I provided a technical description of Genocide and what is required to establish that a person/state is committing genocide, in a separate article. You can read that by clicking the link below. I recommend that you familiarise yourself with those technical definitions because it is highly likely that your understanding of the word “genocide” is different to how the UN uses it. For example, according to the UN, even destroying an armed group (terrorists) could be treated as genocide!1
No one can dispute that the current military action by Israel in Gaza, in response to Hamas’ attack against Israel on the october 7th, 2023, has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Gaza. But, killing people does not in itself constitute Genocide. Otherwise, police officers neutralising criminals, soldiers killing enemy armed forces, etc., can all be called genocide. To put it simply, in order for an act of killing people to be considered genocide, there must be an intent on the part of the killer to destroy a protected people group. It is the intent that determines whether an act is genocidal or not. This ‘intent’ can be established on the basis of the presence of (i) direct statements from the perpetrators calling for the destruction of a people group, and/or (ii) a pattern of conduct which can only point to the existence of such an intent. So let’s look at some facts to see what we can learn about the State of Israel’s intent. In this article, I will limit myself to an analysis of the direct statements from Israeli authorities that the UN presented as evidence in its report, where it concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
What evidence did the UN present in its report to prove that Israel has an intent to destroy Palestinians?
Here are the quotes of statements made by Israeli officials the UN presented as direct evidence of Israel’s intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza:
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s comments at a press conference held in the early afternoon of 7 October 2023, after the brutal massacre of Israelis by Hamas: “[Israel will inflict] mighty vengeance” on “all of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble. I say to residents of Gaza: leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere.” 2
The statement clearly identifies the target as Hamas and its facilities (whether dedicated facilities or houses and other civilian buildings being used by terrorists to hide). Furthermore, there’s a clear message to the Palestinians in Gaza to leave urgently to save themselves. This is the opposite of wanting to destroy the entire people group. The most reasonable conclusion/interpretation of this statement is that Israel intended to destroy all of Hamas and its infrastructure, NOT all Palestinians in Gaza.
On 9 October 2023, Israel’s then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced a complete siege on Gaza, claiming that Israel was fighting “human animals” and Israel must “act accordingly”. On 10 October 2023, in a speech to Israeli security forces personnel, Gallant stated, “Gaza won’t return to what it was before. There will be no Hamas. We will eliminate everything. If it doesn’t take one day, it will take a week. It will take weeks or even months, we will reach all places.”3
The phrase “human animals” was referring to the perpetrators of Oct 7 attacks. The statement that “Gaza won’t return to what it was before” is in reference to the complete elimination of Hamas, as can be clearly seen from the full quote above. The most reasonable conclusion/interpretation of this statement is that Israel intended to eliminate all of Hamas and it’s allies in Gaza, whom they consider to be human animals, NOT all of Palestinians in Gaza.
On 13 October 2023, President Isaac Herzog stated, “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true; this rhetoric about civilians who were unaware and not involved is false. It is absolutely not true.”4
What is the context of this statement? The October 7th 2023, attack that saw more than 1400 people dead, including men, women, elderly and children, and many women raped and mutilated, and 250 people taken hostage. President Isaac was opposing the claim that Gaza civilians should not be blamed for those attacks. He is right. The claim that civilians were unaware and not involved in the Oct 7 attacks is factually false. Even the UN, which is no friend of Israel, was forced to acknowledge the fact that civilian men, women, and children participated in the attacks against Israel on Oct 7 2023, due to the overwhelming video evidence.5 A reasonable conclusion/interpretation of this statement is that Israel rightfully believes that civilians of Gaza are also responsible for the Oct 7 attacks, along with militants, NOT that Israel wants to wipe out all Palestinians.
“What has been will be no more! We shall go out to it [the enemy] in war, we shall pulverize every accursed plot of land from which it came, we shall destroy it and the memory of it … and we shall not return until it is annihilated, and [God] doth render vengeance to his adversaries, and doth make expiation for the land of His people… The Lord will give strength to his people, and He shall guard thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and forever. This is our war, today is our turn. Here we are!”6
This is a comment from a handwritten letter from Brigadier General David Bar Kalifa, Commander of the 36 Armoured Division, on 29 October 2023, to his soldiers. The note clearly is calling the Israeli soldiers to go to war with their enemy, which Israel repeatedly identified as Hamas and anyone who aids Hamas, whether civilian or militant. Then it states the commander’s belief that their God will render vengeance over the enemy they are fighting. No reasonable interpretation of this note can conclude that this is a call to destroy all Palestinians in Gaza.
On 3 November 2023, Prime Minister Netanyahu published a letter to the Israeli soldiers and commanders in the war, in which he wrote, “Remember what Amalek did to you… This is a war between the sons of light and the sons of darkness…We constantly remember the sights of the horrific massacre on that Simchat Torah Shabbat, October 7, 2023.”
It is true that the phrase “Remember what Amalek did to you” comes from the Book of Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible, where God tells the Israelites to remember how the Amalekites ambushed, attacked, and killed several Israelites when they were already worn out on their journey from Egypt to Canaan. In that same text, God commands the Israelites to wipe out the Amalekites once Israel takes possession of the land of Canaan.
