In the wake of the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israeli civilians and Israel’s military response, a narrative is emerging that condemns Hamas for its brutality while blaming Israeli policies toward the Palestinians as the root cause of the Hamas atrocities. This narrative defies historical accuracy. It is time to set the record straight.
First, to ascribe the root cause of the Hamas attacks to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank ignores the century-long history of Palestinian terrorism against their Jewish neighbors, commencing long before the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, and indeed long before the creation of the State of Israel. For example, in August 1929, two decades before Israel existed, Palestinian terrorists massacred 70 Jewish civilians in Hebron. The Times of London carried a chilling report of the massacres in its September 2, 1929, edition, describing how the terrorists slaughtered women and Yeshiva students.
Second, Israel is not to blame for the Palestinians’ lack of statehood. On multiple occasions over the past 85 years Palestinian leaders rejected both the one-state and two-state solutions.