Demonization. The banality of the thought struck me on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, Tuesday, April 14, 2026, starkly raising rhetorical why questions. The question disturbs hours of my days and nights: how does any individual defining himself or herself as Jewish perpetrate crimes against humanity, against Palestinians in the West Bank?

I presume most Jews presume to identify with messages we should all learn from the Shoah. If “never again” should apply to all humankind, if Israel coming to the rescue in places where it has no diplomatic relations but a natural disaster occurred and Israel can help and does, reflects some shared, collective values, then it is only dehumanization of Palestinians that can allow rationalization by any Jews that their evil is not at odds with their values.

What cannot be done to other human beings can be done to Palestinians because those who so believe do not consider Palestinians human beings. Dehumanization strips this perceived enemy population of human status. Despite that logic, sensibly resolving how any Jew can do such things, my questions remain unanswered: how can Jews go to such extents to dehumanize others, why?

Late afternoon, in a hardly characteristic manner, I watched a television interview of MK Yitzhak Kroizer, a far-right politician from Ben-Gvir’s party. The interviewer attempted challenging him. Maybe he would rescind or contextualize a statement in some way to........

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