Israeli Officials' October 2023 Rhetoric Exhibits Genocidal Intent
Findings from my independent study at Georgetown University
It is day 564 of the US-backed Israeli government’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Yet, many refuse to call it a “genocide.”
For daily updates on Palestine: Follow Drop Site News on X and Let’s Talk Palestine on WhatsApp.
No humanitarian aid has entered Gaza in the past 50 days. On April 22, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said, ‘Not a single truck carrying food, fuel, medicine, or any other essentials has been allowed in, no matter how critical they are for people's survival.’
On April 15, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) declared Gaza’s situation the ‘worst humanitarian crisis’ since October 2023. Despite mounting evidence since October 2023, the world’s most powerful nations remain unmoved.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, two days later on April 17, tweeted, “The last 24 hours were deadly for children in Gaza. Airstrikes on tents in Gaza reportedly killed 15 children, including a child with disabilities who burned to death. Images of children burning while sheltering in makeshift tents should shake us all to our core.” These events take place against the backdrop of the settler-colonial state of Israel announcing complete occupation of Rafah — one of the five governorates in Gaza.
Last year, in December, Amnesty International concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Just weeks after, Human Rights Watch followed suit with their report titled “Israel’s Crime of Extermination, Acts of Genocide in Gaza” — leaving some room to “not lose readers over semantics” by not calling Israel’s actions a genocide outright. In the same year, United Nations Special Rapporteur Dr. Francesca Albanese had published ‘Genocide as colonial erasure’ (October 2024) and ‘Anatomy of a Genocide’ (March 2024).
These reports were published exactly a year after — December 2023 — South Africa submitted its application of the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip” at the International Court of Justice. Several mainstream outlets did not televise the live stream of South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the ICJ but did televise the live stream of Israel's legal defense.
In fact, as early as on October 13, Dr. Raz Segal, an Israeli historian and Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University, authored an article, “A Textbook Case of Genocide” for Jewish Currents. In the report he tries to answer the question, “Israel has been explicit about what it’s carrying out in Gaza. Why isn’t the world listening?”
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”
— George Orwell, 1984
Speaking with Al Jazeera, Lara Elborno, an international lawyer, said, Israel must be held accountable for the first livestreamed genocide"—the same observation has been made by Dr. Francesca Albanese and Palestinians themselves. U.S. support has played a major role in securing impunity for Israeli officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC). In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least October 8, 2023, until at least May 20, 2024.
Despite overwhelming evidence from Gaza—documented by heroic journalists, medical professionals, and civilians—many still hesitate to call it a genocide. All the news outlets use the phrase ‘War on Gaza.’ From the watered-down headlines by The New York Times and BBC to on-campus censorship and self-censorship, the net effect is that people refuse to say two plus two is four.
As per Article II of the Genocide Convention, genocide has includes two main elements:
A mental element: the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such"; and
A physical element, which includes the following five acts, enumerated exhaustively:
Killing members of the group
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
In my study, I analyzed 160 anti-Palestinian statements from October 2023 made by Israeli officials, former office bearers, journalists, influencers, and civilians. The data is accessible on UK- and Sweden-based non-profit Law For Palestine’s portal for tracking genocidal incitement against Palestinians based on the definition of mental element.
When analyzed through the lens of Article II of the Genocide Convention, the findings reveal that about 60% of statements by current and former government officials exhibit an intention to destroy Gaza or Palestinians in whole or in part. This share was even higher among journalists.
Several sentences, despite being clearly anti-Palestinian, were not included because it could be argued that they do not exhibit intention as per Article II. On October 15, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, “We will uproot evil so that there will be good for the entire region and the world.” This statement normalizes collective punishment. However, due to its vagueness about the target, I decided to omit it.
The following examples leave no doubt about the intention to destroy Gaza, either in whole or in part.
October 7: Journalist Shimon Riklin said, “Gaza should be wiped off the face of the Earth”.
October 7: Israeli Knesset member Revital Gotliv said, “Bring down buildings!! Bomb without distinction!! Stop with this impotence. You have ability. There is worldwide legitimacy! Flatten Gaza. Without mercy! This time, there is no room for mercy!”
October 13: Journalist Yaron London said, “Flatten Gaza, even if the price is hurting innocents.”
October 14: IDF member Ezra Yachin said, “Erase them, their families, their mothers, their babies. Those animals should not be alive.”
The graphic shows the frequency of words that show intent to destroy Gaza or Palestinians in whole or in part across 99 statements from 160 total statements. The statements in red show intent to destroy, while words in blue are words that are code to demonstrate violence.
I argue that the frequent use of the word “will”—which appears 48 times—further demonstrates genocidal intent. According to the US-based dictionary Merriam-Webster, “will” expresses — futurity, choice, command, habitual action, probability, inevitability, determination, or capability.
The repeated use of "will" in conjunction with other imperative terms like "need" [necessary duty, obligation], "must" [noun, an imperative need] and "every" reinforces a deliberate, systematic plan rather than mere speculation or contingency. The inclusion of “are”—a present-tense verb indicating current, ongoing states or actions—further demonstrates that these objectives are not only anticipated but actively being pursued or realized. This linguistic pattern collectively demonstrates a fixed resolve to carry out specific actions, aligning with the legal framework of genocidal intent, which requires proof of a conscious desire to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected group.
October 8: Journalist Naveh Dromi said, "We needed to go through that to realize that the Palestinians are an unnecessary group? That what they need is a Nakba 2?"
October 9: Yoav Gallant, Minister of Defense, said, "We will end things inside Gaza […]. I have removed all restraints; [you’re allowed to] attack everything..."
October 10: Yoav Gallant, Minister of Defense, said, "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.”
October 11: Journalist Yinon Magal said, "The civilians are not 'clean'; our revenge is on them. We're coming to charge the price from them."
While proving mens rea is often the most challenging aspect of genocide cases, Israel’s genocide since 2023 in Gaza presents one of the clearest. The destruction in Gaza has been described as genocide, urbicide, domicide, politicide, ecocide, scholasticide, and culturcide by experts. The question is no longer whether genocide is occurring, but when you will say two plus two is four.
Thank you for sharing. This research is so important.