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“Branding the Land” and “Symbol of Hate”: Satellite Images Reveal Star of David Carved into Gaza

“Branding the Land” and “Symbol of Hate”: Satellite Images Reveal Star of David Carved into Gaza

News January 29, 2025
“Branding the Land” and “Symbol of Hate”: Satellite Images Reveal Star of David Carved into Gaza
Gaza (Quds News Network)- Newly released satellite images of what was once farmland in northern Gaza reveal what appears to be a Star of David carved into the ground, with the numbers 7979 next to it, a possible reference to the Israeli military’s 97th Netzah Yehuda Battalion. The symbol of both the Jewish faith and Israel can be seen in images of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Next to the star appears the number 7979, which refers to the Israeli 97th Netzah Yehuda Battalion, an all-male ultra-Orthodox unit. According to research by Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University and Corey Scher of the City University of New York, 60 percent of all buildings in Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli forces since the war began. In Beit Hanoun, the figure is 70 percent. “Branding the Land” The Netzah Yehuda Battalion made the Star of David “for Google Maps, to be seen that they were here”, Hamze Attar, a Palestinian defence analyst, told Al Jazeera. Attar said the act could have been a response to plans by the administration of former US President Joe Biden to sanction the battalion. In August, however, the US Department of State ended its investigation into breaches of its own Leahy Laws, which prohibit the transfer of weapons to overseas military units involved in gross human rights violations, following objections by the Israeli occupation government. The investigation had been focused on Netzah Yehuda. “We’re seeing what absolute impunity looks like in an army that is given everything it needs to destroy Palestinian life,” said Elia Ayoub, researcher and author of the Hauntologies newsletter. “As in any genocide, those committing them often take pleasure in displaying their superiority by forcing their symbols on their victims. The Israeli army also utilises religious figures who speak of this genocide of Palestinians and the colonisation of Gaza as a religious duty.” “The [Israeli military] has rabbis on the ground, and soldiers have brought the menorah and shofar to the battlefield,” Ayoub said. “This is not new. It’s just much more widespread now. The Israeli religious philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz described these attitudes as that of Judeo-Nazis in the 1990s, warning that it could become the norm if not stopped. Sadly he was right.” “Branding is about ownership. It’s about marking your territory,” said Chris Arning, the founder and director of Creative Semiotics, a consultancy specialising in the meaning of brand symbols. “Branding originally came from tradespeople marking their products or farmers branding their cattle to signify ownership. Over time, that also included the branding of convicts and slaves.” The carving of the Star of David into the soil of Beit Hanoun can be seen as an act of symbolic violence, Arning said, referring to the violence that symbol represents in the local context. “In many ways,” Arning continued, “it’s branding the land.” “Symbol of Hate” The satellite images were widely shared online, with many users accusing Israel of turning the Star of David into a “symbol of hate” and misusing the religious symbols in their brutal assault. During the war on Gaza, Israeli forces celebrated the devastation by carving or spray-painting the Star of David and other Jewish symbols into demolished buildings and neighborhoods. They also erected giant Menorah candles on the rubble. Moreover, Palestinian cities and neighborhoods in the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem, and 1948-occupied territories are often vandalized by settlers who spray paint the star and accompanying racist slogans over Palestinian murals, on vehicles and flags. In 2023, Israeli soldiers were accused of branding a Star of David on the head of a Palestinian detainee from occupied Jerusalem.

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