How seriously bad the Israeli policies in Gaza are

Dahlia Scheindlin is a leading Israeli political analyst who has written extensively about the authoritarian trends in internal Israeli politics. (1)

She has also made pointed and well-informed criticisms of Netanyahu’s war policies.

In a July 15 piece in Haaretz (2) – one very worth reading in full - she writes about the Netanyahu government’s plans under implementation for “humanitarian city” for Gaza Palestinians, i.e., a concentration camp with a massive expulsion of Palestinians being planned.

Netanyahu’s Likud Party is committed to annexing the West Bank:

Right there in the December 2022 coalition agreements between Likud and Religious Zionism, signed by representatives of each party on each page, the text establishes that "the prime minister will lead the planning and advancement of a policy framework for applying sovereignty in Judea and Samaria..." (using the biblical terms for the West Bank).

And:

[T]he government may be explicit but also launders words, i.e., lies; such as the defense minister and others referring to Rafah plan as a "humanitarian city." There is nothing humanitarian about it.

But ... the lie hardly matters, because the government has been so clear about its aims for the people of Gaza. Katz has already established a "voluntary migration authority," which is functioning and searching for countries willing to accept masses of Palestinian emigrants (so far with almost no success).

And, yes, we’re looking at serious crimes being committed by Netanyahu’s government and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF):

[T]his is a war crime. Sixteen top Israeli scholars of international law published an open letter to [Defense Minister Israel] Katz and the IDF Chief of Staff, copying Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, her deputy, and ministerial legal advisors. The four-page letter provided detailed "unambiguous" legal arguments that demonstrate why the plan represents a "manifestly illegal order "which soldiers must refuse to obey, according to the Israeli "black flag" legal doctrine dating back to the 1950s.

It gets worse. "Executing this plan ... would represent a list of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and under certain conditions, it might fall under the rubric of the crime of genocide."

Linah Alsaafin adds the following observation about the IDF’s deliberate targeting of children to be killed:

How does one begin to explain, let alone comprehend, Israel's disproportionate and deliberate targeting of children?

With its advanced weaponry, surveillance and control over the population registry, these killings are not accidental - they are codified into policy.

From the earliest days of this genocide, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoked the biblical story of Amalek to justify mass killing in Gaza, including children.

The killing and maiming of children - still a war crime under international law - has been given full legitimacy, and even encouragement, through the rulings of Zionist rabbis and the rhetoric of Israeli government ministers. [my emphasis]

Notes:

(1) Sheindlin, Dahlia (20235): The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel: Promise Unfulfilled. Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter.

(2) Sheindlin, Dahlia (2025): Concentration Camp, Illegal Orders and War Crimes: Israel's Madmen Have a Grim New Plan. Haaretz 07/15/2025. Link to full article: <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-07-15/ty-article/.premium/concentration-camp-illegal-orders-and-war-crimes-israels-madmen-have-a-grim-new-plan/00000198-0dac-d5b0-ab9f-6ded7b240000?gift=0d1d8dd7f73d42ccb893780ddfdde503> (Accessed 16-07-2025).