Superficial differences should not blind us to the essential similarity between the Israeli and American projects. Both are totalitarian projects, which divide the governed into citizens (who are granted humanity) and non-citizens (implicitly or explicitly deemed “animals”). An animal can always be killed.

“Modern totalitarianism can be defined as the establishment, by means of the state of exception, of a legal civil war that allows for the physical elimination not only of political adversaries but of entire categories of citizens who for some reason cannot be integrated into the political system.”