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Arabs Massacred Jews in the Holy Land Before Israel Existed — and the Media Has No Clue
October 7, 2023, was the largest massacre of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust. Hamas and other Iranian-backed proxies invaded Israel, murdering 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages. Many of the victims were killed in the most gruesome fashion imaginable: parents were tortured in front of their children, the elderly were slaughtered at bus stops, families were burned alive in their own homes, babies murdered in cribs, all while gleeful terrorists proudly filmed their handiwork.
October 7 was also the largest invasion and attack by Islamist terrorists in modern history. It was part of an attempted genocide by a group that calls for Israel’s destruction.
The Washington Post, however, calls it “armed resistance.”
This was the phrase used in the Post’s Aug. 28, 2024, dispatch, “What to know about Palestinian militant groups operating in the West Bank.”
Ostensibly a primer about terrorist groups operating in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), the article misinformed more than it informed.
The Post’s Claire Parker claimed that “Palestinians have engaged in armed resistance since the state’s founding in 1948, when an estimated 750,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes.”
Notably “armed resistance” is a euphemism used by US-designated terrorist groups like Hamas to refer to terrorism. Parker is literally echoing terrorist rhetoric. She’s also dead wrong.
In fact, Arab terrorist groups were targeting, attacking, and murdering Jews decades before Israel was recreated.
Indeed, there are entire books on the subject (Yeshoua Porath’s two volume, The Emergence of the Palestinian Arab National Movement, while 50 years old, is perhaps the most comprehensive). Evidence on the score is both abundant and part of the historical record; it is highlighted in numerous histories, newspaper accounts of the day, and memoirs.
Hamas even names its “Qassam rockets” after Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, an Islamist cleric born in what is today Syria, and who perpetrated terrorist attacks until he was killed by British policemen in November 1935. Hamas also has the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which perpetrate terrorist attacks.
And Qassam was not alone in his efforts to murder Jews.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Palestinian terrorist groups like the Green Hand, the Black Hand, and others, murdered Jews, officials from the British Mandatory government that controlled the area after World War I, and Arab critics.
CAMERA has highlighted this important history in numerous op-eds throughout the years, including in National Review, Mosaic magazine, and, most recently The Washington Times. As CAMERA noted in an April 14, 2020, essay for Mosaic, “Century-Old Lessons from a Jerusalem Pogrom,” these terrorist groups resented any social and political equality with Jews and perpetrated organized mass violence as early as 1920. In the nearly three decades before Israel was recreated, hundreds of attacks occurred, with hundreds of victims.
As CAMERA detailed in an Oct. 17, 2023 Washington Times Op-Ed, entitled “Palestinian terrorists have been murdering babies for a century,” and the terrorists often murdered their victims in the most depraved manner possible.
In 1929 in Hebron, for example, one British policeman, RJ Cafferata, later testified that he discovered “an Arab cutting off a child’s head with a sword.” Cafferata shot him dead before seeing another terrorist armed with a dagger and “standing over a woman covered with blood.” The policemen killed him. Women were raped en masse. Many were tortured.
A Dutch-Canadian journalist, Pierre Van Paassen, detailed the aftermath at one rabbi’s house: “the rooms looked like a slaughterhouse…Not a single item had been left intact except a large black-and-white photograph of Dr. Theodore Herzl.”
The murderers, he noted, had “draped the blood-drenched underwear of a woman” around the picture frame. Van Paassen later described how he wanted to “gather up the severed sexual organs and the cut-off sexual organs and the cut-off breasts we had seen lying over the floor and in the beds.” A Jewish baker, Noah Imerman, was burned to death in a kerosene stove.
A week after the massacre in Hebron, another unfolded in Safed. One eyewitness, David Hacohen, later testified that he saw “homes set on fire” and victims “stabbed to pieces,” their bodies “mutilated and burned.” The terrorists even targeted an orphanage, where they “smashed the children’s heads and cut off their hands” before burning the building.
These events are thoroughly documented. The British government held hearings on them, and Western newspapers reported on them at the time. The Middle East analyst Oren Kessler highlighted them in his 2023 bestseller Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict, which detailed, at length, the various terror groups operating in British-ruled Mandate Palestine in the 1930s. It is utterly disqualifying for someone to be writing about the Israel-Islamist conflict today not to be aware of this relevant history.
Indeed, many of the details — homes being incinerated, mass rape, and sexual violence, children being murdered, the elderly tortured — keenly illustrate that the Palestinian terrorists who perpetrated the October 7 massacre have much in common with their forebearers who murdered Jews one hundred years ago.
To acknowledge this, however, is tantamount to admitting that Arab terrorists aren’t murdering Jews because of the creation of Israel, or the existence of “settlements,” or “1967 lines.” Rather they resent any political or social equality with Jews. As terrorists screamed during the 1920 massacre in Jerusalem: “the Jews are our dogs.”
