The banality of blame: selective condemnation and the normalisation of anti-Israel discourse by DiEM25

This paper critically examines the rhetorical strategies employed by the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) in its public statements and petitions concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict. While the movement claims allegiance to international law and universal human rights, its language consistently applies severe legal and moral accusations such as “genocide,” “apartheid,” and “settler-colonialism” exclusively to Israel, without engaging the ideological or military actions of Palestinian actors, most notably Hamas. DiEM25’s discourse fails to acknowledge the atrocities committed on October 7, 2023, including the mass murder, rape, and abduction of Israeli civilians, nor does it reference Hamas’s founding charter, which explicitly calls for the destruction of the Jewish people. Through a close analysis of petitions, press releases, and campaign texts, this study demonstrates how DiEM25 constructs a moral binary that erases Jewish victimhood and frames Israel as a uniquely egregious actor in global politics. Special attention is given to DiEM25’s petition to suspend Israel from international sports federations, which reflects BDS-style boycott logic applied without legal rigor or consistent criteria. The paper argues that this asymmetrical discourse constitutes a “banality of blame,” in which highly charged accusations are repeated without historical specificity, thereby contributing (intentionally or not) to antisemitic patterns under the guise of anti-Zionist advocacy.