Why Hamas atrocities lead the left to hate Israel more

You would think that an atrocity such as the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7 would cause the Jewish state’s opponents to tone down their attacks. Instead, from college campuses to mainstream media, elite left-wing circles have responded to the terrorist group’s barbarity by intensifying their denunciations of Israel. This may seem counterintuitive, but it’s typical. The worst demonization of the Jewish state has usually followed the worst atrocities committed against it.

Remember the Palestinian suicide bombing campaign in the early 2000s. Then as now, many people in the West reacted to the carnage by criticizing Jews. International non-governmental organizations have resurrected the Soviet-era claim that Israel was an “apartheid” state. The United Nations joined the chorus and came together in 2001 for a global conference “against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” in Durban, South Africa. Denunciation of Israel dominated the agenda.