This sentiment was highlighted in a May 13, 2011, Hamas Al-Aqsa TV interview with Sara Jaber, a 92-year-old woman who looked back at the Hebron massacre with fondness. “We, the people of Hebron, massacred the Jews. My father massacred them and brought back some stuff,” according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute. “Massacred the Jews.”
Or as the Washington Post’s Claire Parker, would call it “armed resistance.”
Notably, Parker’s claim about terrorism beginning in 1948 omits other relevant details, not least of which is that Zionists accepted, and Arab leaders rejected, numerous offers for a “two-state solution.”
Indeed, the 1948 war — which became Israel’s War of Independence — erupted when the Arab League and Palestinian Arab leaders rejected a UN partition plan that would’ve created something that hadn’t ever existed: a Palestinian Arab state.
Yet Arab leaders were unwilling to accept such a state if it meant living peacefully next to a Jewish one. Accordingly, they sought to “annihilate” the Jewish state, openly seeking to commit another genocide a mere three years after World War II and the Holocaust.
Arab nations, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood and the so-called Army of the Holy War, attacked the fledgling nation. Estimates of Arab refugees vary, with the “750,000” figure cited by Parker being on the high end. Notably, Parker omits the more than 800,000 Jewish refugees from Muslim lands who were exiled because of that conflict. Omitting rejected offers for Palestinian statehood and peace and Jewish refugees, while claiming that terrorism was due to Israel’s creation is, as they say, “a tell” — it reveals Parker’s bias. So too is referring to terrorism as “armed resistance.”
Yet, this isn’t the first time that Parker has regurgitated language used by terror groups like Hamas.
Hours after the October 7 attack, Parker filed a dispatch claiming that an Israeli counterterrorist raid on Al-Aqsa mosque “stoked tensions,” leading to the attack by the terror group. But as CAMERA has highlighted, Palestinian terrorist groups have long used the false claim that Jews seek to damage or destroy the mosque to incite anti-Jewish violence.
The founding father of Palestinian nationalism, Amin al-Husseini, did precisely that leading up to the 1929 massacres detailed above — massacres in which more than 133 Jewish men, women, and children were murdered, and 339 were injured. There are even entire reports highlighting how Palestinian leaders employ what the scholar Nadav Shragai has called the “Al-Aqsa is in danger” libel prior to attacks.
More to the point, evidence indicates that the October 7 massacre — called “Al-Aqsa Flood” by Hamas — took years to plan and was massive in both scope and ambition. This was obvious within hours of the attack itself. Parker’s decision to parrot Hamas claims that the attack was the result of a recent counterterrorist raid indicates more than just ignorance about the history of the “Al Aqsa” libel and terrorist rhetoric — it shows a remarkable lack of common sense or, less diplomatically, intelligence.
As The Washington Post unintentionally proves, there is a great deal of difference between being a reporter with deep historical understanding and being a stenographer for terrorist groups.
The writer is a Senior Research Analyst for CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.
The post Arabs Massacred Jews in the Holy Land Before Israel Existed — and the Media Has No Clue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran and Terrorism: Empty Gestures or Genuine Change?
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks during a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Tehran, Iran, July 12, 2025. Photo: Hamid Forootan/Iranian Foreign Ministry/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
In a world grappling with persistent threats of terrorism and financial crimes, the international community must not be swayed by superficial gestures.
While Tehran’s recent ratification of the Palermo Convention against transnational organized crime may seem like a step in the right direction on the surface, it is likely a calculated move designed to distract from the regime’s continued and unwavering support for global terrorism.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) reportedly plans to meet with Tehran’s bureaucrats to review whether the Islamic Republic of Iran has complied with its action plan to be removed from its blacklist.
However, the global financial watchdog must resist the temptation to remove Tehran from the list, because the Islamic Republic fundamentally remains committed to funding terrorism and engaging in illicit financing. To remove Tehran would be to ignore a mountain of evidence that supports this unequivocal fact.
In fact, removing Iran would endanger the integrity of the international financial system.
For years, the Islamic Republic has been a leading state sponsor of terrorism. No single treaty that Iran may ratify can disguise this fact.
The regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has a long and bloody history of plotting assassinations on American soil and overseas, targeting high-profile figures like President Donald Trump, journalists, dissidents, and ordinary citizens. This is not the conduct of a state genuinely committed to combating organized crime. It is the action of a rogue regime that uses terror as a primary tool of its foreign policy.
The recent move by Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council to ratify the United Nations’ Palermo Convention — after years of refusing to do so — is a classic example of Tehran’s diplomatic gamesmanship.
