Israeli media censored calls for genocide at soldier’s funeral
The media covered the eulogies at the funeral of an IDF soldier, but omitted his brother’s call for mass murder • “You entered Gaza in order to take vengeance, as much as possible, women, children, whoever you saw, as many as possible, this is what you wanted” • “God willing, that all the Jewish people will get to avenge you. Blood vengeance, not merely the vengeance of burning houses, not the vengeance of burning trees, not the vengeance of burning vehicles. Vengeance of the blood of the Lord’s spilled slaves! Onwards”
By Oren Persico • the7eye.org • Translated by Sol Salbe
The brother of a soldier who fell in Lebanon eulogised him, stating that the brother had [earlier] entered the Gaza Strip to carry out indiscriminate vengeance against Palestinians, including women and children. Later, the bereaved brother called on the Jewish people to complete his brother’s work and avenge themselves on the bodies of Palestinians and not limit their vengeance to the Palestinians’ property. The media reported on the funeral and the eulogies, but made a point of omitting the calls for war crimes.
On the night between Thursday and Friday, Sgt (res) Shuvael Ben-Natan, 22, a resident of the settlement of Rachelim, who was killed on Wednesday in an encounter with terrorists in southern Lebanon, was laid to rest on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
At the gravesite, his brother Uriah said, among other things: “Master of the Universe, we want vengeance! We want vengeance! You went into Gaza to take vengeance, on as many women, children, whoever you saw, as many as possible, that’s what you wanted. And on this day, a year after that Simchat Torah, when we thought we would slaughter the enemy, massacre everyone, expel them from here from this land, we are here at your funeral, placing you in a grave.”
Later in his eulogy, brother Uriah added: “God willing, may all the people of Israel merit to avenge you. Blood vengeance, not vengeance of burning houses, not vengeance of burning trees, not vengeance of burning vehicles. Vengeance of the blood of your spilled slaves! Oh!”
On Channel 12 News’ Ulpan Shishi [Friday Studio] program, Ruthi Shiloni reported on Ben-Natan’s funeral. Shiloni included some of the eulogy of the mother and father, Rachalim Yeshiva Head, Rabbi Dudu Ben Natan, but without the words of his brother Uriah.
On Channel 13 News’ Zman Shishi [Friday Time] program, Tal Shorer reported on the funeral and even included an excerpt from Uriah’s eulogy, but in the clip that was included, the bereaved brother is seen saying: “We will continue with all our might, in order to strengthen Mum, Dad, the family.” The part in which the brother called for war crimes was not broadcast.
On Kan 11’s Friday News, Orly Alcalay reported on Ben-Natan’s funeral. It included only one general sentence from Brother Uriah: “Master of the Universe, we want vengeance!”
Channel 14, which regularly broadcasts calls for war crimes, does not broadcast on the Jewish Sabbath and therefore did not cover the incident on its news broadcast.
On the Ynet website, Elisha Ben Kimon reported on the funeral and eulogies. Unlike time-limited television reports, Ben-Kimon’s report was extensive and included ample quotes from a variety of eulogies, including Brother Uriah’s eulogy. However, the call for blind vengeance and the murder of the enemy population was not included in the report.
The Ynet report was accompanied by a 13.5-minute video of excerpts from the eulogy at the funeral, including the eulogy of brother Uriah. The call for war crimes was omitted from there as well. The Srugim website, where Oz Israel Schwartz reported on the funeral, also chose to include other quotes from brother Uriah’s eulogy. The same is true on the [settlers’] Arutz Sheva [Channel 7] website, where the full film from the eulogies delivered at the funeral was attached.
Terrible injustice
Some websites did not omit statements made by Ben-Natan’s father and Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, referring to the fact that about a year ago, Ben-Natan shot and killed Bilal Salah in front of his wife and children while they were harvesting their olive field.
According to Ben-Natan, he was attacked with stones by the Palestinians, who countered that it was the settlers who came to prevent the harvest and that the murder was carried out in cold blood. Ben-Natan, who was on leave from serving in the Haredi Nahal Brigade, shot Salah with his IDF weapon and was charged with reckless homicide and unlawful use of IDF-issued weapon.
His father referred to the incident in his eulogy and noted that after an investigation was opened against him on suspicion of murder, he debated whether to continue serving in the IDF, but chose to do so anyway. “Even after you were hit, you outdid yourself, you said, ‘It doesn’t matter, here’s is where the fighting is, so I’m joining along. I want to be with the Jews in their war.’” Dagan said of the incident in his eulogy: “You were vilified with a terrible injustice, including the IDF Spokesperson, which was based on a false statement,” and said that the case against Ben-Natan was closed.
The Discourse of Vengeance
After the October 7 massacre, there were many public calls in Israel for the annihilation of the Palestinians, including by ministers and Knesset members, media figures and pop stars. The discourse of vengeance, in the media and on social networks, was even included in a case brought by South Africa to the International Court of Justice.
The complaint detailed dozens of statements made by a range of speakers, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to singer Eyal Golan, from Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Channel 14 star Yinon Magal, from retired Major General Giora Eiland to fundamentalist commentator Eliyahu Yossian.
At the time, the State of Israel officially distances itself from the statements, declaring in response that “Israel is bound by international law and acts according to it, directing its military efforts against the Hamas terrorist organisation and the terrorist organisations that collaborate with it and only against them” and that “Israel has made it clear that the residents of the Gaza Strip are not the enemy and is making efforts to reduce harm to uninvolved civilians and allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.”
The statements ranged from plain clear calls for war crimes and genocide to general statements permitting the blood of all residents of the Gaza Strip. Most of the quotes cited in the case dealt with the public discourse that labels the entire population of Gaza as terrorists and treats civilians as fair targets.
Uriah Ben-Natan’s statements, with the explicit call to murder women and children and “as many as possible,” to burn not only property but also people, and to do so as part of an IDF military operation, are on the extreme side of the vengeance discourse.
