Israel is surrounded by hostile neighbors. It is fighting an existential war for survival.

The Zionist movement invoked this claim from the very establishment of the settler-colonial state in 1948, portraying itself as fighting a war of "survival" against Arab regimes, when in fact Zionist militias had already forcibly displaced over 300,000 Palestinians and committed major massacres including Deir Yassin before any Arab army entered Palestine in May 1948. These atrocities were strategic objectives of the Zionist settler-colonial project, not acts of survival.

Israel's record is one of colonial aggression, not survival or defense. It invoked the language of "self-defense" in 1967 after launching a surprise attack on Egypt and occupying the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights, and Egyptian Sinai. It used the same narrative during its invasions of Lebanon in 1978, 1982, and 2006, carrying out mass destruction of civilian infrastructure, siege, forced displacement, occupation, and massacres including Sabra and Shatila, in which more than 3,000 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians were slaughtered over three days. The pattern is one of colonial expansion and military domination, not a defensive response.

Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has attacked or occupied at least 12 countries across the region. In 2025 alone, while carrying out genocide in Gaza, Israel has bombed and attacked Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and Qatar. This is the conduct of a colonial expansionist power, not a state fighting for survival.

Israel's claims of "self-defense" and "fighting for survival" have no legal merit. International law affirms that a state does not have a right to self-defense against the people it occupies. Even if self-defense were applicable, international humanitarian law still prohibits attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, collective punishment, and forced displacement. Across successive military offensives, Israel has repeatedly been accused by UN bodies, international courts, and major human rights organizations of violating each of these principles.

Israel presents itself as a state fighting for survival, yet it is one of the world's most militarized powers, backed politically, financially, and militarily by the most powerful states. The United States alone provides Israel with at least $3.8 billion in military aid annually. A nuclear-armed state imposing occupation, siege, apartheid, and genocide over an occupied people, while repeatedly attacking countries across the region and exporting its weaponry and military technologies globally, is not a state on the verge of extermination.

This claim is central to Israel's international image as a vulnerable victim surrounded by inherently violent enemies: Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims from whom it claims to defend "Western civilization." This racist and orientalist framing erases the reality of occupation, apartheid, and colonial aggression, helping shield Israel from accountability and secure continued political, military, and financial support from complicit powers.

Colonial regimes have historically portrayed resistance from the colonized as an existential threat. France claimed Algeria threatened French civilization, while apartheid South Africa portrayed Black liberation as national destruction. In each case, the colonial power wanted its domination to be accepted with submission. History shows this is impossible, and Palestine is no exception.