This casual observation germinated in Mr Minto's head before seriously flowering into life this week after the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa he chairs got back to work.
A "Genocide Hotline" digital flyer was dispatched into cyberspace on Monday, which invited people to report their own sightings of Israeli soldiers enjoying the New Zealand bush or coastline.
To whom and for what purpose seems unclear.
Leaving aside what seems obvious for the moment, that this is nothing more than a self-serving, attention-seeking stunt, there are many questions to be answered by Mr Minto and his compatriots about their antics.
John Minto. PHOTO: ODT FILES
Secondly, the majority of Israeli citizens are required to complete mandatory military service for between 24 and 32 months, so technically it could argued that all Israelis are soldiers.
Thirdly, Mr Minto has leapt to the assumption that simply being in the military equates to participation in frontline combat in Gaza, or "genocide", to use the network's rhetoric.
Much of the warfare in that troubled enclave has been the province of specialised professional troops: while draftees can be deployed to the frontline, they are more commonly found in reserve or administrative roles, or in training.
And fourthly, exactly what does Mr Minto hope to achieve by bothering a few backpackers?
He and his colleagues have made a cottage industry of harassing Israelis in New Zealand, be they politicians or tennis players, to no noticeable effect on the global political scene.
Chief Human Rights Commissioner Stephen Rainbow has called for the hotline to be scrapped, saying it sets a dangerous precedent.
He is correct, both in terms of the personal safety of individuals inspired to act by the hotline's existence, and also in terms of the right to freedom of movement.
While the right to freedom of expression allows Mr Minto to make his feelings known, that needs to be tempered by recognition that calling on people to "track down" Israel soldiers and report them has rights implications itself.
To be fair to Mr Minto, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Israeli military personnel might be in New Zealand and up to no good.
In 2004 a diplomatic incident blew up between this country and Israel after two men suspected of being Mossad agents were accused of trying to fraudulently acquire a New Zealand passport.
They spent a few months in prison before being deported and Israel's Foreign Minister apologised for the whole sorry saga.
But Mr Minto's hotline antics are tantamount to calling for harassment of individuals who are quite likely lawfully going about their business, as they are entitled to do.
Mr Minto has consistently called on the New Zealand government to do more to condemn Israel's actions in Gaza.
He may have a valid point here, but unlike the government Mr Minto has the luxury of not having to conform to the norms of international diplomacy.
Both Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have consistently condemned both the October 7 Hamas attacks and the extent of Israel's response.
Mr Peters' comments on the anniversary of October 7, that the attacks had caused "an absolutely unacceptable cycle of violence and human suffering" is indisputably a denouncement of both Hamas and Israel.
The government has not gone as far against Israel as it has against Russia in general, and several named individual Russians in particular, in terms of travel and financial sanctions. It is arguable that perhaps it should have.
But it has not. Even if it had, that would not and should not permit likely baseless harassment of individuals, no matter how well meaning the motivation of those doing the harassing might be.
Mr Minto should scrap his ineffectual and unneccessary hotline and consider more effective ways to upbraid Israel for its policies and actions.
