# ‘Israeli Society Has Become Completely Genocidal' - B'Tselem Head Yuli Novak Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbtHyPcc1rs Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/RbtHyPcc1rs Generated: 2026-02-01T14:32:11.632+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview Yuli Novak, Executive Director of B'Tselem, asserts that Israeli society has become completely genocidal due to a deeply instilled blindness fostered by growing up under apartheid, necessitating a fundamental regime shift in the political system. **Key Points:** - Yuli Novak describes growing up in what she now understands as apartheid, which instilled a blindness that led Israeli society to become what she views as "completely genocidal." - B'Tselem, Israel's leading human rights organization, recently labeled Israel's actions as genocide, a step that required significant conceptual and security groundwork because it puts Israeli and Palestinian staff at risk. - Novak's political journey involved realizing that trying to fix the system from within was impossible after B'Tselem decided to stop filing complaints within the Israeli legal system around 2014/2015 due to the facade of legality and resulting impunity. - The experience of leading Breaking the Silence, which collected testimonies about the occupation, culminated in a nationwide smear campaign after they published a report on the 2014 Gaza operation, which killed over 500 children. - Novak compares her experience leaving Zionism to leaving a paradigm like heterosexuality, noting that Zionism acts as limiting glasses, and recognizing the system as a regime of occupation, not just a state with an occupation, was a profound shift. - Novak's journey to understanding apartheid was catalyzed by a trip to South Africa, where meeting Afrikaners helped her deeply understand how the system works on the mind of the 'superior group' by fostering a belief in being the 'only democracy'. - B'Tselem's genocide report aims to challenge the Israeli narrative that the conflict began on October 7th by explaining that genocide is a process enabled by decades of settler-colonial apartheid. **Context:** The interview features Simone Zimmerman speaking with Yuli Novak, the Executive Director of B'Tselem, Israel's leading human rights organization, which was the first in Israel to label the state's actions as genocide. Novak previously directed the group Breaking the Silence, composed of former Israeli soldiers who testify about violence in the occupied territories. The discussion centers on Novak's painful personal and political journey away from Zionism, how growing up under what she calls apartheid shaped her worldview, and the rationale behind B'Tselem's decision to use the term 'genocide' regarding the situation in Gaza. ## Detailed Analysis Yuli Novak argues that Israelis must understand the background of growing up under a system designed to instill blindness to explain how Israeli society reached a "completely genocidal" state, necessitating a regime shift to change the political system's DNA. Her personal evolution involved moving past the Zionist consensus, initially believing the occupation was an illegitimate issue caused by settlers, which could be corrected internally. This illusion shattered through participation in West Bank demonstrations and later, profoundly, during the 2014 Gaza operation, where the scale of killing, including over 500 children, felt unbearable compared to her society's acceptance of it as a necessary price tag. Her experience leading Breaking the Silence, especially after focusing on Gaza, led to a severe crackdown, including government attacks and infiltration by right-wing groups, which she views as the first major assault on Israeli civil society, forcing her to recognize she was not in a democracy but under a regime of occupation. This realization pushed her to accept a dissident identity. B'Tselem's genocide report is framed as explaining "our genocide," leveraging the perpetrators' perspective (speaking Hebrew, understanding the system) alongside victim perspectives to contextualize the violence, arguing that the events since October 7th are a new phase of a decades-long process rooted in settler-colonial apartheid, not an isolated event. ### Novak's Political Awakening - Growth within a 'patriotic, Zionist quite leftist' environment - Initial belief that Israel was a democracy needing minor corrections to the occupation - First crack in understanding occurred during peaceful West Bank demonstrations met with rubber bullets and gas grenades - Realization that the system of oppression required fighting against. ### The Breaking the Silence Crisis - Collecting testimonies was initially seen as a way to correct the system - 2014 Gaza operation revealed a calculated, systematic strategy with horrific results (500+ children killed) - Societal acceptance of this cost created a huge gap between Novak and her society, exposing the apartheid mindset. ### The Crackdown and Paradigm Shift - Publishing the Gaza report led to a holistic attack from the Prime Minister, media, and legal challenges, marking a crackdown on civil society - This experience confirmed that legal and media systems could quickly turn against them, leading Novak to view the system as a 'regime' of occupation, not just a state with an occupation. ### Understanding Apartheid - Novak's journey led her to realize she was born into apartheid, a sophisticated machinery capturing mentality - A stay in South Africa helped her understand apartheid's effect on the 'superior group,' mirroring the Israeli belief of being the 'only democracy in the Middle East'. ### B'Tselem's Genocide Report - The organization chose to use the term 'genocide' after conceptual groundwork to ensure the report benefits the struggle - The report aims to tell the story of 'our genocide' by using insider knowledge to explain the tactics (mass killing, forced removal, dehumanization) and context. ### Challenging Israeli Narratives - The report directly challenges the story that genocide began on October 7th, asserting it is a process enabled by decades of apartheid and dehumanization - Novak warns that the same system controlling Gaza is in control of the West Bank and Palestinian citizens of Israel, and this system now has genocide in its toolkit to preserve Jewish supremacy.