What followed was a wave of shooting and arson attacks across 11 Palestinian villages in which a dozen homes and more than 100 cars were torched, thousands of animals were slaughtered, four people were shot dead and scores of others were seriously wounded.
I want to add a word that I never see that needs to enter the mainstream lexicon:
“Pogrom”.
Apparently, this isn’t a commonly known term, although it’s less obscure to Jews. A pogrom is a form of terrorism in which a population decides to get rid of or inflict their hatred on a marginalized ethnic group by routinely rolling through their towns or neighborhoods dolling out unrestrained violence. It is often accompanied by warnings and demands that the population relocate or face constantly escalating barbarism. It’s a form of persistent mass terrorism, usually sanctioned by the state.
Pogroms as a familiar concept emerged as a practice in Russia in the 19th and 20th century toward Jews, though they’re well known to have been used throughout history. Traditionally, Jews have been the historical target of pogroms for centuries, and it’s not a coincidence that Israeli Jews are using these tactics. These are familiar to them. They know exactly what they are doing. This is NOT independent acts of violence, this is a reenactment of atrocities faced by the grandparents and great grandparents of many Israelis Jews.
Pogroms are always horrific and depraved on their own. But the added context that these people are appropriating the weapons of extermination that they know well from the receiving end, it’s just… I don’t quite have the words to capture my horror.
These are pogroms. They are a relic of the medieval era and of the atrocities of the 1800s and early 1900s. They should stay in history, but they are being dusted off with deliberate intent by Itmar Ben-Gvir and the exterminationist wing of mainstream Israeli society.
These are not “Rising tensions” or “Settler violence”, they are POGROMS. We all need to say it.
More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogrom
Yes, to my knowledge this is how pogroms started, against Jewish people. Latter on, the term expanded to other (ethic, religious among others) minorities as well. And for so-so many decades, zionists have been doing pogroms against Palestinians.
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I recommend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensraum
Is this really such an obscure term in English? I definitely remember hearing it in school here in Austria, perhaps in the context of the November pogroms of 1938, but may have been from other contexts too; I don’t remember the details.
I don’t really know. It shouldn’t be, but I have not seen any newspaper report “West Bank pogroms continue to increase post Oct. 7, despite international complaints.”
Pogrom, Settler Violence…
Por que no los dos?
My frustration is that I think terms like “settler violence” misinform people:
the violence isn’t coming from a handful of lone-wolf settlers. It’s state sanctioned.
this isn’t just violence like a bar flight or soccer riot. It’s deliberate, methodical, ethnic cleansing. It is a purposeful atrocity.
We need to hold the whole Israeli government and a bunch of specific NGOs accountable for all of this.
I think we need to better educate people then. Because settler violence is state sponsored by definition. It is ethnic cleansing by definition. It is the exact same violence covered by rational sounding lies that we can see throughout the non European world from 1500 on. It is a very predictable cycle.
Create tension with unpunished crimes, theft, assault, murder, doesn’t matter.
Repeat until the indigenous population lashes out. It does not matter how minor. Even just a threat will do.
Raise a posse and “defend” yourselves against them.
Tell everyone they started it when they lashed out.
Repeat until they’re stuck on reservations under military control and you control the vast majority of the land.
Pogrom.