The UN HRC Commission claims that, “in invoking Amalek in his speech, Netanyahu strengthened the idea that Israel’s war in Gaza is akin to the holy war of total annihilation commanded against the Amalekites.” It then goes on to say, “This would be familiar to and compelling for the many thousands of Israeli military personnel who are religious Zionists, especially for those in military units whose personnel are wholly or predominantly ultra-orthodox. Indeed, such sentiment was referred to by many following the statement of Netanyahu, including the Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich and Israeli soldiers who yelled and chanted direct references to Amalek as they launched attacks in Gaza.”
What the Commission does not say is that it is twisting the meaning of those words today. Firstly, the verse from the Bible makes it very clear that it was a command directed at one specific nation/people group – the Amalekites, who existed at the time of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. It was not given as a command for all times to be used in wars against all enemies of Israel, unlike the Quranic texts, which explicitly command muslims to fight the Jews until the end of ages. Secondly, a survey of the modern use of the phrase “Remember what Amalek did to you” quickly reveals that it is not a call for genocide. Rather, it is simply a call to never forget the atrocities perpetrated by their enemies, beucase, when those evils are forgotten, history is bound to repeat. That’s why the Jews use this phrase to remember the persecutions they underwent. For example, outside of the Jewish Holocaust Memorial building in the Hague, there’s a sculpture of the Star of David and a plaque (see the image below) with the exact same words “Remember what Amalek did to you…” written in Dutch and Hebrew.
Nobody in their right mind interprets this memorial as a call for genocide against Germans. Instead, it is a call to all Jews of all generations to never forget what they and their ancestors endured.
Therefore, the reference to this verse by Prime Minister Netanyahu, in the context of Israel’s military action in Gaza after the Oct 7 attacks, is best understood as a call to the Israeli soldiers to always keep the Oct 7 atrocities in the forefront of their minds so that those memories can provide the necessary motivation to persist in their long and drawn out fight against Hamas. It is a big stretch to conclude that it was a call for the Destruction of all Palestinians in Gaza.
“Vengeance is a great value. There is vengeance for what they did to us… in 100 years, they will know that you don’t mess with the Jews. It will take so many years to revive from this blow… this place will be a fallow land. They will not be able to live here.”
This is a quote from a senior Israeli security forces officer, Colonel Erez Eshel, on 4 November 2023, during an interview for an Israeli news channel. Again, a straightforward interpretation of this comment in its context shows that this is a call to take revenge on those who attacked them on October 7th. It’s not reasonable to interpret this as an intent to destroy ALL Palestinians in Gaza. It is certainly not the only conclusion one can come to.
On 8 November 2023, a video published on X showed soldiers from the Binyamin Brigade dancing and singing, “let your villages burn”. An Israeli security forces spokesperson responded to this incident, saying “The conduct of the soldiers is not consistent with the IDF’s orders and its values. The incident will be investigated and dealt with accordingly through disciplinary action.”
What does this show? What is the most reasonable inference? It shows that certain individuals (soldiers) in the Israeli army were acting hatefully towards the people of Gaza. At the same time, it also shows that the State of Israel and its Defence Forces are opposed to such actions. This shows that the State of Israel does NOT intend to destroy all Palestinians in Gaza and is willing to take disciplinary actions against their members when any of them support such views or actions.
On 4 January 2024, a video published on X depicted an Israeli security forces soldier with a Torah scroll in his hands stating “We are now on the ruins of Gaza, with the grace of God. These Nazis will pay the price for what they did to the people of Israel and the country of Israel. We will destroy the Hamas. Do you see this burned house? Every house here will burn. Every house had an RPG. They will pay for what they did. The people of Israel will win, and God will save us from them, with the grace of God.”
The soldiers are stating that the “Nazis” (referring to those who attacked Israel on Oct 7th) will pay the price for what they did to Israel. They said that every house there (where they were filming) would burn because every house had an RPG, not because those houses belonged to Palestinians. How is saying that “every house used by the terrorists will burn” a call to wipe out all Palestinians? That is an unreasonable conclusion to come to.
On 15 August 2025, a recording of former head of Israel’s Military Intelligence (who stepped down from his position in April 2024) was published by Israeli media. He stated that “the fact that 50,000 have already been killed in Gaza is necessary and required for future generations.” He added that for every Israeli killed on 7 October 2023, 50 Palestinians should die, and it does not matter if they are children, noting that “they need a Nakba from time to time to feel the price.”
Finally, we now have a quote where one can argue that it is reasonable to conclude that this constitutes a genocidal intent. Again, that is not the only conclusion one can reasonably come to. It is quite reasonable to conclude that this is a statement made out of anger in response to a specific situation (Oct 7 attacks) and is not a general call for the elimination of Palestinians. Nevertheless, even if it were a genocidal call, it still cannot be attributed to the State of Israel, given that the person who made this comments had already stepped down from his position.
Conclusion
As shown above, the UN failed to provide any direct evidence of genocidal intent from the State of Israel or any of its top officials, whose intent could be attributed to the State. The fact that the UN concluded that statements cited above are evidence for genocidal intent indicates that the UN might have already decided to accuse Israel of committing Genocide and is desperately trying to interpret facts to suit that predetermination. The most reasonable conclusion to arrive at, after assessing the cited comments in their respective contexts is that There’s no genocidal intent on the part of the State of Israel.