Genocidal Enjoyment: On the Weaponization of Joyful Cruelty and “Dark Fun” during Israel’s Genocide in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) assault on Gaza, following the 7 October Hamas attacks and breakthrough of Israel’s security wall, has been dubbed a “live-streamed genocide” as a growing number of entities around the world, including international human rights organizations and leading genocide scholars, have concluded Israel’s military actions in Gaza constitute genocide. A key source used to highlight Israel’s genocidal conduct and intent towards Palestinians has been the proliferation of images of joyful cruelty and war crimes activities posted on social media by Israeli soldiers in Gaza, often intended to amuse or entertain themselves or an audience. This imagery is often accompanied by genocidal rhetoric towards Palestinians, rhetoric engaged by Israeli political and military leaders throughout Israel’s long history of ongoing displacement of Palestinians in the region. Such behavior, we contend, has vividly captured the joyful cruelty and sadistic amusement engaged by IDF combatants, and Israeli supporters, in real-time during Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, a phenomenon we describe in this article as genocidal enjoyment . Using theoretical sampling of illustrative cases, we examine this behavior by IDF soldiers, online supporters, and subsequent media coverage of their actions in the aftermath of 7 October, to analyze the role genocidal enjoyment plays in supporting, and condemning, the IDF’s brutality in Gaza. We situate such behavior and imagery as significant for furthering a cultural sociology of war by focusing on the meaning-making, narratives, and emotion work such images mobilize in a context of war and genocide.