Gaza, we will return the prisoners. Not in a mass, but with military activity. We are not here to kill from crime, but this is a war zone, a war zone. In a war zone,
31:07 I am not supposed to find a wife and children, to find in a house where there is a terrorist.
To get a better understanding of how and why Israel’s become so radicalized, I’ve come to meet Merav Zonshine, an Israeli journalist and commentator.
the Israeli leadership and the Israeli public didn’t think about the occupation, didn’t talk about Palestinians. Gaza was the last place that they thought about. And they were in such a process of sweeping it under the rug and dehumanizing Palestinians. I mean, they blockaded a place that is one of the most densely populated places in the
world for almost 20 years. And it wasn’t an issue in Israeli politics or news. It just wasn’t an issue that came up. And so the dehumanization was so extreme that they didn’t even think that Palestinians had agency. to respond or to resist or to, you know, when you push somebody for so long,
32:13 it’s natural that that is going to explode. And now that everybody understands that they do exist and that it is back on the table, then they are very, very vengeful. And, you know, the social media stuff, I think, is just unfortunately a part of how wars are now waged.
What are you seeing in the Israeli media in terms of civilian casualties? What do you actually see?
What do you not see? You don’t see images of starving Palestinian children the way you do on social media or in other outlets.
You don’t see it on the evening news. Nothing. Almost nothing. The media here is basically an arm of the state. It’s mostly propaganda. So the military journalists, they present what the IDF presents. They almost never challenge or refute or question what they’re being told. But when people see these postings on social media of Palestinians who’ve been
33:08 tortured or postings mocking dead Palestinians, they accept that. They accept that’s part of our situation. In general, the way the army is acting in Gaza is there’s going to be major questions. There already are questions of whether it’s genocide. I mean, I don’t think they understand just how bad.
And the reason I think they don’t understand it is because Israel has been able to act with impunity for a very, very long time. Israel hasn’t had… Israeli soldiers never have to pay consequences for their actions. And, you know, part of the opposition to Netanyahu and his far-right government is the concern
over time that soldiers are going to be implicated for war crimes. I’ve got access to a man with unique insight into the prime minister and the mounting accusations of war crimes against Israel. as his bodyguard, Amid Raw, seen here in news footage, would have once taken a bullet for his old boss.
34:06 But he’s become a leading voice against what many have called Netanyahu’s attempted judicial coup. Netanyahu is trying to avoid jail. So everything we’ve seen before October 7th is all about limiting the power of the courts and applying pressure on them so he will be able to avoid jail.
Netanyahu’s leadership over the war in Gaza has polarized the country. After two and a half months of very intensive war in Gaza, the IDF, the Shabak, came to Netanyahu, the world, of course, came to Netanyahu and say, what’s the plan? What’s the day after plan?
And he refused to have this discussion, even in the cabinet, the war cabinet, even in the government. He refused to have this discussion because he knows that the extreme right, the racist part of his government, the moment he does something like this, they will crush his government. It’s a miserable failure. Israel is losing the world.
35:11 Our hostages are not back. Hamas is not defeated. And Netanyahu knows it. He creates infinite damage to the brand Israel for his political, personal reasons. Downtown Tel Aviv, people are protesting over Netanyahu’s leadership, calling for a change in government. The visceral pain for the people killed on October 7th is palpable here tonight,
as is the desperation for the return of the hostages. But one woman’s placard stands out in a country often so consumed with vengeance. It says, look in the occupation in the eye. Like me, believe that you can have empathy for both sides. You need to have a solution for both sides. We are very, very shocked and…
36:27 We are against it. We are against what the Israeli military is doing. It’s reassuring to see some Israelis still have the Palestinians in mind. But the issue for Israel now goes well beyond the occupation. It goes to allegations of genocide. For Amidra, a military stalwart, even as soldiers post their wrongdoing,
blaming them rather than the politicians is a red line. There’s been a ruling by the ICJ, as you know, about genocidal acts. Don’t blame the Israeli army for genocide. Definitely blame the Israeli government for wrongdoing and not giving instructions. The Israeli government is totally responsible for not a lot of killing that should not have happened. Yeah,
37:20 and by the way, one of the reasons why I like to talk about war crimes, because those war crimes eventually will take down this government. Because no matter how you look at it, every member of the Israeli government is responsible for war crimes, and those war crimes will chase them for the rest of their life,
no matter what. You have members of his government, you know, a convicted terrorist, Itamar Ben-Gvir. They have a very clear messianic agenda of actually taking Gaza, bringing it over and building settlements over there. Since I’ve left Israel, the country is sliding further into turmoil. The Qahaneh settler youth have been repeatedly trying to get through the border fence.
38:05 Part of their plan, to resettle Gaza. All this brazenly posted on their social media.
After today there was an attempt to settle in Gaza, we are going to settle it with God’s help. The soldiers’ posts have become more frequent, more disturbing.
Barefoot Ron reached out to say he didn’t agree with some of the views in this film. He’s carried on posting videos from Gaza. I leave Israel shocked by my time here. Why did Israel’s military commanders allow these images to be published? And why did huge numbers of Israelis share them?
39:09 What does it say about Israel that extremists previously on the fringes And now in government, their far-right incitement echoed within the media, in turn radicalizing wider society. And how will the killing and dehumanization of so many Palestinians ever allow for peace, ever allow for justice?
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