Israel's Vigilante Zeitgeist Excuses Any Killing

No, it wasn't the tension, or the fear, or the pressure, or even the war that killed the three hostages who tried to save themselves. It was the spirit of the times that killed them. The zeitgeist – a collection of opinions and beliefs and consensus values that characterize a certain society at a certain time. And in the current Israeli zeitgeist, no shortage of evil winds are blowing. A spirit of being easy on the trigger prevails. An unbearable lightness of killing and death. Of dehumanization of non-Jews, Arabs, Palestinians and "leftists." A vigilante spirit, as was on display in the killing of Yuval Kestelman.

A clear and direct line connects these two instances of killing. The similarities are chilling: victims who remove clothing in order to prove that they're not carrying a bomb, put their hands up in the air, beg for their lives in Hebrew, wave a white flag. Nothing helps. The itch to pull the trigger is too strong. The punk from the hilltops and the sniper in Gaza pulled the trigger. A few more checked boxes are added to the collection. This is what the zeitgeist commands.