Israeli state-backed celebration of settler violence obscures systemic dehumanisation of Palestinians in Gaza

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.