Anti-Palestinian incitement and racism can be found throughout Israeli society, from football matches and op-ed pages, to universities and the highest levels of elected office. The dehumanisation of Palestinians and rejection of their basic rights flows from, and has provided justification for, decades of settler-colonialism and occupation.
Palestinians are portrayed routinely by Israeli politicians, academics and religious leaders as barbaric, a “demographic threat” and a “problem” to be
managed. This affects public attitudes; according to one study, 60,000 active Israeli social media users posted at least one racist item against Arabs in 2016, at a rate of one post every 46 seconds.
This factsheet is just the tip of the iceberg, with a focus on the rhetoric of government ministers and officials – from various political parties – in recent
years. While Palestinians are routinely jailed by the Israeli authorities on the grounds of anti-occupation “incitement”, there is clearly impunity for anti-
Palestinian racism both in Israel itself and, regrettably, on the part of Israel’s friends and allies.
