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Netanyahu Again Uses Genocidal Rhetoric And Compares Iranians To ‘Amalek’

The Dissident | March 2, 2026

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is using the same genocidal rhetoric towards Iranians as he did towards Palestinians in Gaza.

At the site of an Iranian missile attack in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu said, “If this regime of terror obtains nuclear weapons, they will threaten all of humanity. Therefore, we went out in order to remove that danger first and foremost from ourselves, but we are acting here together with the United States, in the name of and for the sake of all humanity,” adding, “We read in this week’s Torah portion, ‘Remember what Amalek did to you.’ We remember, and we act”.

By comparing Iranians to the Amalek, Benjamin Netanyahu is signalling to genocidal hardline religious zealots in the IDF that Iranian civilians are fair targets.

For context, the UN’s report on the Genocide in Gaza documented that Netanyahu comparing the Palestinians to “Amalek” before the genocide in Gaza was seen as a green light by the IDF to slaughter civilians in reference to the Hebrew bible passage which states, “Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey”.

The UN report documented:

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.”

The descendants of Amalek, the Amalekites, were enemies of the Israelites in the Hebrew bible. In the Book of Samuel, God tells the Israelites, ‘Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’

The Commission notes 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.

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.

The report noted that, “The invocation of Amalek had particular resonance for religious Zionist military personnel, of whom there are now many thousands in the Israeli security forces.”

Indeed, religious members of the IDF often invoked the comparison of the Palestinians to “Amalek” to justify killing Palestinians civilians and the comparison was often used alongside the openly genocidal statement that there are “no innocents” in Gaza.

South Africa’s report on Israel’s genocide in Gaza documented that the IDF released “video of soldiers chanting that there are ‘no uninvolved citizens’ in Gaza and that they will ‘wipe off the seed of Amalek’”.

The report also noted that Israeli, “Parliamentarians have stated ‘[w]e must not forget that even the ‘innocent citizens’ — the cruel and monstrous people from Gaza took an active part . . . there is no place for any humanitarian gesture — the memory of Amalek must be protested’”.

Daniel Raab, an American sniper in the IDF, while boasting about killing Palestinians civilians, said , “Gaza is like Sodom and those who live there are similar to the Amalek and this population is really Amalek”.

Yet again, Netanyahu is comparing Iranians to the “Amalek” so members of the IDF believe it is justified to “kill both man and woman, child” in an attempt to justify the continuation of war crimes such as the American/Israeli strike on a girls’ school in Iran that killed 175 children.

March 2, 2026 - Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | Iran, Israel, Zionism