Bifurcated Consciousness and the Defense of Colonial Violence

This paper explores the concept of "bifurcated consciousness" in the context of Israeli settler colonialism, focusing on the social and institutional mechanisms that create epistemological divides in understanding violence and political reality. Drawing an historical throughline between early Zionist colonization during the British Mandate and contemporary moments (the protest movement that sprouted in 2023 against the right-wing judicial overhaul, and then October 7 Hamas incursion and Israel's genocidal war), I analyze how the Jewish society in Israel/Palestine has experienced a fragmented perception of self and other. Through analysis of primary historical and contemporary sources, I demonstrate how settler colonial mobilization reinforces social cohesion and a nationalist moralism. Bifurcated consciousness, as I explain here, refers to a mode of claims-making in which individuals and groups obscure or deny the connections between settler colonialism and systemic violence. This epistemological apartheid underpins the social structures that legitimize colonial domination and exclude Palestinians from the realm of political and collective rights. It is institutionalized in Israeli academia, state policies, and public discourse, manifesting in social sanctions against those who challenge the dominant narrative. The talk situates this within broader theories of settler colonialism and collective action, arguing that such bifurcations sustain ongoing cycles of violence and impede pathways to true decolonization. Arguing through archival sources on the Hashomer Hatzair movement that bifurcated consciousness first emerged amid the initial moment of colonization, I then turn to the consequences of epistemological apartheid in contemporary times, where violence is understood through racialized and dehumanizing lenses, leading to a broader dismissal of the Palestinian right to life. By addressing the role of culture and cognition, this presentation calls for a critical and historical understanding of colonial violence and resistance, theorizing intellectual interventions that dismantle the perpetuation of supremacy and exclusion.