EDITORIAL: No ‘context’ can justify October 7 atrocities

In the days leading up to the one-year anniversary of the October 7 atrocities in Israel, calls came from the usual suspects for the media and others to put this grim milestone in the context of the wider, decades-old conflict that has scarred the Middle East since modern Israel’s inception.

This, for example, from the Australian National Imams Council in a letter to media urging “contextual reporting”: “The history between Palestinians and Israelis spans over 77 years, and simplistically presenting this conflict overlooks the complexities involved.”

But what “context” can there be for the cold-blooded murder of 1200 people? For the taking of hundreds of hostages, many of whom are still missing; dead or held captive by Hamas terrorists?

There is no context. There can be no justification.

And yet this fundamental breakdown in the understanding of what occurred on that day a year ago — the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust — and what it has unleashed since persists.

It persists because this misunderstanding has been promulgated in Australia by the Greens and like-minded characters.

Their goal is to cynically exploit the plight of the Palestinian people for political gain. In doing so, they conflate the Palestinian struggle with the murderous mission of terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah and their Iranian backers.

That the Greens chose today to accuse Israel of war crimes and genocide is utterly vile.

It is sick. It demeans the immense suffering of Israel and Jewish people worldwide, including in Australia.

And it is right on brand for the Greens.

The Palestinian people have indeed suffered terribly since October 7. An estimated 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza, which has been reduced to rubble.

That suffering has been brought to their doors by Hamas and Iran.

Their unprovoked act of terrorism a year ago was designed with this as its goal; to invite Israel to respond as they knew they would have to — with massive force.

And when Israel did as was required to protect their citizens from further violence, Hamas used the Palestinians as human shields.

Their goal was to draw as high a death toll as possible, to elicit sympathy from the gullible and to turn the world against Israel.

The Greens, with their accusations against Israel of war crimes, are playing right into the terrorists’ hands. They too seek to exploit the suffering of the Palestinians.

The truth is, this is not a fight for freedom for Palestinians.

If the militants did not exist, Palestine would be a sovereign nation today. It is not because the Hamas authorities have no interest in a peaceful solution. Their true goal is the annihilation of Israel.

On all days, but especially today, we must remember the solemn vow the world made in the shadow of the Holocaust.

Never again.