Editing Dehumanization (section)

===Israelis and Palestinians===
Dehumanization has been a persistent and influential factor in the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]], contributing to intergroup hostility and serving as a strong predictor of support for violence across both societies.<ref>Alexander Landry, Isaias Ghezae, Ramzi Abou-Ismail, Sarah Spooner, River J August, Charlotte Mair, Anya Ragnhildstveit, Wim Van den Noortgate, Michele J Gelfand, and Paul Seli. “The Uniquely Powerful Impact of Explicit, Blatant Dehumanization on Support for Intergroup Violence.” ''Journal of Personality and Social Psychology'', 2025. doi:10.1037/pspi0000492.</ref> In protracted conflicts by high levels of insecurity and entrenched group identities, boundaries between in-groups and out-groups often become more rigid, which reinforces psychological separation and facilitates dehumanizing attitudes.<ref name=":82">{{Cite journal |last1=Jamie L. |first1=Goldenberg |last2=Courtney |first2=Emily P. |last3=Felig |first3=Roxanne N. |date=January 2021 |title=Supporting the Dehumanization Hypothesis, but Under What Conditions? A Commentary on Over (2021) |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32348710 |journal=Perspectives on Psychological Science: A Journal of the Association for Psychological Science |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=14–21 |doi=10.1177/1745691620917659 |issn=1745-6924 |pmid=32348710}}</ref> Dehumanization has been identified as a central mechanism in sustaining violence in protracted conflicts, which reinforces collective victimhood identities, legitimizes hostility and perpetuates cycles of violence and retaliation.<ref name=":9">Joana Ricarte, “Historical Memory, Cultural Violence, and Conflict: The Genealogy of Dehumanization in Israel and Palestine.” In ''Memory, Trauma and Narratives of the Self''. United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2024. doi:10.4337/9781035337972.00017.</ref>

Empirical research has found that both Palestinian and Jewish Israeli participants who expressed dehumanizing views of the other group were more likely to support retributive forms of justice and violent measures, as opposed to restorative or conciliatory approaches.<ref name="Haslam201424">{{cite journal |last1=Nick |first1=Haslam |last2=Steve |first2=Loughnan |date=3 January 2014 |title=Dehumanization and Infrahumanization |journal=Annual Review of Psychology |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=399–423 |doi=10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115045 |pmid=23808915 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Historical examples of dehumanization in Israeli society include comparing Palestinians to the biblical “sons of [[Amalek]]”, a tribal group portrayed as inherently evil.<ref>Jay Martin, “The Vicissitudes of Empathy: Reflections on the Israel-Palestine Conflict.” ''Journal of Genocide Research'', 2025, 1–17. doi:10.1080/14623528.2025.2458400.</ref> Dehumanization contributes to the justification of exclusionary and violent policies, with studies linking dehumanizing attitudes to public support for measures such as population transfers amongst segments of the Israeli population.<ref name="Haslam201424" /> Dehumanizing narratives have also historically appeared in nationalist slogans, such as the early [[Zionism|Zionist]] phrase "[[a land without a people for a people without a land]]", which is interpreted as a symbolic erasure of Palestinian peoplehood.<ref name=":33">{{Cite journal |last1=Bruneau |first1=Emile |last2=Nour |first2=Kteily |date=2017-01-01 |title=The enemy as animal: Symmetric dehumanization during asymmetric warfare. |url=https://doaj.org/article/12402d4ab66240a8a6c50c403cf0b8bf |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=12 |issue=7 |pages=e0181422 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0181422 |doi-access=free |pmid=28746412 |pmc=5528981 |bibcode=2017PLoSO..1281422B |issn=1932-6203}}</ref> Dehumanization has been used not only to deny the humanity of Palestinians but also to undermine their historical presence on the lands.<ref name=":10">Zouheir Maalej and Aseel Zibin. “Metaphors They Kill by: Dehumanization of Palestinians by Israeli Officials and Sympathizers.” ''International Journal of Arabic-English Studies'' 25, no. 1 (2025): 201–22. doi:10.33806/ijaes.v25i1.693.</ref>

