How anti-Semites misuse alleged Talmud passages

With the Gaza war, propaganda against Israel and Jews has been massively increased. For this purpose, fake or misinterpreted Talmud passages are once again exploited.

“Even the best of the non-Jews should be killed”, “A Jew is allowed to have sex with a child as long as the child is under nine years old” or “The Jews are people. The non-Jews are animals and not people.” Such alleged quotes from the Talmud are currently being distributed as texts, sharepics or videos on social media, particularly to discredit Israel in connection with the Gaza war.

Some of the quotes cited have been in circulation for decades, and the alleged evidence has already been exposed several times as fakes or malicious misinterpretations. They all serve centuries-old prejudices that Jews believe they are above the law and moral rules.

“The method of interpreting the Bible and other Jewish writings in such a way that Jews make the destruction of other peoples their goal developed from the 9th century onwards,” explains Katrin Kogman-Appel, Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Münster, to the ARD fact finder.

Quotations incorrect or without context

“The Talmud is a collection of discussions, but not a code of law,” says the Judaizer. Accordingly, quotes such as “even the best of the goyim (non-Jews) should be killed” must be interpreted in context.

This is one of the few text passages that are often misused for propaganda purposes that actually appear in the Talmud, explains Krogman-Appel. However, it refers to the persecution of the Israelites after the exodus from Egypt, in which the abilities of the most God-fearing, i.e. the “best” of the Egyptians became fatal to those fleeing – so it is advice for self-defense in the event of a conflict.

The alleged quote “The Jews are people, but the nations of the world are not people, but animals (Bava Metziah 114b) is distorted and misinterpreted, according to Kogman-Appel. “‘But animals’ is not there at all – and also in the first one In part it doesn’t say ‘are people’ or ‘are not people’ – but rather ‘are called people’ or ‘are not called people’.”

Later commentaries interpreted this to mean that man was ordained by God to live according to divine law, but non-Jews do not. “That means they are not fulfilling the divine mandate to humanity.”

Malicious distortions

Another quote, “all non-Jewish children are animals”, does not exist at the specified source, Yebamoth 98a, either: it is about rights and regulations, the children who are born in different situations, and civil law questions of paternity. “The whole thing is nothing more than a distorted quotation from the Bible, which is put in a completely different context in the Talmudic discussion,” said the scientist.

The claim that a Jew is allowed to have sex with a child as long as the child is under nine years of age is also not made in the specified passage, Sanhedrin 54b. It’s about homosexual relationships, which are already forbidden in the Talmud.

Problematic quotes also from the Israeli government

The claims received new support from the Israeli government’s sometimes extreme war rhetoric, which leaves room for interpretation. Defense Minister Joaw Gallant said after the Hamas attack on October 6: “We are fighting against human animals, and we are acting accordingly.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu stated in October; “You must remember what Amelek did to you, says our holy scriptures.” According to the Bible, the Amalekites attacked the Israelites mercilessly after the Exodus from Egypt. “You shall blot out the memory of Amalek” is one of Judaism’s 613 commandments. This was also invoked by a Jewish terrorist who shot 29 Muslims at prayer in the West Bank in 1994.

Netanyahu denies genocide justification

In South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Criminal Court, Netanyahu’s statement was seen as evidence that Israel was planning genocide against the Palestinians. However, the Israeli prime minister explained that his sentence was not intended to be an incitement to genocide, but rather a description of “the extremely evil actions of the genocidal terrorists of Hamas on October 7 and the need to confront them.”

“Amalek is a biblical motif – and Amalek is considered the personification of anti-Jewish hostility in Jewish tradition. ‘Remember what Amalek has done to you’ is a call to remember that Amalek is an arch-enemy and to defend yourself should,” explains Judaist Kogman-Appel, to ARD fact finder. The quote is therefore not a call for genocide and the criticism of Netanyahu is not justified in this case.