The Bible, the Holocaust, and eliminatory stands among Israelis: a survey analysis

Since October 2023, calls for ethnic cleansing and genocidal acts against Palestinians have become increasingly mainstream in Israeli politics. This article examines the role of the Bible and collective memory of victimhood, two major cultural pillars of modern Israeli identity, in facilitating that process. A March 2025 survey of 1,005 Jewish Israeli internet users measured the relationship between eliminatory attitudes and these key cultural references. Multivariate analysis found that viewing the Bible as central to one’s identity was the strongest predictor of support for such attitudes. Identifying the October 7 massacre as a major event in Jewish history also strongly predicted eliminatory views. In contrast, respondents who cited the Holocaust as a defining historical event were significantly less likely to support such positions–suggesting the existence of some resistance to the politicization of Holocaust memory in justifying current violence.