Lyrics of Conflict: How Israeli Soldiers’ Songs Reframe the Palestinian Enemy

How does the cultural framing of war as an existential threat justify violence against the Palestinian Other? This article examines Israeli soldiers’ war songs as cultural performances through which enemy categories are produced, stabilized, and transformed. Drawing on performance theory and interaction ritual theory, songs are analyzed not as expressions of individual attitudes but as performative practices that generate collective emotions, establish moral boundaries, and render extreme violence meaningful. Analyzing songs from the First Intifada (1987–1993), the Second Intifada (2000–2005), and the Gaza war (2023–2025), the article traces a trajectory from ambivalent proximity to systematic dehumanization and eliminationist logic. These shifts correspond to escalating war frames that authorize distinct repertoires of violence. Introducing the concept of perceptual elasticity, the article shows how settler-colonial enemy-making oscillates between contempt and apocalyptic threat through repeated collective performance.