About

Rape Netanyahu, also known as Raping Netanyahu or by the hashtag #RapeNetanyahu, refers to a parody movement on Twitter / X, which champions raping Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, mostly due to his role in the 2023-2025 Hamas-Israel Conflict. The hashtag was first used in 2024 and generated memes that imagined the sexual assault of Netanyahu heading into 2025.

Following the start of the Israel-Iran Confilct in June 2025, Rape Netanyahu memes and viral tweets resurfaced en masse, generating discourse and debate about the ethics and morals of the meme. Some feminists and women believed that the "rape jokes" were insensitive. Others beleived that joking about raping Netanyahu was equivalent to joking about assaulting notorious warmongers from history like Adolf Hitler, and it was therefore okay. Others believed that the entire debate was ridiculous. All viewpoints were expressed during the viral discussion.

Origin

The "#RapeNetanyahu" hashtag was first used by X^[1] user @DarkMemes41161 on May 30th, 2024, gaining 17 likes in a year. The post was a quote-tweet related to a Benjamin Netanyahu interview in which he showed a map that did not include Western Sahara as Moroccan territory. The quote attached two buff Chudjaks wearing Palestine flag shirts (shown below). An earlier use of the hashtag has not yet been discovered.

Spread

In the following months, non-viral tweets^[2][3] spread the #RapeNetanyahu tag across X. Then, on October 25th, 2024, X^[4] user @OneWordPowerful tweeted, "#RapeNetanyahu," gaining over 7,900 likes in eight months (shown below).

The abovementioned tweet sparked increased use on X^[5] heading into late 2024.

On June 12th, 2025, X^[6] user @JoeDaActivist tweeted the hashtag in all caps, shortly after the start of the June 2025 Israel-Iran Conflict. The tweet received over 10.1 million views and 71,000 likes in four days (shown below).

The tweet earned multiple quote-tweets in the following days of mid-June 2025, as some were critical of the post.

For instance, on June 13th, X^[7] user @strawb3rryspic3 quoted the post, writing, "Rape is NEVER justified. Not in war, not as punishment, not as [a] joke. Men use rape as a tool of violence or [as] a punchline [and it] says everything [about your] performative activism." The post received over 153,000 likes in three days (shown below).

Also on June 13th, 2025, X^[8] user @bigchad2013 quoted the post, roughly following the Explaining To An American: Imagine A Burger phrasal template by writing, "Men trying to protest: rape!" Over three days, the post amassed over 131,000 likes (shown below).

Others levied support for the #RapeNetanyahu tweets and memes, pushing back against the critique.

For instance, on June 14th, X^[9] user @pusheenpoop quote-tweeted X^[7] user @strawb3rryspic3, attaching the Norman Rockwell painting Freedom of Speech and writing, "I don't care if someone says we should rape Hitler," drawing a comparison between Benjamin Netanyahu and Adolf Hitler. Over two days, the tweet received over 8,300 likes (shown below).

Others criticized X^[7] user @strawb3rryspic3 for a reply she posted under her own tweet, which has since been deleted, but the continued thread is still viewable on X as of June 16th, 2025.^[10] It was also screenshotted and posted by X^[11] user @dylanlaff (shown below).

It shows that @strawb3rryspic3 replied to X^[12] user @nikisnewjeans and used Algospeak to say torturing Netanyahu would be okay, reading, "tOrtur3 him all you want, even that I SUPPORT #FreePalestineNow."

X^[11] user @dylanlaff's post that included the screenshot was shared on June 14th, 2025. It was a quote-tweet that paired the screenshot with the That One Friend That's Too Woke meme, captioned, "Woke people are so fuckin weird bra😭." It received over 3,100 likes in two days (shown below).

During the same timeframe, others on X^[13] were shocked that a debate about raping Netenyahu was occuring on the site.

For instance, on June 14th, X^[14] user @shartgoreisdead tweeted, "TL discussing the ethics of the raping of Netanyahu," gaining over 99,000 likes in two days (shown below).

Various Examples

#RAPENETANYAHU pic.twitter.com/YE735mwKtM

— YungPut1n (@YungPutin1) June 13, 2025

Search Interest

External References