They Don’t Believe It Either

The “Gaza genocide” accusation has become the Left’s version of the Right’s “stolen election” hoax—an unfounded claim that signals loyalty precisely because it defies evidence and reason.

28 June 2025, Glasgow, UK. Protesters gather at Buchanan Steps in Glasgow in support for Palestine who are protesting against the invasion on Gaza and the proscription of Palestine Action. Shutterstock.

I.

During a public address in October 2023, as Israel was preparing to launch its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted a verse from the Bible that would echo through countless NGO reports and news stories: “Remember what Amalek has done to you.” To those uninitiated in Biblical mythology, the phrase may not sound particularly ominous, but Israel’s critics knew better. In the Book of Samuel, they pointed out, Yahweh commands King Saul to “smite” the Amalekites, leaving no one alive—not even women and children.

The snag is that Netanyahu was quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy, which recounts a tale from centuries earlier. As the Israelites fled Egypt, they were ambushed from the rear by the Amalekites. Following this treacherous attack, Yahweh tells the Israelites: “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind.” The relevance of this passage would surely have been obvious to his audience, who were still reeling from Hamas’s surprise attack on 7 October.

But Israel’s critics were not satisfied by this explanation. “Amalek” could not possibly refer to Hamas, they reasoned, because Hamas is an organisation, not a people like the Amalekites. Therefore, when Netanyahu spoke about “Amalek,” he clearly meant the Palestinians as a whole. And since the Amalekites are being smitten elsewhere in the Bible, the obvious inference is that Netanyahu was demanding the annihilation of the Palestinians. For this reason, “remember Amalek” was alleged to be a dog whistle for genocide, and Netanyahu’s quotation would feature prominently in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

As it happens, just a few hundred metres from the ICJ, there is a memorial commemorating the Holocaust. It bears a bronze plaque, inscribed in Dutch and Hebrew with the same verse Netanyahu quoted: “Remember what Amalek has done to you. Don’t forget.” This time it cites the correct source: Deuteronomy 15:17–19. If Israel’s critics had bothered to check, they would have found the same verse at the entrance of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. It is a well-established motif in Jewish culture, symbolising the duty to record and remember the persecutions that Jews suffered at the hands of mobs and regimes throughout history. (Has the German ambassador to the Netherlands expressed his dismay at this genocidal incitement against all German people?)