Zionist Talking Points“Exactly one year ago, on the night of Tisha B’Av, I was sitting in a Hamas tunnel, and I chose to fast,” Berger began.
This article’s narrative frames a personal tale of endurance in the face of adversity as a larger metaphor for the Jewish people’s resilience. The wording subtly legitimizes the State of Israel’s actions by aligning them with a history of Jewish survival and resistance against oppression. The use of euphemistic language, such as “strengthening our identity” instead of asserting territorial claims, masks the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is also worth noting the implied legitimacy of the State of Israel without acknowledging the structural issues that suppress Palestinian voices and rights.
The article also presents the Jewish struggle against “hatred” as an illogical phenomenon, thereby decontextualizing the conflict and obscuring the political and territorial disputes at its heart. The call to “reconnect with our roots” subtly implies a sense of rightful ownership over disputed territories. The narrative portrays the speaker’s captivity as a symbol of Jewish resilience, thus casting the State of Israel in a similar light – as a victim of circumstance rather than a participant in a complex political conflict.
“The faces of hostages, Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, say it all,” Herzog noted. “Forced to dig their own graves. Tormented with execution. Starved, tortured, wasting away in Hamas’ terror tunnels.”
The article employs emotionally charged language to depict the suffering of Israeli hostages, framing it as an act of cruelty by Hamas. This characterization sidesteps the broader context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the conditions that led to these circumstances. The article also employs the euphemism “starves the people of Gaza” instead of acknowledging the impact of the Israeli blockade on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The narrative further implies legitimacy of Israeli actions, as Herzog appeals to “world leaders” to ensure aid reaches civilians and not “terrorists,” presenting a simplified view of the conflict. This framing obscures the structural issues at play, such as the blockade’s role in creating Gaza’s dire humanitarian conditions. The claim that Hamas “rejoices as it succeeds in distracting the world from their own crimes against humanity” reinforces the narrative of Hamas as the primary perpetrators of violence, without addressing the violence enacted by the State of Israel.