"The establishment of Israel inflamed Palestinian anger".
First of all they weren't known as "Palestinians" at the time. They were known as "Arabs". The term "Palestinians" has referred, since Roman times, to the Jews, and then under the British Mandate, to both Jews and Arabs.
The "Harbour Bridge Bigots" who marched in Sydney last Sunday, believe -- completely wrongly -- that prior to Israeli independence in 1948, the "Palestinians" were Arab only. They believe, again wrongly, that there were a small number of Jews in the land, but that the majority came from Europe and stole their land. That was not true because (i) the number of Jews already in the land was close to the number of Arabs and (ii) the land that new arrivals acquired in Palestine was bought from absentee Turkish landlords (this is well documented and not in dispute).
The Bridge Bigots believe a fantasy: that before Israel was established all was good in the land of "Palestine". A mostly Arab Palestine. "We were fine with the Jews. We all go along. Until they came in from Europe, stole our land and established their illegitimate state."
Not true. The Jew hatred did not start from the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel.
There were hundreds of cases of Muslims attacking and massacring Jews, since Muhammad first killed jews in the Battle of Banu Qurayza, in 627 -- where he and his followers decapitated 600 to 900 Jewish men. That battle is recorded, in exultant and celebratory detail, by Ibn Ishaq in his "Sirah of Muhammad", The Life of Muhammad (which I have). This is core doctrine to Muslims. Muhammad, this mass murderer, is the Jesus of the Muslim community. He is "the perfect man". To be emulated.
It's important for we non-Muslims to know that. It's foundational to Muslims, core and important to their belief system: Muhammad is the perfect man who must be emulated at all times.
To keep the numbers of Muslim attacks on Jews down to a manageable level I've looked only at those between 1900 and 1947 (just before the establishment of the State of Israel).
Muslim attacks on Jews in Palestine:
Ok, but what about Jews attacking Muslims in the same period?April 4-7, 1920: Jerusalem Riots (Nebi Musa Riots) – Arab mobs attacked Jews in Jerusalem during the Nebi Musa pilgrimage, killing 5 Jews and injuring 211.
May 1-6, 1921: Jaffa Riots – Arab rioters attacked Jewish residents in Jaffa, killing 47 Jews and injuring 146, spreading to other areas.
August 23-29, 1929: Hebron Massacre – Arab mobs in Hebron killed 67 Jews, looting homes and synagogues; survivors were evacuated by British authorities.
August 23-29, 1929: Safed Massacre – Arab rioters in Safed killed 18-20 Jews, burning and looting Jewish homes and businesses.
1936-1939: Arab Revolt in Palestine – Widespread Arab attacks during the revolt killed 415 Jews, targeting settlements and civilians across Mandatory Palestine. [Source]
"No major documented massacres by Jewish groups against Arab Muslims in the Middle East from 1900 to 1947 meet the criteria of deliberate, large-scale attacks causing significant civilian deaths." [Source]
The corollary is: there were no cases of Jews attacking Muslim villages and driving them out of those villages. That did happen post 1948, as a part of the war effort. Israel was attacked, after all. Unilaterally and unprovoked, by all the surrounding Arab states. Which themselves had driven Muslims out of their villages -- on the grounds that they didn't want them in the way when they went about destroying the Jews, and with the promise that they could return once that genocide had been completed.
Sadly, for the Arab armies, and for their Muslim populations, they did not succeed in massacring the Jews or in defeating their new army. They lost. This was their Nakba. Their "disaster". Which they spin today as their "holocaust". And which they spin as the Jews kicking them out of their land.
Did not happen.
All this above is one or two of the many reasons I don't agree with the Bigots on the Bridge, the crowds who marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge, for "Humanity", in reality, whether they knew it or not, they marched for the victory by Hamas over the Jewish state. For the victory of a supremacist, misogynist, homophobic, exclusionary, genocidal, apartheid terrorist outfit called Hamas. That's what they do, if they know it or not.
I do not stand with them. They are either deluded or outright terror supporting. If not outright Hamas supporters, they are useful idiots. And I'm done with them. Even if I'm in the minority. Even if millions more march. Numbers don't make the truth here. Numbers are not the morality here. Numbers are not a persuasive argument here.
