Against the backdrop of the “Individuals' Intifada,” an emotionally charged discourse has been taking place in Israel in recent weeks on the sanctity of life in the eyes of Israelis versus the sanctity and glorification of death among the Palestinians. Had the debate been confined to the social networks, with all sorts of ideological, religious or psychological “explanations” proposed to the conflict, it is doubtful whether this discourse would have been taken seriously. However, the debate emerges from top decision-makers within the Israeli political and security establishments.

The argument often raised is that the Palestinians are readily sending their children to their death and that human life is regarded cheaply in their eyes, while the Israelis bitterly mourn every victim of a terrorist attack and every fallen soldier on the battlefield, seen by Judaism as constituting “an entire world” (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 37a).

Education Minister Naftali Bennett has taken it even further. At the Cabinet meeting Feb. 21, he said that Palestinian parents were not stopping their sons or daughters from going out on stabbing attacks, realizing that if their children get killed, the family was assured of a cash grant and an allowance from the Palestinian Authority (PA). Bennett went on to propose that the funds granted by the PA to the families of terrorists be offset from the tax money collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians. He was unaware that Israel has already been doing just that.

On Feb. 22, at a meeting with bereaved parents in Eilat, Chief of Police Roni Alsheikh compared the way Israelis experienced bereavement with the way “our neighbors,” as he put it, dealt with it. “Their underlying message is that there is no significance to life, and that by pressing a button or pulling a knife, one can move on to a better world and be rid of the challenges of this world,” the chief of police said.