Donkeys and Settlers: A Call to Torah Narratives

Donkeys have emerged in the daily scene of ongoing and mobile settler attacks in the West Bank, in a calculated attempt to establish a narrative that invokes an alleged past framed by religious and Torah-like perspectives. The portrayal of the donkey in every scene, intentionally highlighted by Palestinians, journalists, activists, and sometimes even the settlers themselves who circulate these images, is not coincidental. It falls within an effort to create a cultural system that normalizes not only this presence for Palestinians but also promotes it globally, attracting other Jews and potentially non-Jewish enthusiasts to come and experience life in the valleys and hills of the Palestinian land. This has been confirmed and observed through the attendance and participation of foreigners accompanying settlers in experiencing rough living conditions, riding donkeys, herding livestock, practicing dry farming, cooking over fires, dancing around bonfires, and hosting wedding celebrations.

Returning to the donkey, its targeted symbolism and presence in daily scenes, it evokes sacred texts, divine literature, and the imagined Hebrew history in the land of Canaan. Jews have given the donkey a symbolism that reaches the level of sanctity. In the Book of Numbers 22:21-33, the donkey saw something the prophet could not in the story of (Balaam and his donkey): "And the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam: What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?.... And the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way...." This indicates absurdly that the Lord spoke through the donkey while the prophet needed guidance from it. In Exodus 23:5, it is stated that the donkey is more important than the enemy human by saying: "If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, you shall not leave it with him, you shall surely help him with it." What a command this is that calls for the rescue of the donkey and its theft without assisting the human owner of the donkey.

Those who consider the donkey sacred believe that the savior "the Messiah" will appear only riding a donkey, as stated in Zechariah 9:9: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion... Your King is coming to you, just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." What kind of savior is this supposed to ride a foal to eliminate oppression? Other references in the Torah include the story of Isaac in Genesis 22:3: "So Abraham rose early in the morning.... and saddled his donkey..." The donkey accompanies Abraham in his travels. There are many references to the donkey in Jewish literature and religious texts in various contexts.

What we wish to highlight here is the presence of the donkey in the violations and attacks of religious settlers against Palestinians, where behind the image lies numerous systematic policies under the cover of local and international propaganda that reinforce the settlement project in its pastoral and primitive visage. It is rare to see a settler residing in a pastoral outpost without one or more donkeys accompanying them. Often, these donkeys, much like livestock, are stolen from Palestinians to impoverish them, tighten their living conditions, and deprive them of their economic resources, relying on their donkeys for herding, plowing, and transportation, all aimed at their displacement.

The establishment of a rural, nomadic lifestyle by settlers in the West Bank relies for its success on narrative indications that link, even if only fictitiously, their illegal existence to an alleged ancient historical legacy, and thus the donkey's depiction becomes necessary. It serves a Zionist mobilization project derived from kibbutz culture and agricultural cooperatives that the Zionists began to forge their entity upon.

Therefore, the presence of the donkey in settler attacks is not a folkloric scene or simply an embellishment; it is a political, symbolic, and practical tool. By using it in difficult terrains like Yatta, for instance, the guidance of the donkey's presence is emphasized. Symbolically, it gives the impression that it is not a military vehicle suggesting violence and terrorism but rather shows a semblance of civilian agricultural activity similar to what Palestinians do. Consequently, international criminalizing of their actions would imply the same for Palestinians in that shared image.

Politically, it projects to Jews and the world that what is happening is nothing more than settlers with their donkeys and herds in the hills of the "promised land" and that Palestinian presence in this Jewish land, whether as shepherds or inhabitants, is the aggression that must end. The image of the donkey masks the weapon accompanying the settler riding it. As stated in Genesis 13:2, 5-7: "And Abram had very much cattle... and Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks... and the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together."

In modern Jewish narrative, the donkey is connected to patriarchs like Abraham and Jacob, and all believers in the Old Covenant must submit to this and defend it. Moreover, salvation with the appearance of the "Messiah" will not be achieved without the donkey.

The settlers' showing of the donkey in the angles of the daily visuals is not coincidental; rather, it reflects their desires onto the Torah text, exporting an image and model that pastoralism leads to land ownership. The settler or settler woman on the back of a donkey accompanied by a herd of livestock and camels is firstly a Torah narrative, secondly, a projection of the self onto the Torah character both religiously and psychologically, thirdly, it elevates the shepherd settler to the level of identification with the Torah context, and finally comes as a cinematic portrayal of the religious texts in a visually based scene.

Since the talk about settlement in a visual scene illustrates primitive, ascetic life, it must be noted that Jewish settlers might have drawn inspiration from colonial and imperial powers with histories steeped in terrorism, bloodshed, and ethnic cleansing and extermination, such as the French during the occupation of Algeria, who seized Algerian lands and granted them to French colonizers and shepherds by the force of arms, depicting the indigenous population as unsettled and unproductive nomads. In Australia, the English displaced farmers and indigenous populations, establishing farms for themselves in their place. The story of the Native Americans in North America is another example of displacing farmers and granting their lands to settlers.

Ultimately, by observing the daily scene of settlers and donkeys in the West Bank, we can say that this is more than alarming, as it carries the habituation to the scene and the gradual normalization of the mind, distancing the Zionists from accusations of genocide against Palestinian farmers and herders, relying on economically strangling them and denying them their pastoral and agricultural spaces. All this is accomplished by portraying the image of settlers and donkeys as a likable human scene that does not show them as occupiers and killers, facilitating the influx of other settlers to experience similar experiences throughout the Palestinian land as a daily and momentary religious rite.