When Hate Wears the Cloak of Faith: A Note on Gaza’s Nightmare

When Hate Wears the Cloak of Faith: A Note on Gaza’s Nightmare

As Gaza bleeds under relentless bombardment, mass displacement, and starvation, the world watches the unfolding horror with either numbed apathy or strategic silence. But amid the physical destruction lies something even darker: the moral erosion visible in the words of those who claim to speak for God.

In March 2024, Rabbi Eliyahu Mali, head of the Shirat Moshe Yeshiva, openly declared that “everyone in Gaza should be killed — even the babies.” Justifying this with religious law, he explained, “Today he’s a baby, tomorrow he’s a fighter,” reducing infants to future enemies and stripping an entire population of its right to live, simply by virtue of being Palestinian.

This was not an isolated outburst. In October 2023, former Knesset member Moshe Feiglin proclaimed in a televised interview: “There is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza. Flatten the place. Turn Gaza into a slaughterhouse.”

Adding to this chorus of dehumanization, in January 2024, Nissim Vaturi, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, declared: “Any child who is born [in Gaza] now is already a terrorist, from the moment of his birth.” In other words, even the cries of newborns are now treated as acts of war.

And yet — amid all this open and unapologetic incitement — the phrase that continues to provoke the loudest international condemnation, campus bans, and political hysteria is not “Kill the babies” or “Flatten Gaza.” No, it’s this:
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

This chant — at its core — is a cry for justice, for liberation, for the end of apartheid and occupation from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It envisions a homeland where Palestinians are no longer second-class, no longer imprisoned in blockades, no longer refugees in their own land. And yes, for some it may carry radical connotations — as all freedom slogans have done throughout history, from “Black Lives Matter” to “Viva la Revolución.” But if that is extremism, what then do we call the bombing of refugee camps, the starvation of children, and leaders calling for genocide?

Is the chant dangerous because of what it says — or because of who dares to say it?

Universities across the West, institutions that once prided themselves on free speech, now ban the slogan. Lawmakers demand censorship. Social media platforms silence it.

And yet, not one of those same institutions has banned or even denounced the words of Vaturi, Mali, or Feiglin. Evidently, calls to “flatten Gaza” are policy positions — but “Palestine will be free” is hate speech.

These statements are not just rhetoric; they are green lights. When paired with a military campaign that has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly the entire population, and pushed Gaza to the brink of famine, they become a genocidal doctrine. They are not metaphors — they are blueprints.

To remain silent in the face of such explicit hate is to be complicit. These words must not be normalized, excused, or brushed aside as fringe extremism. They are part of the machinery of dehumanization that fuels this catastrophe.

The people of Gaza are not abstractions. They are mothers, fathers, students, doctors, artists — and yes, children who never got to grow up.

The world must decide if it will continue to allow religious fanaticism and racist nationalism to dictate who is allowed to live — and who must die.

We must speak. We must write. We must remember.
Because if even babies are declared legitimate targets, but chants for freedom are banned, then silence is no longer just cowardice — it's collaboration.
And history will remember who raised their voice — and who didn’t.

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