A stock phrase repeated constantly by Israelis is that “Hamas started it all on 7 October”. Admittedly, Hamas’s actions on 7 October were alarming. Hamas and other Palestinian groups launched incursions from Gaza. At least 4,300 rockets were fired into Israel, and about 6,000 Gazans entered Israel.

A total of 1,139 people were killed. Of them, 695 were Israeli civilians, including 38 children, 71 were foreign nationals, and 373 were members of the Israeli security forces.

About 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip.

It should be emphasised that any human death, whether Israeli or Palestinian, is lamentable.

However, the implications of the endlessly repeated “Hamas started it all on 7 October” are that:
• The attack was unprovoked and out of the blue.
• Hamas are therefore the aggressors, and terrorists.
• Israel therefore has the right to defend itself against this.

It all started in 1948

As we have explained in a previous issue of MMW, the Palestine-Israel conflict has been going on since 1948. Indeed, many commentators would argue that its origins were in the late 19th century, when Zionists produced plans to take over Palestine.

Similarly, the Balfour Declaration of 1917 declared Palestine a "national home for the Jewish people".

When the state of Israel was declared in 1948, several massacres were committed in order to attempt to clear the land of Palestinians. Wikipedia lists 42 attacks. Of these, only six were attacks on Jews.

Even then, some of the attacks on Jews were retaliatory. For instance, on 13 April 1948, Arab forces attacked a medical convoy in Jerusalem, killing 79 Jewish doctors, nurses, and scientists. However, this was in retaliation for the massacre of up to 140 Palestinian villagers four days previously in the infamous massacre in the village of Deir Yassin, east of Jerusalem.

Attacks have continued to the present

From 1948 to the present, Israeli forces and settlers have carried out attacks on Palestinian villages, killing civilians, bulldozing houses, and occupying Palestinian land.

For example, on the day before the Hamas attack – 6 October – illegal Israeli settlers rampaged through the West Bank town of Huwara, killing a 19-year-old Palestinian, Labib Dumaidi.

Al-Jazeera reported “More than 200 settlers gathered in the middle of Huwara after midnight, shouting and dancing, some of them with covered faces,” Palestinian resident Abderrahman Dmidi told the news agency AFP.

“They began throwing stones towards some houses, and then the young people … tried to defend their homes by throwing stones,” he added. Residents said Israeli soldiers turned a blind eye to the violence.

“It’s clear that the settler militias are protected by the occupation’s soldiers,” Thaer Qawareeq, an employee at a supermarket damaged by the settlers in Huwara, told the Reuters news agency. He added that it was the third time that settlers had assaulted the store.”

According to Muslim custom, the dead are buried within 24 hours. Even then, they are not allowed to be buried in peace.

“The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that at least 51 Palestinians were injured during a funeral procession for Dumaidi, as Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber-tipped bullets, and live fire.

“Settler violence against Palestinians has seen a substantial uptick over the last year, occurring at a rate of three per day for the first eight months of 2023, according to the United Nations.”

This all occurred before 7 October 2023.