Opinion: Gaza genocide: Is Israel going mad?

"For it came of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they [the Canaanites] should come against Israel in battle… but that they [the Israelites] should bring them to be exterminated, as the Lord had commanded Moses."

Bezalel Smotrich, finance minister and - in all but formal title – governor of the West Bank, had long been fond of citing this verse from the Book of Joshua to illustrate what he called his decisiveness, or subjugation, plan for Judea and Samaria, the biblical name of that territory.

Thus it was, Smotrich explained, that just as Joshua had warned the Canaanites of what would befall them should they stand in his way, so now he warned the Palestinians of what his plan would entail for them. They faced three choices: remain in situ as "resident aliens" with "inferior status in accordance with [ancient] Jewish law"; emigrate; or remain and resist.

If they chose the third course, he told them, the "Israeli defence forces" would know what to do. And what might that be? "Kill those that need to be killed." What, whole families, women and children? he replied: "In war as in war."

READ MORE: Gaza genocide: Is Israel going mad? Opinion by 
David Hirst