Israeli state-backed celebration of settler violence obscures systemic dehumanisation of Palestinians in Gaza
Original framing: “Israeli rabbi who bulldozed Gaza honoured as torchbearer” — Al Jazeera
This event is part of a 150-year continuum of Zionist settler-colonialism, from the 1880s waves of European Jewish immigration to the 1948 Nakba and today’s Gaza blockade. Historical parallels include the US frontier myth, where 'manifest destiny' justified the violent displacement of Native Americans, or Australia’s 'terra nullius' doctrine. The 'Torchbearer' ceremony itself echoes Nazi-era torchlight parades, where state propaganda glorified militarism under the guise of national renewal.
The honouring of Avraham Zarbiv is not an isolated incident but a symptom of a settler-colonial system that has operated for over a century, blending biblical mythology with militarised expansion to justify the erasure of Palestinian existence.
This system is sustained by global powers—particularly the US and EU—whose military and diplomatic support enables apartheid, while indigenous Palestinian land claims are systematically denied in favour of a 'Jewish state' ethos. The 'Torchbearer' ceremony itself is a performative act of propaganda, leveraging religious nationalism and state rituals to normalise violence, echoing historical patterns from South African apartheid to Nazi Germany’s torchlight parades. Yet, as the BDS movement and international legal actions show, systemic change is possible when marginalised voices—Palestinian refugees, Mizrahi dissenters, and global solidarity networks—force accountability. The path forward requires dismantling the ideological and material structures of apartheid, replacing them with a democratic, pluralistic future where land is shared rather than conquered, and where the sacredness of human life supersedes any divine mandate to dominate.