Poll shows Israeli belief that Palestinians should be eradicated is no longer a fringe opinion
A recent poll shows that the majority of Jewish Israelis agree that there is a current incarnation of the “Amalek”, the biblical enemy nation where the divine command was to eradicate them, and that it applies to Palestinians in the modern day.
The genocidal references of Israeli leaders to “Amalek,” the biblical enemy nation whom God commanded the Israelites to eradicate down to the last baby and oxen, continue to flow from Israeli leaders. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used the euphemism several times since October 7, and his statements have been closely scrutinized in Amnesty International’s report on Israel’s genocide. Yesterday, on Jerusalem Day, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (who also holds a ministerial position in the defense ministry, making him the de facto governor of the occupied West Bank) held a speech, saying:
“We are being blessed with the opportunity, thank god, of seeing an expansion of the borders of the Land of Israel on all fronts. We are being blessed with the opportunity to blot out the seed of Amalek, a process which is intensifying.”
Some might be tempted to believe that these are the rantings of an extremist few. But it turns out that these views are held by the majority of Jewish Israelis.
A devastating poll conducted at Penn State University in March, cited in Haaretz, is currently only in Hebrew. One of the poll’s results shows that 65% of Jewish Israelis agree that there is a present-day incarnation of the “Amalek” exists.
There is a discussion among Israel’s supporters, as to whether the likening of Palestinians to Amalek, like Netanyahu and Smotrich have done, really means extermination. The poll seems to answer this question in the affirmative: 93% of those who believe in that “reincarnation” of the Amalek also answer that “eradicating its memory” also applies to Palestinians today.
On another genocidal question, this time more explicit on the exterminationist detail, 47% answered positively. They were asked whether they supported the Israeli army acting the way the Israelites acted when they conquered Jericho under the leadership of Joshua, killing all of its inhabitants.
But on another question, which specifically involved the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, 82% supported “forced expulsion” — not even euphemistically veiled as “voluntary emigration.”
It doesn’t stop there. A majority of 56% also wanted the frocible expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel. To compare, in 2003, the figures for those two items were at 45% and 31%, respectively.
Ethnic cleansing and genocide are not disconnected categories. As genocide scholar Omer Bartov notes, “there is a connection between the two, because often ethnic cleansing becomes genocide.” This is logical, because when people do not voluntarily choose to leave the land, the colonialist power may create unlivable conditions of life designed to force them out, or, if not possible, to exterminate them.
In any case, these questions and the answers to them by Jewish Israelis clearly demonstrate a vast and overwhelming eliminationist vein in Israeli society.
This eliminationist vein is not isolated to the religious sector, which is often more right-wing. It is very prevalent among secular Jews, too.
On the question of forced expulsion from the Gaza Strip, the percentage among seculars is 70%. Among “traditional,” it’s 91%, and among the “religious” ultra-orthodox, or Haredim, a whopping 97%.
On the question of the forced expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel, the four groups mentioned answer positively at the rate of 38%, 65%, 68%, and again, a whopping 91%, respectively.
Israel seems to have a fascist tendency as far as younger generations are concerned. Rather than being typically more progressive than the older generation, Jewish Israelis under 40 are more genocidal. Only 9% of those under 40 rejected the ideas of expulsion and extermination presented to them. Those are the people typically executing actions as soldiers in regular and reserve army service.
Last week, Netanyahu made it crystal clear, with no ands, ifs, or buts: his goal was ethnic cleansing in accordance with “Trump’s plan,” even though Trump himself walked back his February statements when he said the U.S. would “own” Gaza and turn it into a “Riviera of the Middle East” after expelling its people.
In a press conference, Netanyahu said that the “war” would end “under clear conditions that will ensure the safety of Israel: All the hostages come home, Hamas lays down its arms, steps down from power, its leadership is exiled from the Strip…Gaza is totally disarmed, and we carry out the Trump plan.”
Netanyahu said the plan was “revolutionary.”
But since the goals are unattainable, what Netanyahu is really advocating for is plain genocide, and there’s nothing revolutionary about it. It’s happened before, we said “never again,” yet here it is, happening again.
The poll shows that the problem is much bigger than Netanyahu. All of Israel is a giant chorus shouting genocide. Will anyone listen?
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