The instrumentalization of the Holocaust in the October 7 conflict: the revitalization of the social memory of the Jewish genocide by the Benjamin Netanyahu government through the newspapers Haaretz and Israel Hayom

• Grant number: 24/10277-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Elizabete Sanches Rocha
• Grantee: João Victor Silva Ferreira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Triggered on October 7, 2023, the Israel-Hamas conflict has been marked in the discursive field by a constant recall of the Holocaust by Benjamin Netanyahu's government as a justification for its actions in Gaza. In response to the violence that unfolded against the Palestinians, Netanyahu has utilized the memory of the Holocaust to justify actions and label criticism as antisemitic, a strategy widely echoed in the Israeli media, particularly in the newspapers Haaretz, which contested this use, and Israel Hayom, which supported it.Thus, the central aim of the research is to analyze how the Israeli media, through the mentioned newspapers, reflected the use of the historical memory of the Holocaust as legitimization for Israel's military actions in Gaza. The analysis focuses on the discursive-ideological, historical, and political aspects of this instrumentalization, demonstrating how the memory of the Jewish genocide is used to create meaning effects that support Israeli military incursions. Therefore, the research aims to understand the role of these media outlets in projecting their views on the Israeli official narrative internationally.Furthermore, the relevance of this focus lies in the need to understand the discourses that instrumentalize the Holocaust in the current context of the conflict, offering a critical analysis based on French Discourse Analysis and Post-Colonial theories in International Relations. By highlighting the role of the media in the (re)construction of the social memory of the Holocaust, the research contributes to a broader debate on the political use of historical memory in conflict contexts and to understanding how this practice impacts international relations.