Featured image from December 2024 depicts a pro-Netanyahu rally in Tel Aviv during his corruption trial. A sign carried by one of the Prime Minister’s supporters says, in Hebrew, “Netanyahu, the people of light support you.” In the early days of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, repeatedly invoked this rhetoric—describing Israelis as children of light locked in a battle with “children of darkness,” referencing Palestinians—including in a Knesset address and in a televised address to Israelis that was later translated and widely circulated on social media, drawing condemnation. On October 16, 2023, Netanyahu posted the following to X “This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle.” He deleted the post the following day, as global protest erupted over Israel’s bombing of the Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, but still continued to invoke this rhetoric in the period to follow.
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