Why Hamas Really Attacked Israel on Oct. 7 | Episode 12

Summary

John Mearsheimer argues that public discussion of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack has focused on what happened, Israel’s failure to prevent it, and its consequences, while giving too little attention to why Hamas attacked. He rejects the account advanced by Israeli leaders and supporters that the attack is best explained by genocidal antisemitism. Instead, he presents it as a response to Palestinian dispossession, occupation, and conditions in Gaza.

Israel’s creation and Palestinian displacement

Mearsheimer begins with the history of Israel’s creation. Citing population figures, land ownership, and the work of Israeli historians who gained access to archives, he disputes the ideas that Palestine was largely empty and that Zionist leaders sought a binational state. He says Palestinians formed most of the population in 1900 and 1947, while Zionists owned only a small share of the land before Israel’s establishment.

He argues that creating Israel involved the displacement of Palestinians, including the expulsion of roughly 700,000–750,000 people in 1948. He quotes Zionist leaders Ze’ev Jabotinsky and David Ben-Gurion as acknowledging that Palestinians would resist losing their land.

Mearsheimer describes three approaches he says Zionist and Israeli leaders used to manage that resistance: Jabotinsky’s “Iron Wall” of force, ethnic cleansing, and concentrating Palestinians in isolated enclaves. He describes Gaza as an open-air prison or concentration camp and says Israel has not seriously pursued a two-state solution.

Gaza and the October 7 attack

Mearsheimer recounts Israel’s control of Gaza from 1967, the removal of Israeli settlers in 2005, and Hamas’s rise to power in 2007. He argues that the withdrawal was not intended to give Gaza genuine autonomy and that Israel’s subsequent blockade restricted food and other supplies. He also points to Israeli assassinations of Palestinian leaders and recurring military operations he calls “mowing the lawn.”

To compare casualties, he cites 1,391 Palestinians killed during Operation Cast Lead (2008–09) and 2,203 during Operation Protective Edge (2014), against about 1,100 Israelis killed on October 7. These are figures as presented by Mearsheimer.

Mearsheimer characterizes October 7 primarily as a revolt by people trapped in Gaza, comparing it to a prison escape and citing Norman Finkelstein’s analogy to a slave rebellion. He says Hamas sought freedom and the return of Palestinian land, while acknowledging that the attack killed Israelis and stating that he is not discussing or defending the killing of civilians. He argues that the attack is consistent with the history of Palestinian resistance he has described, rather than evidence that Hamas is equivalent to the Nazis.

International law

Mearsheimer asserts that armed resistance to an illegal occupation is legitimate under international law, while distinguishing that claim from the killing of civilians. This is his legal conclusion; the status of Gaza and the application of international law are contested.

Presenter and contributor

• John Mearsheimer — presenter.
• Norman Finkelstein — cited by Mearsheimer, but not a participant in the episode.