Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invoked ancient religious texts to legitimize preemptive warfare, bypassing international law. In June 2023, at a Jewish conference in West Jerusalem, he referenced a Hebrew phrase from an ancient Jewish text to justify taking the initiative in military conflicts. This rhetoric was criticized during International Court of Justice hearings in January 2024, with South African lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi arguing it demonstrated genocidal intent towards Palestinians. Since October 2023, over 73,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. Other Israeli leaders and commanders have also employed religious language to dehumanize Palestinians. The use of biblical references has been a tactic used by Israeli leaders since the formation of the state in 1948, with the first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, employing such rhetoric extensively during wartime speeches. The Israeli government's recent allocation of funds to entrench the occupation of the West Bank has sparked concerns about a surge in violence against Palestinians. The conflict is increasingly being framed through biblical imagery, with figures like Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv, who demolished homes in Gaza and southern Lebanon, facing war crimes complaints at the International Criminal Court. This political rhetoric has been condemned as a state-level endorsement of systematic destruction of Palestinian life by human rights groups like B'Tselem.