How Israel’s Netanyahu weaponises religion in his war rhetoric

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has increasingly used religious language to frame Israel’s wars and security policy, including remarks made at a Jewish conference in West Jerusalem in June 2026. According to the article, he cited an ancient Hebrew phrase often rendered as “rise and kill him first,” and presented it as support for a more pre-emptive military doctrine.

The piece says this rhetoric has drawn scrutiny because it echoes earlier wartime references to biblical passages, including Netanyahu’s instruction to troops at the start of the Gaza war to remember Amalek. At the International Court of Justice in January 2024, South African lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi pointed to that language as evidence of genocidal intent; the article notes that other experts have also described the war in Gaza as genocide. Al Jazeera also reports that an Arab human rights group asked the UK in January 2026 to consider financial and travel sanctions against Netanyahu over the comment.

The article places Netanyahu’s language in a broader pattern of Israeli officials using dehumanising or religiously infused rhetoric toward Palestinians. It cites former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s description of Gazans as “human animals” and examples of rabbis and far-right politicians linking war, settlement policy and biblical claims. The report says these themes matter because they can shape military policy, public messaging and international legal debate around Gaza and the occupied West Bank.