The nascent Sanhedrin released a decision on the issue of the law of Amalek, applying the Torah commandment to the current war in Gaza.

“We rule that the people of Gaza led by the Hamas movement, and all those who support and help them, have upon them the Torah law of Amalek,” the decision read.

The Sanhedrin listed the following reasons for classifying Hamas and its followers as Amalek, the perennial enemy of Israel.

– The founding charter of Hamas clearly calls for the extermination of Jews wherever they are.

– The people of Gaza and the Nazi body that represents them, Hamas, and all their supporters, began to implement the Hamas charter on Simchat Torah, 5774. (i.e. Oct. 7.2023)

– The people of Gaza admire the Nazi ideology and even keep copies of “Mein Kampf” in their homes.

– The people of Gaza and Hamas have become even more murderous despite the State of Israel affording them benefits for more than twenty years with free electricity, free water, money, and the construction of hospitals. The State of Israel has brought in hundreds of trucks every day for twenty years to benefit the residents of Gaza. 

The Sanhedrin noted that this evil trait of repaying good with evil was described in Psalms 120:7

“I am all peace, but when I speak – they are for war.”

The Sanhedrin noted other actions taken by Israel to promote peaceful coexistence:

“The State of Israel carried out ethnic cleansing of the Jews who lived in Gaza to promote peace. They uprooted productive and flourishing settlements, shamefully and cruelly expelling approximately 8,500 Jews, destroying their homes and their life’s work, and even evacuated the cemeteries, giving the land of Israel to our enemy in complete violation of the Torah commandments.”

“And in response, we received a terrible massacre entirely characteristic of the evil nation of Amalek.”

The Sanhedrin cited the verses in Deuteronomy 25:17-18: 

“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you came out of Egypt: how he was undeterred by fear of God, surprised you on the way, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in the rear.”

The Sanhedrin emphasized that Hamas attacks have always targeted civilian centers. On Oct. 7, the terrorist organization, aided by Gazan civilians, murdered the elderly, women, children, and even babies, precisely as Amalek did to the Nation of Israel after the Exodus from Egypt.

“These are the characteristics of Amalek, described by the Torah so that we can identify them to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment),” the Sanhedrin wrote. “The Creator of the world does not command a mitzvah that is impossible to fulfill. Therefore, the Torah characterizes who Amalek is so we can fulfill the mitzvah. 

“And the time for doing the mitzvah is now, immediately after Hamas, the manifestation of Amalek, murdered our defenseless and weak, just as the original Amalekites did to our ancestors in the desert.  We have an eternal commandment to wipe out those who want to destroy Israel and show such cruelty, revealing their inner identity as Amalekites.”

“Even in the Book of Esther, when the Jews killed 75,000, they did not check the genealogical records of the enemies but treated them as Amalekites because of their cruel actions and because of their desire to destroy the people of Israel.”

The Sanhedrin noted that every year at this time, the Jews read Parashat Zachor, the section of the Torah describing Amalek and the mitzvah to wipe them out, even though the nation of Amalek as a national entity no longer exists.

“This is so we may remember to wipe out those who act like Amalek in every generation,” the Sanhedrin noted. 

“Therefore, we rule that it is a command from the Torah to conquer and return Israeli sovereignty to Gaza and to destroy Hamas and their supporters who are besieging the people of Israel, as was done in Shushan, the capital of Persia in the days of Mordechai and Esther.”

“We decree a death sentence for every member of the Hamas movement and anyone who helps them, and a command to pursue them and kill them everywhere and at any time, as per the Torah commandment concerning Amalek,” the Sanhedrin decree read. “We call for Israel to redeem the blood of our brothers, which cries out to us from the earth.”

“No medical treatment should be given to Hamas members, and no direct or indirect negotiations should be held with them on any subject or under any conditions since they all acted as one to murder.”

The Sanhedrin called on the Knesset to immediately legislate this as law, similar to the existing law against Nazis and their helpers.

“The Israeli government should act on this on the political, legal, and military levels, define this war as the Amalek War with all that it implies in practice.”

“And just as we ruled in a lower court, so we ask that it will be ruled in the higher court.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was heavily criticized for citing the Biblical verses about Amalek in a speech after the Oct. 7 massacre. While the United Nations refrained from condemning Hamas, in its lawsuit against Israel, the International Court of Justice condemned Netanyahu’s use of the Biblical archetype as its basis for classifying Israel’s war against Hamas as ‘genocide’.