How the Radical Left Gave Hamas a PhD

In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, history is not simply remembered. It is mobilized, weaponized, and deployed. Competing historical narratives do more than explain events. They justify them. They assign blame, sanctify violence, and switch the roles of victim and perpetrator.

Since the massacre of October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists butchered, raped, and abducted over 1,200 Israelis in the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, the battle over memory has grown more intense. And nowhere has the manipulation of history been more grotesque than in the myth of the so-called “Golden Age.”

This myth refers to the period between the 7th and 13th centuries, when Jews under Islamic rule are said to have lived in peace, taken part in cultural exchange, and flourished intellectually. It is a narrative first romanticized by 19th-century German-Jewish historians who wanted to contrast Islamic tolerance with Christian persecution. But today, the story has been hijacked for something more dangerous.

Hamas uses this myth directly. In Article 31 of its founding Charter, it says, “Safety and security between Islam, Christianity and Judaism can only prevail under the shadow of Islam.” This is not a call for interfaith harmony. It is a demand for Jewish submission. Hamas presents itself not only as a resistance movement, but as the heir to a divinely chosen past. It is a past where Jews had safety only when they had no sovereignty.

In this version of history, the State of Israel is not a home for a persecuted people. It is seen as a break in what was supposedly a peaceful Islamic world. Zionism becomes a crime. Hamas becomes the solution. By using this false historical vision, Hamas justifies its terrorism as something necessary and even noble.

But what is even more disturbing is not just that Hamas believes this fantasy. It is that parts of the radical Western left have accepted it completely.

In elite universities, social justice groups, and so-called decolonial movements, Hamas’ version of history is repackaged in academic language. The “Golden Age” becomes a model of anti-colonialism. Jewish sovereignty is turned into white supremacy. October 7 is not mourned. It is explained, ignored, or even praised as resistance.

Radical activists, professors, and student groups now repeat Hamas talking points using the language of social justice. They refer to the same myths, ignore the long history of Jewish persecution, and erase centuries of discrimination with one word: “context.” But the context they offer is edited. It is one-sided. It is used as a weapon.

This alliance is not just based on shared ideas. It is strategic. The radical left gives Hamas a kind of respectability that it could never earn on its own. It helps Hamas make genocidal ideas sound like human rights language. In doing so, it becomes a partner. Not in peace, but in the effort to erase Israel.

The truth is that Jewish life under Islamic rule was not peaceful or equal. It was conditional, unstable, and often brutal. Jews lived not as equals but as survivors. They were protected as dhimmis only if they accepted humiliation, special taxes, and a lower status. Even then, violence was always a risk.

The Almohad dynasty in the 12th century shows what this meant. They swept through North Africa and Spain, destroyed Jewish communities, forced conversions, and made even great thinkers like Maimonides flee for their lives. This is the world Hamas wants to bring back. It is also the world the radical left, knowingly or not, is helping to rewrite as something good.

October 7 destroyed the idea that Hamas is a group seeking peace. It showed the violence and cruelty at the heart of its beliefs. But instead of standing against this evil, many on the radical left rushed to defend it. They tried to cover it with myths, or worse, they praised it as a political act.

That is not moral bravery. It is moral failure.

We must be clear. Jewish sovereignty was not created by chance. It was created because of historical truth. That truth was written in blood across centuries of exile, ghettos, expulsions, and genocide. The State of Israel does not exist to disturb peace. It exists to make sure Jewish safety is never again a gift from others.

Bringing back the myth of a peaceful Islamic past is not just bad history. After October 7, it is an act of historical abuse and political support for terrorism.

The radical left may speak the language of justice. But when it defends those who murder civilians and kidnap Holocaust survivors, it loses the right to speak in that language.

History matters. Truth matters. In times like these, moral clarity is not a choice. It is a duty.