Norman Finkelstein to Middle East Eye: “You Promise Them Cheese… Then Shoot Them” — Israel’s Brutal Sadism at Gaza Aid Points
July 1, 2025
“YOU PROMISE THEM CHEESE… THEN SHOOT THEM.”
Norman Finkelstein calls out the sick, brutal sadism at Gaza aid points — where Palestinians are lured with hope, only to be met with violence.
How has such cruelty become so normalized in Israeli society? Finkelstein struggles to put it into words, saying only a novelist could truly capture this horror.
This isn’t just war. SHARE!
@middleeasteye
#NormanFinkelstein #GazaUnderAttack #Palestine #FreePalestine
English Script:
Norman Finkelstein: The only image that keeps leaping to my mind. It’s a mouse trap. You have these famished, starving people. You promised them a little cheese. They’re like the showers in Auschwitz. You promised them a little cheese. And then when you get there. the Israeli army shoots them. Gleefully, gleefully. You know, people don’t want to hear that. But remember what the opposition leader in Israel said: “Our mission is to ensure that Israel remains a sane country that does not kill children either as a hobby or as a policy”. He said our soldiers are killing children as a hobby. Then there was the poll about three weeks ago, which found that half of Israelis support genocide in Gaza. The question was, do you believe that when Israeli soldiers conquer a city, they should kill everybody in the city? That was the question. Not complicated. We don’t need a dictionary. 47% of Israeli Jews said yes. It was pure sadism. You know, we could sit here, talk about it. But really, it would require a novelist to capture the sadism of this. I can’t find the word, monstrous? Pathological? It’s very hard to capture it.
