Three weeks into the war that Israel is waging on the Gaza strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is insisting that it is “the war of all civilized states” and that “barbarians and ISIS must be fought,” in reference to Hamas.
Since the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood by Al Qassam Brigades on October 7, Benjamin Netanyahu has made sure to promote the “civilized world” against “the barbarians” narrative, considering the ongoing war a struggle between “good” and “evil” in order to justify the systematic genocide in Gaza which he is leading.
Demonization of Hamas and the “Clash of Civilizations” Narrative
During a press conference he held along his Romanian counterpart Marcel Ciolacu on October 17, Benjamin Netanyahu stated that “the war in the Gaza strip is the war of all civilized states,” adding that “we are not only waging our war, we are waging the war of all civilized states and civilized nations."
Netanyahu was also keen on demonizing Hamas, presenting it to the world as part of ISIS and a barbaric organization “that commits brutal, inhuman crimes,” the annihilation of which is paramount to peace in the region.
On October 21, when he met Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides, Netanyahu described the war he launched on Gaza with Western support as “the battle of civilization against barbarism."
Netanyahu did not stop there. During a press conference on October 30, he said: “As a civilized world, we will not build a better future unless we fight the barbarians, because their goal is to destroy our sanctities and take us to a world of darkness and terror."
“This is a turning point for the leadership and the nation. It is time to decide if we want to fight for the promise, for hope, or to surrender to tyranny and terror," he added.
The Far Right Supports the Clash of Civilizations Narrative
During a visit to Israel, French extreme far right politician Eric Zemmour said that the war Israel is waging against the Hamas movement is “a great civilizational battle, it is also our battle."
“I came here to tell the Israelis that their battle is our battle, that it is a great battle of civilizations,” he said according to French newspaper Le Parisien.
In a recent interview on the CNews television channel, French philosopher Michel Onfray deemed the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas to be a war of civilizations and of religions, namely a war between western and oriental civilizations, between Muslims and Jews.
The philosopher, who embraces extreme right-wing ideology, said that “it is a war of civilizations, there are Muslims and there are Jews”, citing Samuel Hungtingon’s “Clash of Civilizations.”
American Presidents who Embraced the “War of the Civilized World” Narrative
Former U.S. President Donald Trump also embraced the narrative of a war between “civilization” and “barbarism” to describe the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
During the Republican Jewish Coalition summit that took place at the end of October in Las Vegas, Trump said that “the conflict between Israel and Hamas is a battle between civilization and savagery, between decency and depravity, and between good and evil."
Misbar has found that the U.S. President Joe Biden has also embraced the “war of the civilized war” narrative. During a phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu in January 2023 following a shooting that killed 7 Israelis near a synagogue in occupied Jerusalem, he said that “it was an attack on the civilized world."
The Old, New Clash of Civilizations Narrative
Ali Menjour, a narrative that Zionism founder Theodor Herzl embraced and wrote about in his books and diaries.
Menjour added in an interview with Misbar that Herzl wrote in one of his books: “We will be there (in Palestine) to build a Western civilized state to face savagery."
Menjour pointed out that Herzl promoted the idea of “establishing a state with a Western civilized trait in Palestine, in order to obtain Western support to establish the Jewish state in Palestine rather than Argentina."
“Civilization against barbarism is indeed the main idea that Israel will embrace to convince the world and justify the acts of genocide and displacement it will carry against the inhabitants of Gaza and the West Bank too," Manjour underlined.
He also believes that these are “racist terms with which the Zionist entity tries to demonize and humiliate its opponent as well as seize Palestinian lands and focus on the civilization against the forces of evil and darkness narrative."
Amnesty International Condemns the Use of Racist Terms Against Palestinians
In a report published on October 28, Amnesty International has condemned what it described as the use of “racist and humiliating terms against the Palestinian people by prominent Israeli officials."
The organization said in its report that Israeli government and military officials are using a humiliating and racist vocabulary against the Palestinians. As an example, Amnesty referred to a racist tweet published by the official account of Benjamin Netanyahu on “X,” in which he stated that “this is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle."
The organization also referred to a statement by National Security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on October 17, in which he said that “as long as Hamas does not release the hostages it holds, the only thing that will enter Gaza will be hundreds of tons of explosives from the air force and not a single gram of humanitarian aid."
This narrative that Israel is promoting and world leaders are embracing comes as human rights organizations say that Israel has committed and is still committing war crimes against the Palestinian people.
Human Rights Watch, in a report published on October 27, said that Israel has committed war crimes during its latest war on Gaza, through continuous bombing of inhabited areas in the Gaza strip.
The organization said that Israel used white phosphorus, a chemical substance that has an incendiary effect when it is in contact with oxygen, causing terrible and severe burns, in neighborhoods full of inhabitants.
Human Rights Watch found that “Israel practices apartheid and racial segregation, both considered crimes against humanity, against millions of Palestinians, in addition to the systematic repression of the inhabitants of Gaza, which is part of these continuous crimes."
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