The Painfully Obvious Reason Why Palestinians Don’t Condemn Hamas

A call for Palestine’s freedom is not a call for Israel’s destruction.

On August 21st, 1831, one month shy of his 31st birthday, Nat Turner carried out the bloodiest slave rebellion in U.S. history.

Like many of his fellow slaves, Turner was deeply religious, often seen praying and fasting and studying the Bible. But unlike his fellow slaves, Turner heard voices in his head as he worked in the fields. He saw signs from God in the sky and among the leaves. And one of those signs, an eclipse that he interpreted as a black man’s hand covering the sun, he took as a signal to kill every white person in Southampton County.

Turner, at the head of a band of just six slaves, tore through the local homesteads. They beat women to death, murdered babies in their cribs, and recruited an army of allies from their dead masters. All told, they killed around sixty white people.

You can probably guess what happened next.

Within two days, a militia of over three thousand armed men, backed by three companies of artillery, had killed every black person they even suspected of participating in the revolt, mounting their heads on spikes as a warning to other would-be rebels.

Another fifty-six slaves, most of whom were also innocent, were hastily executed by the state. And in towns across the South, 120 black people, both slaves and free, were tortured, shot and burned to death by a white population terrified their town would be next.

And yet, if you’d asked that terrified population how to prevent future slave rebellions, if you’d told them that the correct solution was to free the slaves, they’d have told you, quite understandably, that you were out of your mind.

They’d have explained, as they’d been taught every day of their lives; that black people are human animals, incapable of functioning in civilised society. And what more evidence could you need than Turner’s atrocities?

They’d have told you that they’d gone above and beyond to keep their slaves happy. And they’d have a point. Turner’s “master,” was widely described as “more humane and fatherly to his slaves than any man in the county.”

And they’d have reminded you that despite this kindness, despite their benevolent stewardship, these savages didn’t just slaughter the men who enslaved them, but innocent women and children too.

“What choice do we have but to keep these savages under control?” they’d have asked. “After all, if a rag-tag crew of seven men managed to kill sixty innocent people, what do you think will happen if we free four million slaves, and say, ‘Uh…no hard feelings?’”

Ever since Hamas carried out their massacre on October 7th, I’ve been thinking about Nat Turner.

A band of 2900 fanatics sweep across southern Israel. They rape and mutilate women, burn children alive, and drag terrified civilians from their homes. All told, they kill 1200 men, women and children and abduct 200 more.

You already know what happened next.

Over the next five months, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) drops over 45,000 bombs onto a strip of land the size of Detroit. They kill over 30,000 Palestinians (13,000 of them children), wound another 70,000, and leave 60% of homes damaged or destroyed. In the Occupied West Bank, they kill 400 more Palestinians (including over 100 children), even though they had nothing to do with October 7th. And all of this is defended, even laughed about, by an Israeli population terrified they’ll be next.

And yet, if you were to ask that population how to prevent future attacks, if you were to suggest the two-state solution that more and more people are figuring out is correct, they’ll tell you that you’re out of your mind.

In fact, Netanyahu’s plan for a post-Hamas Gaza demands Israeli security control “over the entire territory west of the Jordan River” (or, “From the River To The Sea,” for short).

After all, as many Israeli politicians and journalists have been taught all their lives, the Palestinians are “human animals,” incapable of governing themselves. And what more evidence could you need than Hamas’ atrocities?

They claim that the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) does everything in its power to protect innocent civilians. And they have a point. The IDF is the only military force I’m aware of that drops leaflets on civilians before bombing them.

And they’ll remind you that despite this kindness, despite this benevolent occupation, Hamas didn’t just slaughter IDF soldiers and the extremist settlers, but innocent women and children who did nothing wrong.

“What choice do we have but to keep these savages under control?” they ask. “After all, if a murderous gang of terrorists managed to kill over a thousand Israelis, what do you think will happen if we relinquish control over the borders and rights of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza (not to mention the ~3 million Palestinians in the West Bank)?”

And the truth is, nobody knows what will happen. Just as nobody knew what would happen when the slaves were freed. Even if Israel stops the bombing and lifts the blockade and obeys international law, there will still be Palestinians who hate Jews and Jews who hate Palestinians.

But if the goal is to utterly destroy Hamas, as Netanyahu claims, we know that Israel is going to fail. Al Qaeda survived 9/11, ISIS survived the “War on Terror,” The Taliban not only survived the 20-year war in Afghanistan but regained total control.

We know there will never be peace while the IDF helps Israeli settlers terrorise Palestinian civilians and steal their land (a crime that Netanyahu has been refusing to address for decades).

Because we know, whether you’re Israeli or Palestinian, that you cannot stop people from hating you by killing their children. You cannot destroy ideologies with bombs and guns. As Ami Ayalon, former director of the Israeli Security Agency, put it:

You cannot deter someone who thinks he has nothing to lose. We Israelis, we shall have security only when they will have hope.

I know the case I’m making here will sound simplistic, even unfair to some:

Mean old Israel as the evil slave owners, the Palestinians as the poor oppressed slaves, Hamas as the brutal but misunderstood antiheroes of Nat Turner’s rebellion.

But it only seems that way because we all have the luxury of safety and freedom and over a century of hindsight.

The slave owners didn’t see themselves as evil. Certainly not the slave owners in Southampton County. They really were far kinder to their slaves than other counties in the South.

The slaves didn’t all see Turner as a hero. Some of them even fought against him. His actions brought death to hundreds and made life even more unbearable for those who survived (although, like the Palestinians, I’d bet most of them would refuse to condemn him).

History is rarely a simple tale of good and evil. The present never is.

But just as the four million slaves living in the Antebellum South weren’t responsible for Nat Turner, the two million Palestinians living in Gaza aren’t responsible for Hamas. And the 10 million people in Israel, never mind Jews in general, aren’t responsible for Netanyahu and his extremists.

Humanity has been failing to make these distinctions for thousands of years. If we still can’t figure this out, maybe we’re all out of our minds.

Read more at The Commentary. A selection of conversations and exclusive articles about race, politics and culture. Sign up here.