We read in ARA that the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said that "Israeli forces should 'kill thirty or forty' Palestinians every night in Gaza, in addition to those who may pose a danger at this specific moment." He said this in a podcast he recorded with Rom Braslavski, who is a man who was kidnapped by Palestinian militias. By this I mean that in that tumultuous land, where there are several "chosen peoples" (each one of them the true one), there are few who are completely innocent.
However, this sentence, said like this, in a recorded conversation, is one of the most terrible things I have heard in a long time. Here, what makes you think of absolute evil is this "thirty or forty." The imprecision, precisely, is what turns these future dead Palestinians into nothing human. If he had said: "Israeli forces should kill at least ten Palestinians every night" it would be monstrous, of course. But this delightful "not knowing" is much more monstrous. Thirty or forty. Like when you go to the bakery and you haven't finished deciding how many cream buns you want and you say "five or six." It's the same five as six. And here too. It's the same thirty as forty. As if we were talking about a plague, a herd, heads of cattle. That two people die is more important than a couple of people dying. That twenty-four Palestinians die is more important than a dozen Palestinians dying. The end of the sentence emphasizes that these thirty or forty should die separately, damn it, from those who may pose a concrete danger. That is, like flirting. A preventive and hygienic thing. And above all, above all, systematic and orderly. Every night, which is easier. Therefore, in a week we would have about 210 or 280 fewer Palestinians.
