Opinion | Why Hamas Atrocities Lead the Left to Hate Israel More

You might think that an atrocity like Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel would lead opponents of the Jewish state to temper their attacks. Instead, from college campuses to mainstream media outlets, elite left-wing circles have responded to the terror group’s barbarism by intensifying their denunciations of Israel. That may seem counterintuitive, but it’s typical. The worst demonization of the Jewish state has typically followed the worst atrocities against it.

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