During the 2014 Gaza War, studies found high and comparable levels of blatant dehumanization among both Israeli and Palestinian participants.<ref name=":44">{{Cite journal |last1=Emile |first1=Bruneau |last2=Kteily |first2=Nour |date=2017-07-26 |title=The enemy as animal: Symmetric dehumanization during asymmetric warfare |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=12 |issue=7 |pages=e0181422 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0181422 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=5528981 |pmid=28746412|bibcode=2017PLoSO..1281422B }}</ref> A survey using the "ascent of man scale",<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kteily |first1=Nour |last2=Bruneau |first2=Emile |last3=Waytz |first3=Adam |last4=Cotterill |first4=Sarah |date=November 2015 |title=The ascent of man: Theoretical and empirical evidence for blatant dehumanization. |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=109 |issue=5 |pages=901–931 |doi=10.1037/pspp0000048 |pmid=26121523}}</ref> a common measure of dehumanizing attitudes, found that, on average, both sides rated each other closer to an animal than a fully evolved human when shown a [[March of Progress]] image.<ref name="Bruneau 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Bruneau |first1=Emile |last2=Kteily |first2=Nour |date=26 July 2017 |title=The enemy as animal: Symmetric dehumanization during asymmetric warfare |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=12 |issue=7 |pages=e0181422 |bibcode=2017PLoSO..1281422B |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0181422 |pmc=5528981 |pmid=28746412 |doi-access=free}}</ref> On the scale with "0 corresponding to the left side of the image (i.e., quadrupedal human ancestor), and 100 corresponding to the right side of the image ('full' modern-day human)"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kteily |first1=Nour S. |title=The " Ascent of (Hu)Man " measure of blatant dehumanization |url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Ascent-of-HuMan-measure-of-blatant-dehumanization-Scores-are-provided-using-a_fig1_315981814 |access-date=10 November 2024 |website=ResearchGate |publisher=Current Directions in Psychological Science}}</ref> Israelis on average rated Palestinians 39.81 points lower than their own group and Palestinians on average rated Israelis 37.03 points lower than their own group.<ref name="Bruneau 2017" />

Following the [[October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel|Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023]], dehumanizing language intensified in Israeli political discourse.<ref name=":44" /> Senior officials used animalistic dehumanization through metaphors, such as "rats" and "cockroaches", to describe Palestinians in Gaza, which served to legitimize acts of violence.<ref name=":10" /> These statements have drawn international scrutiny and were cited in legal proceedings at the [[International Court of Justice]] (ICJ) concerning allegations of incitement to genocide.<ref name=":33" /> Dehumanizing content also circulates widely on social media. In Israel, such rhetoric targets not only Palestinians but also left-wing Jewish Israelis, who have been depicted in demonizing and animalistic terms, including "dogs’’, "microbes’’, and "vermin’’.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Harel |first1=Tal Orian |last2=Jameson |first2=Jessica Katz |last3=Maoz |first3=Ifat |date=2020-04-01 |title=The Normalization of Hatred: Identity, Affective Polarization, and Dehumanization on Facebook in the Context of Intractable Political Conflict |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2056305120913983 |journal=Social Media + Society |language=EN |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=2056305120913983 |doi=10.1177/2056305120913983 |issn=2056-3051|doi-access=free }}</ref> Political orientation has also been shown to influence levels of dehumanization, with research indicating that right-wing Israelis are more likely to dehumanize Palestinians than left-wing Israelis.<ref name="Haslam201424" /> 

Dehumanizing [[zoomorphism]]s are found in both [[animal stereotypes of Palestinians in Israeli discourse|Israeli discourse]] and [[Jews and Israelis as animals in Palestinian discourse|Palestinian discourse]]. During [[South Africa v. Israel (Genocide Convention)|South Africa's submission]] to the ICJ that Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinians, the president of the ICJ cited [[Yoav Gallant]] for using the phrase "human animals" in reference to Palestinians.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McKernan |first1=Bethan |date=26 January 2024 |title=Israeli officials accuse international court of justice of antisemitic bias |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/26/israeli-officials-accuse-international-court-of-justice-of-antisemitic-bias |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240126183324/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/26/israeli-officials-accuse-international-court-of-justice-of-antisemitic-bias |archive-date=26 January 2024 |access-date=27 January 2024 |website=The Guardian}}</ref> On the Palestinian side, dehumanization has also been linked to support for violence.<ref name=":9" /> According to Joana Ricarte, dehumanizing perceptions of Israelis have contributed to moral frameworks that legitimized violence, including the attacks of October 7 2023.<ref name=":9" />