Since Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas sympathizers have insisted that we must understand the massacre in its historical context — that it did not happen in a vacuum.
asserted
it → insist → vacuum
To understand this context, we need to look back at a chapter of history that predates the state of Israel by two decades.
asserted
that → understand → decades
On Aug. 24, 1929, more than 3000 Muslim men armed with swords, axes and machetes marched through the ancient Jewish quarter of Hebron, then part of British Mandate Palestine.
asserted
men → arm → Palestine
That Sabbath morning, they slaughtered 67 Jewish men, women and children, and wounded dozens more.
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they → slaughter → dozens
Children watched as their parents were butchered by their neighbors.
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parents → watch → neighbors
Rabbis and yeshiva students were castrated.
asserted
Rabbis → castrate → ?
Infants were murdered in their mothers’ arms.
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Infants → murder → arms
Young women were raped.
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women → rap → ?
Those who survived endured horrific cruelty, with fingers and limbs severed and eyes gouged.
asserted
eyes → survive → cruelty
Many victims of the Hebron massacre knew their assailants by name.
asserted
victims → know → name
Most of Hebron’s Jews were natives of the land who spoke Hebrew and Arabic.
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who → speak → Hebrew
This was the world’s oldest Jewish community, dating back to the days of Abraham and Sarah, who are believed to be buried in Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs.
asserted
who → date → Patriarchs
The massacre bore striking similarities to Oct. 7.
asserted
massacre → bear → Oct.
But the significance of 1929 extends far beyond these parallels.
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significance → extend → parallels
This overlooked chapter of history offers a window into the forces that shape this conflict — forces that are entirely missing from contemporary accounts of its origins.
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that → offer → origins
In 1929, Jews represented 20% of a population of less than 1 million people.
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Jews → represent → people
To be a Palestinian was to be a Jew or an Arab living under British rule.
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be → live → rule
Jews and Muslims had lived alongside one another in Hebron for generations.
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Jews → live → generations
What led thousands of Muslims in Hebron to turn on their Jewish neighbors was a campaign of disinformation initiated by the first leader of the Palestinian people: the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini.
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led → lead → Jerusalem
He claimed that the Jews of Palestine were conspiring to destroy Al-Aqsa in order to rebuild the ancient Jewish Temple, upon whose ruins Al-Aqsa had been built.
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Aqsa → claim → Temple
That lie crested into a wave of violence against Jews in Palestine.
asserted
lie → crest → Palestine
Hamas repeats the same lie today, positioning themselves as the defenders of Al-Aqsa.
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Hamas → repeat → Aqsa
It is no coincidence that Hamas named the Oct. 7 attack “The Al-Aqsa Flood.”
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Hamas → name → attack
Yet the most revealing connection between 1929 and 2023 lies not in the violence but in its aftermath.
asserted
connection → lie → aftermath
In both cases, atrocities were simultaneously denied and blamed on their Jewish victims, murderers were glorified as heroes and the religious underpinnings of the violence were obscured.
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underpinnings → deny → violence
After the riots were quelled by British troops, the Arabic press in Palestine falsely reported that Jews had initiated the riots.
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Jews → quell → riots
The international community saw through these lies at the time.
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community → see → time
Western journalists did not attempt to justify the slaughter of unarmed children.
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journalists → attempt → children
Protests against the Arab riots took place around the world.
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Protests → take → world
And yet, the British did then what they continue to do today.
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they → do → what
Siding with the Arab majority of Palestine, the British concluded in the 1930 Shaw Commission that what sparked the riots was a peaceful Jewish demonstration at the Western Wall in mid-August 1929, on the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, when Jews mark the destruction of the ancient Jewish Temples.
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Jews → side → Temples
In hopes of keeping the peace, the British rewarded the attackers.
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British → keep → attackers
To appease the Arab majority, they issued quotas on Jewish immigration.
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they → appease → immigration
They also restricted Jewish land purchases.
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They → restrict → purchases
After all, land in Palestine was not being confiscated by Jews or given to them by the British.
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land → confiscate → British
It was being sold to them by wealthy Arab landowners, at exorbitant prices.
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It → sell → prices
So, what happens when the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is told without the context of 1929?
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history → happen → 1929
We are witnessing the consequences in real time.
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We → witness → time
The 1929 Hebron massacre undermines the assumption that today’s conflict was caused by the state of Israel.
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conflict → undermine → Israel
As a journalist who reported from Israel and the Palestinian Territories from 2013 to 2023, I witnessed the ways in which history is omitted from coverage of this conflict.
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history → report → conflict
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
