Nearly a century separates the Hebron massacre of 1929 and the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, yet the echoes are hauntingly familiar. Both moments of horror grew from the same roots — fear, faith, and the belief that divine promise justifies human violence.
A century-old wound
On August 24, 1929, the quiet city of Hebron became a place of terror. Armed mobs of Arab residents attacked their Jewish neighbors, murdering sixty-seven men, women, and children within hours. Until that day, Jews and Arabs had lived side by side for centuries - sharing markets, language, and daily life. By nightfall, that coexistence was dead.
The violence was sparked by a rumor that Jews were planning to seize Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. From sermons to the streets, faith turned into fuel for rage. That day, a local misunderstanding became the seed of a century-long religious and national conflict.
From Hebron to the present
In October 2023, almost a hundred years later, Hamas named its assault on southern Israel “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.” The slogan was not new — it was a deliberate echo. Then as now, the mosque served as a symbol of holy defense, a rallying cry that turned civilians into targets.
The ideology has not changed. When nationalism and theology merge, compromise becomes betrayal, and violence becomes virtue.
Neighbors, not strangers
The tragedy of Hebron was that murderers and victims knew one another. Many families had shared meals, traded goods, and celebrated weddings together.
The same horror reappeared in Israel’s border communities in 2023. Many of the murdered were peace activists — people who believed coexistence was still possible. The betrayal of familiarity is what makes both moments unforgettable.
When neighbors become enemies, the boundary between civilization and chaos disappears.
The silence that follows
After the Hebron massacre, Arab newspapers denied that atrocities had occurred, claiming that Zionists had fabricated the story. A century later, surveys in Gaza and the West Bank show a similar refusal to accept that Hamas committed crimes against civilians. Denial is not just a moral failure; it is a continuation of the violence by other means.
A society that refuses to see the victims of its own side will always reproduce the same tragedy.
Lessons unlearned
The Jewish response in 1929 was a new determination for self-defense: no one would protect the Jews but themselves. From that realization were born the Haganah and later the Israel Defense Forces.
Nearly a century later, October 7 revived the same instinct - that survival requires strength, not trust. What began as a lesson of safety has evolved into a permanent state of siege, emotional and political alike.
History, it seems, repeats not because it is forgotten, but because it is never truly faced.
Between holiness and humanity
Both 1929 and 2023 show that when sacred land becomes more precious than human life, faith loses its meaning. The soil claimed as divine inheritance turns into a battlefield soaked in the blood of those who call it home.
The real question is not whether Jews and Arabs can share this land.
It is whether they can share the idea that life itself is holier than any stone, temple, or prayer.
Comments
Post a Comment