Blaming Hamas Shouldn't Mean Ignoring the Palestinians' Plight

Who is to blame for the bloodshed in Israel and Gaza?

In one sense, this is a very easy question to answer: Hamas is to blame. This should go without saying, but it has, miserably, become a subject of active conversation thanks to a small but well-placed subset of left-wing activists and students who responded to the initial attack by holding Israel responsible for the violence and loss of life. So let us say it: Hamas is to blame.

Hamas is the explicitly antisemitic terrorist group that began the present conflict on October 7 with a surprise massacre. Hamas is the group that—even if the most horrific accounts, God willing, prove untrue—committed hundreds of war crimes in a span of hours. Hamas is to blame for the deaths of innocents, as yet unknown numbers of infants and children included. Hamas is to blame for kidnapping Israeli civilians and using fellow Palestinians, too, as human shields against Israeli reprisal.