Tehran understands its presence on the FATF blacklist has crippled its economy, It is desperate for a reprieve. However, the regime has refused to ratify the most crucial of the FATF-required treaties: the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).
By refusing to do so, Tehran is signaling its intention to continue funding terrorist proxies including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Nor has Iran abandoned the facilitation network it has provided to Al-Qaeda. While Tehran may one day feel compelled to ratify the CFT for economic reasons, removing it from the blacklist should take place only if commensurate conduct changes on the terrorism front — and that change is sustained.
The international community has already witnessed the devastating consequences of Iran’s terror financing. The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, was inspired, funded, and enabled by Tehran. The regime’s support for the Houthis in Yemen has destabilized the region and disrupted global trade, costing the United States and its allies billions of dollars. Tehran’s backing of Hezbollah in Lebanon threatens the security of Israel and the stability of the entire Middle East. Iran should not be welcomed back into the global financial fold until it changes its conduct, not merely purports to agree to an item on a technical checklist.
The FATF has a clear mandate: to protect the global financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing. To fulfill this mandate, it must hold Iran to the same standard as every other nation. This means insisting on full and unconditional compliance with all FATF requirements, including the ratification of the CFT and demonstrable adherence to its principles. There can be no exceptions, carve-outs, or special treatment for a regime that has blatantly and repeatedly violated international law and circumvented sanctions.
Tehran’s diplomatic overtures are nothing but a smokescreen. As long as the regime continues to fund terrorism, plot assassinations, and destabilize the Middle East, it must remain on the FATF blacklist. The security of the United States and its allies, and the integrity of the global financial system, depend on it. The message to Tehran must be clear: words are not enough. Its actions and malign conduct must change.
Saeed Ghasseminejad is a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Toby Dershowitz is managing director at FDD Action, FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy. FDD Action is a non-partisan 501(c)(4) organization established to advocate for effective policies to promote US national security and defend free nations. Follow the authors on X @SGhasseminejad and @tobydersh.
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From Sacred to Strategic: Hamas Turns Civilian Infrastructure Into Targets
Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Two weeks ago, the IDF revealed a chilling incident: Hamas operatives posed as World Central Kitchen aid workers, wearing yellow vests and using WCK-branded vehicles. WCK swiftly confirmed that the imposters had no affiliation — that this was terrorism hiding in humanitarian garb.
Then, earlier this week, Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Southern Gaza — not randomly, cruelly or without reason, but because Hamas was using the hospital to operate surveillance cameras to track IDF movements.
A tragic battlefield misstep occurred when tank fire was used to disable those cameras instead of drones, killing 6 Hamas terrorists who were either operating or near the targeted cameras, but also resulting in unintended civilian casualties. This outcome was tragic — but sadly predictable.
This is the logic of Hamas’ strategy: weaponize Gaza’s hospitals, schools, mosques, and aid centers, force civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure, and then broadcast them as evidence of Israeli atrocity.
Hospitals: Protected — Until Abused
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) stands firm: during a war, hospitals may not be targeted — unless they are being used for military purposes. Hamas’ use of these sites as command or surveillance posts nullifies their protection.
Mosques and Schools: Sacred — Until Militarized
Houses of worship and schools are also granted special status under IHL. But that protection dissolves once they are used for military advantage — a tactic Hamas consistently employs, turning places of worship into weapons depots and schools into hideouts.
Humanitarian Aid: Safe — Until Exploited
Under IHL, even aid workers can become legitimate targets when Hamas impersonates them. The WCK incident not only endangered genuine aid efforts, but it also weaponized the trust people place in humanitarian organizations, and eroding that trust endangers aid workers everywhere in Gaza.
This Is Calculated — Not Casual
These are not random errors — they are deliberate Hamas strategies: embed fighters and military and tactical equipment in civilian infrastructure, provoke strikes, and unleash graphic narratives. The recent hospital strike and the WCK impersonation reflect this grim choreography.
A Double Standard with Deadly Consequences
When US or UK forces faced civilian casualties in Mosul or Aleppo, the world understood the moral complexity caused by ISIS embedding itself among civilians and fighting in civilian clothes.
But when Israel confronts Hamas — whose tunnel networks under hospitals and all other civilian infrastructure in Gaza rival entire urban subway systems — the narrative is nearly monolithic: Israel is the villain.
This is the double standard defined in the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
No Safe Haven for Gaza Civilians
Hamas’ cynical human shield strategy and its use of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure as cover is enhanced as a tactical tool by the actions of Gaza’s Arab neighbors.
In Syria and Ukraine, civilians fled across borders to safety in Jordan, Poland, Turkey.
In fact, in every war in modern history, civilians have left combat zones to go to neighboring non-hostile countries.
