Benjamin Netanyahu often tries to make Israel’s sorrow relatable to Americans. At the United Nations last month, he took the casualties from October 7 and scaled them by the population ratio between the United States and Israel. He stated that the 1,200 Israelis killed correspond to “40,000 innocent Americans slaughtered in less than 24 hours. That’s 16 times 9/11.”
Using per-capita comparisons is a valid approach. Smaller nations experience tragedies differently than larger ones, and Americans should grasp what October 7 meant to Israelis. However, such comparisons only hold integrity if applied consistently. So, let’s use Netanyahu’s own method to analyze the deaths caused by his military over the past three years.
Before the conflict, Gaza’s population was approximately 2.2 million. The United States has around 341 million people, which is roughly 155 times larger. Taking a conservative estimate of 75,000 Palestinians killed, slightly above the Gaza Health Ministry’s reported total of over 73,000, and applying Netanyahu’s logic, the equivalent would be nearly 11.6 million Americans.
Eleven point six million — a number comparable to Ohio’s population. This figure surpasses the total number of American fatalities in every war fought by the U.S., from the Revolutionary War through Afghanistan. It is about fifteen times the deaths in the Civil War, the deadliest conflict in American history.
Expressed in Netanyahu’s chosen benchmark, it equals roughly 3,900 times September 11th.
Running the calculation using Israel’s own proportion yields a similar result. Seventy-five thousand deaths within a population of 2.2 million equates to approximately 340,000 Israelis. Netanyahu has constructed a speech, a war, and a foreign policy around 1,200 deaths. Consider what his rhetoric might be facing 340,000.
The convenient multiplier
Supporters of Netanyahu may argue that many deceased in Gaza were Hamas combatants, making the comparison unfair. Even if every alleged fighter claims are removed and the multiplier is applied only to the remaining dead, say 50,000, the figure still equals around 8 million Americans — about 2,600 times 9/11. Disputing individual counts does not alter the fact that the total translates into millions.
Netanyahu’s calculations are flawed even on their own terms. Dividing 40,000 Americans by the 2,977 who died on September 11 amounts to about 13.4 times 9/11, not sixteen. When a larger number serves the narrative, the math conveniently rounds up.
Yet, the main issue isn’t the rounding — it’s the selective application. Netanyahu’s multiplier only works one way. It amplifies Israeli fatalities into a catastrophe that Americans can emotionally connect with. When applied to Palestinian casualties, it yields numbers so staggering that any American audience would question what their support has enabled. That’s why the comparison is never extended to Palestinians.
What the comparison actually shows
Per-capita comparisons aim to clarify the magnitude of losses for outsiders. Netanyahu asks Americans to envision 40,000 of their own murdered in a day, justifying Israel’s response. Very well. Now ask Americans to imagine 11.6 million dead compatriots trapped in a closed territory and then accept it as self-defense.
No American president would call 11.6 million deaths a balanced retaliation under any circumstance. No American would agree that those deaths were justified merely because some victims were armed. And anyone who has examined the figures cannot accept Netanyahu’s premise, that Israeli lives scale proportionately while Palestinian lives do not.
This approach is Netanyahu’s own creation. Therefore, by his own standard, the disaster unfolding in Gaza dwarfs the one he insists the world remember by a factor close to 290.
Original article: sonar21.com
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