A History of Hamas

This message comes from Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. It has been over two years since the Hamas led attack on Israel on 10/07/2023. The attack killed around 1,200 people. 250 people were taken hostage. In response, Israel bombarded and invaded Gaza. According to Gaza health officials, more than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed in what an independent UN inquiry has classified as genocide. Since the start of the conflict, we've heard from many of you, our listeners, with questions about Hamas. Who are they? What do they want? And how did we get here? So in the weeks following the October, we talked to experts on all sides to answer those questions, people who know the history deeply and have even participated in it. This episode first aired in November 2023, and we wanted to bring it back to you again now to look back at the origins and influence of Hamas. Next week, we'll bring you our episode about the rise of Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli right wing. Today, we'll start in 1987 with the event that birthed Hamas. In December 1987, a military truck driven by an Israeli citizen collided with another vehicle in Gaza near the Jabaliya refugee camp. Four Palestinians died. Authorities explained it as an accident, but many Palestinians viewed it as an act of revenge for the killing of an Israeli man in Gaza days earlier. But these events were just a spark that lit a flame. In the days after, frustration and anger from Palestinians poured out in an event known as the First Intifada or uprising. The hostility and tension are everywhere on the streets in Arab East Jerusalem, in the shouting voices of Palestinian teenagers hurling stones at cars and soldiers. In the past month, two Palestinians were killed by Israeli sniper fire adding to the already inflamed atmosphere. In the walkie talkies of Israeli troops on patrol. With land, housing, and potable water in short supply in the cries of angry Palestinian women watching as their children are arrested and taken away. We want exactly what the Israeli people enjoy, democracy, democracy, freedom, and independence. Over 1,000 Palestinians and around 200 Israelis were killed in the nineteen eighty seven Intifada. It shocked the world. But for people on the ground, it was the latest event in a cycle of attack and reprisal that dated back to the establishment of the state of Israel. Here's a very simple breakdown. In 1947, the United Nations called for the division of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states. The idea was to create a Jewish homeland where Jews could feel safe after centuries of antisemitism in Europe culminated in the Holocaust. And in 1948, Israel was established. But there were already hundreds of thousands of Arab Christians …