AG decides not to open criminal probes into senior officials for Gaza incitement
Comments saying atomic bomb could be dropped on Strip and other inflammatory calls were cited in ICJ case as key evidence of Israel’s alleged intent to commit genocide in Gaza
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has decided not to open criminal investigations into whether comments by senior Israeli officials in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacres and atrocities could be considered incitement to genocide or even to violence against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, according to a court filing Monday.
The announcement of the attorney general’s decision was made in her office’s response to a High Court petition filed in August by the Israel Democracy Guard organization, which requested that her office open criminal investigations into some of the comments made by cabinet ministers and MKs, ostensibly endorsing indiscriminate attacks on Gaza.
The response did not elaborate on the reasoning behind the decision, and the Attorney General’s Office declined to comment.
Among the comments highlighted in the petition were Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu’s remark in November 2023 that the war in Gaza could be ended by dropping an atomic bomb on the territory, and Likud MK Galit Distel-Atbaryan’s call for “wiping Gaza off the face of the earth.”
The inflammatory comments were cited as key evidence of Israel’s alleged intent to commit genocide in Gaza in South Africa’s case brought in January before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Israel launched the offensive in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in southern Israel, in which it killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 44,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel vociferously denies accusations of genocide, has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities, and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
Israel says the Gaza war is aimed at destroying Hamas’s military and governance capabilities in Gaza, freeing the hostages, and safely returning tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to their homes in the north and near Gaza.
Although the international court declined to order Israel to halt its campaign in Gaza in its initial ruling, it demanded a series of steps from Israel, including ordering Israel to “prevent and punish” alleged incitement to genocide.
On January 9, three days before the first hearing for South Africa’s suit, the Attorney General’s Office said that law enforcement agencies had opened “examinations” into several of the problematic comments made by Israeli officials.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, however, a decision not to open criminal investigations was made on November 18.
The office has not made public the contents of the report they were ordered to file to the ICJ detailing Israel’s compliance with the January provisional measures.
As a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention, which includes prohibitions on incitement to genocide, Israel is legally required to prosecute such speech under the laws it adopted after ratifying the convention.