But after October 7, Egypt and Jordan closed their borders, citing political fears. That leaves Gaza civilians trapped — forced to rely on limited “humanitarian zones” Israel sets up — zones Hamas routinely targets and even tries to stop Gazans from entering.
The result: Israel is held to an impossible standard: avoid civilian casualties even when terrorists hide themselves and their military and tactical infrastructure next to, among, and beneath them, while Gaza’s Arab neighbors are held to no standard of refuge for their fellow Arabs whatsoever.
Casualty Figures — Propaganda Masquerading as Data
To make matters worse, most media outlets parrot casualty numbers from Hamas’ so-called “Health Ministry.”
The Gaza Health Ministry’s numbers lump together civilians, combatants, natural deaths, and even those killed by Hamas’ own misfired rockets. For years before October 7th, between 5,000 and 7,000 people in Gaza died from natural causes. Meanwhile, at least 15% to 25% of Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s rockets fall short, killing Gazans.
And Hamas routinely kills Gazans it decides are “collaborators” with Israel. All these deaths — along with the death of Hamas fighters — are aggregated in Hamas’s “death tolls” for the October 7th war it started.
Yet the narrative advanced by major media outlets and on social media paint every death as of a civilian killed by Israel. This is propaganda masquerading as data.
Conclusion: Accountability, Not Convenient Narratives
Hamas will continue to weaponize its own civilians — and civilian spaces — if excuses remain for its behavior. Only when the global dialogue refuses to blame Israel for the foreseeable results of Hamas’ human-shield warfare can moral clarity return.
The responsibility lies — with Hamas, not Israel — to stop turning Gaza’s hospitals, schools, and civilian infrastructure generally into strategic targets. Let’s call this what it is: terrorism hiding behind civilian facades. Until the world stops tolerating and even rewarding Hamas’ cynical human shield tactics, they will continue.
Micha Danzig is a current attorney, former IDF soldier & NYPD police officer. He currently writes for numerous publications on matters related to Israel, antisemitism & Jewish identity & is the immediate past President of StandWithUs in San Diego and a national board member of Herut.
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What Is the Future for Russian-Speaking Jews in America?
Morris Abram (left), chairman of National Conference on Soviet Jewry, with Ed Koch, former Mayor of New York City, and Natan Sharansky, former Prisoner of Conscience. Photo: Center for Jewish History via Flickr.
The Russian-speaking Jewish community (RSJ) has traveled a long road to America.
From pogroms and World Wars to Soviet repression, our families fled in search of freedom and opportunity. New immigration to the US has slowed, and today, the future of the community rests with the children of those who arrived decades ago. What will their identity look like?
To find out, the American Russian-Speaking Jews Alliance (ARSJA) surveyed RSJ parents and received over 250 responses summarized in a new report.
The findings show a community deeply committed to raising Jewish children — even if traditional religious observance is not at the center.
Although 54 percent of the respondents do not keep kosher and only 3 percent attend synagogue daily, 89 percent of parents expect their children will have a “Very strong” or “Somewhat strong” Jewish identity.
Community life seems to be more popular than ritual. More than half of those surveyed attend RSJ gatherings or Israel-related events, and 67 percent go to synagogue on the High Holidays.
Shaul Kelner, professor of Jewish Studies and Sociology at Vanderbilt University, reminded us that, “American Jews are a diverse population, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. It’s important that organizations like ARSJA are working to identify and respond to the specific needs of the Russian-speaking Jewish community.”
The “Russian-speaking” part of the identity is more complicated.
Most parents (58 percent) want their children to speak Russian mainly to communicate with grandparents.
Grandparents (75 percent) and parents (70 percent) are the people children use Russian with most often.
Yet only 60 percent of parents believe their children will maintain a strong RSJ identity. For some, the label recalls a painful past. One respondent said that they “see [their] Russian-speaking identity as really more of being raised in the former USSR, a totalitarian regime, the type of which we hope our children will never experience.”
Still, the community is finding new expressions of identity. Judi Garrett, COO at Jewish Relief Network Ukraine, points out that RSJs have played an active role in fundraising efforts. She noted that American-born RSJs organized campaigns that raised significant support for humanitarian aid in Ukraine. Philanthropy may become one of the ways that the next generation expresses who they are.
Parents also voiced deeper concerns. When asked what they worried about most regarding their children’s Jewish identity, the most common answers were antisemitism and assimilation. These anxieties echo across the wider American Jewish community and underscore how forces outside the family shape identity.
The survey does not provide simple answers. It does, however, spark an important conversation. For RSJs in America, the challenge is not only how to preserve their heritage, but how to pass down a Jewish identity rooted in belonging, pride, and purpose.
Mariella Favel leads data analysis at ARSJA, as well as research into how various communal and national organizations are influencing civic discourse.