Neither 7 October nor the devastating retribution that has followed came out of the blue. Perhaps neither can be justified, but both should be contextualised. The violence of the oppressed and that of the oppressor cannot be equated. After all, not even the most ardent Zionist could fail to distinguish between the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943 and the Nazi reprisals, or separate the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in occupied Prague the previous year from the annihilation of Lidice.

The Gaza conflict: Nothing comes out of the blue

By Mahir Ali

Sep 4, 2024