The Match That Oct. 7 Struck

This week marks three years since the October 7 massacre in southern Israel. Despite the irrefutable proof of horror, the barbarism that took place on that date was denied by antisemites and trivialized by the media and even the United Nations. No war ever waged in history has been subject to such a subjective and belittling retelling.

Because the victims were Jews and reputedly of white skin, sympathy and remorse never entered the public discourse. The gangraping of teenage music-goers, the murdering of young families, the butchering of heads, the kidnapping of elderly Israelis, was instantly pronounced as justified “resistance”—as if Israeli infants were carrying weapons.

Jew-haters insisted that sexual assaults were fabricated, despite terrorists having filmed their handiwork and leaving behind a grisly crime scene of undergarments drenched in blood and riddled with bullets.

The severed heads and charred remains of Jewish bodies were blamed on the IDF—as if Israel’s military beheaded its own people in quest of defaming Palestinians. It is so out of character for Arabs to behave in such a barbaric fashion, after all.

There have been 67,000 acts of terrorism committed since 9/11—all with an Islamist agenda. And yet the umbilical connection between Islam and violence is considered an Islamophobic myth.

There have been 67,000 acts of terrorism committed since 9/11—all with an Islamist agenda. And yet the umbilical connection between Islam and violence is considered an Islamophobic myth.

When Jews the world over called for the return of the 250 hostages that Hamas and its civilian henchmen abducted as tributes to that fateful day, the missing persons posters hung around the world were summarily torn down. Under no circumstances were Jews allowed to make themselves the victims of October 7.

Israel had not yet even begun to retaliate, and charges of “genocide” reverberated like a global hymnal.

The day after, October 8, fast became the primary point of reference. What happened to Jews the day before didn’t count. How Israel responded in justified retaliation would be scrupulously scrutinized. All Palestinians are “innocent civilians.” None were to be touched. Israel’s military aims were to be recharacterized as genocidal intent.

With each passing anniversary, the truth will doubtless become even more obscured. Time itself seems to have already stood still. Is the war in Gaza over?

Donald Trump’s “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict” was implemented on October 10, 2025—nearly a year ago. It contemplated, among other things, a permanent ceasefire, the demilitarization of Gaza and the end of Hamas’ presence in the enclave—surrendering its power to a transitional government of Palestinian technocrats.

How has that plan been working out so far? Hamas still has Gaza and guns.

Nothing has come to an end because October 7 was intended as a prelude to something much larger and more global. The ruins of that day were subordinated to everything that would follow. A match was lit with wildfire ambitions extending toward Iran and its proxies, Western universities, far-left governments, radicalized Islamists, and an eagerly awaiting allyship with communists the world over.

Hamas’ code name for October 7 was “Operation Al‑Aqsa Flood”: a local deluge that ironically set the world ablaze.

Hamas’ code name for October 7 was “Operation Al‑Aqsa Flood”: a local deluge that ironically set the world ablaze.

The United States has been locked in a war with Iran for the past seven months, causing an economic crisis in oil supplies. Thousands of Islamist terror attacks have occurred over the past 36 months in far-flung places wherever the Koran radicalizes, grants permission to rape and kill, and instills thoughts of Islamic conquest.

With Iran’s backing and in solidarity with Hamas, terror groups like Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, ISIS, ISWAP, al‑Shabaab, Boko Haram, the Taliban, and other jihadist factions have drawn inspiration from October 7 and are using it as a mantra for more anti-Western menace.

Tens of thousands of Christians have been killed and hundreds of churches destroyed or burned in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, the DRC, and Ethiopia—perpetrated by Islamist extremist groups like Boko Haram, ISWAP, al‑Shabaab, JNIM, ADF, and the Fulani militias.

What ignited in southern Israel did not confine itself to the Middle East. Grooming gangs and No-Go Zones have been emboldened and multiply all throughout Europe. Christmas markets in Germany are now playful shooting galleries for European jihadists. Synagogues—in Manchester, the United Kingdom; Saxony‑Anhalt, Germany; Toronto, Canada; and West Bloomfield Township, United States—have been targeted with car rammings, knife stabbings, bullet fire, and arson.

A Hamas weapons cell in Germany was foiled. A planned attack by Hezbollah in Germany, timed for October 7 a year ago, was aborted the day before.

Violent student unrest—many from second- and third-generation Muslims—has clashed with police in several cities throughout France and Belgium. These social upheavals took their cue from Gaza and the hard left. Tear gas in Strasbourg, fireworks in Marseille, and garbage bins set on fire in Rennes. A French school principal was doused in gasoline.

A jihadist co-pilot of a plane headed from Dubai to Tel Aviv, carrying mostly Israelis, nearly killed the captain as he sought to crash the Boeing 737 mid‑flight.

The war in Gaza may be in abeyance, but Islamist expansionist ideology has shown great gumption and forward movement. All the crazies have come out since October 7, 2023. Many have landed in seats of power—mayors in global cities like New York, London, Rotterdam, Boussy‑Saint‑Antoine, and Koekelberg—elected under democratic norms but infused with jihadist fantasies.

None of this existed before October 7.

October 7 was the worst attack against Jews since the Holocaust. But Islamists got away with more than just murder and mass-raping on that day. They sent a signal that anything is now possible if the target is Jews, Christians and all Western civilization. Whatever is done to them is deserved. Any objection to what is done will be labeled as racism and Islamophobia. There is no socially acceptable way to object to the extreme actions undertaken with the blessing of the one true Prophet.

The clock has just struck the three-year mark, but it is still very much ticking. The massacre ended up as an omen. Palestine became the pretext for a perfect storm of Islamist peril. Israel retaliated mightily, but so, too, did Islam—with fearless solidarity and a much wider reach.

In human terms, three years is a mere toddler. With terrorism, there are no such latencies.

Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist, essayist, law professor and Distinguished University Professor at Touro University, where he directs the Forum on Life, Culture & Society. He is a contributing writer for White Rose magazine. His most recent book is titled, “Beyond Proportionality: Israel’s Just War in Gaza.”