Hamas started this particular episode, true enough, with horrendous and inhuman attacks on civilians. Why I keep saying look at the history is because individual outrages, and this was one of the worst ever, can't be seen in isolation. I'm not saying let's look for excuses for Hamas's action. There aren't any. I am saying that the tragic history of the region, particularly the most relevant last three-quarters of a century, puts every single outrage in a wider context. Study the history to get a balanced view. Ignore the history and you'll take sides. I could, for example, take the low road and pick out a single incident to further my prejudice. How about the refugee camp massacres in Lebanon in 1982, the responsibility for which was pinned on a man who later because an Israeli prime minister who went on to trigger an intifada via his provocation at the Wailing Wall. That's the easy, lazy and risky approach, and that's what people like Netanyahu wants us to do. We won't, and should never, forgot the horrors of October, even though Bibi would rather we forgot dozens of other outrages.