it was never removed

Context is key. It went from

Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put “Don’t be evil” into practice

to

And remember… don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up!

So from a “we won’t be evil” to telling others to not be evil.

So yes, the context in which the statement was applied, means its very basis was removed.

Someone should realize that LLM’s aren’t always trained up to date on the latest and greatest of news. Ukraine’s conflict is two years running, and Gaza happened ~4½ months ago. It also really didn’t outright refuse, it just told the user to use search.