Compendium of Writings on the October 7 War and Related Issues
· Reason
Today is the third anniversary of the horrific October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. Despite various ceasefires and the release of the remaining hostages, the resulting war has never wholly ceased. Fighting between Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah continues to varying degrees. And now we have the distinct but nonetheless interconnected Iran War. I wish there was something I could say to ease the continuing pain of the victims of the attack and their families. But that task is far beyond my very limited eloquence.
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Still, over the past three years I have written pieces on various aspects of the conflict and the reaction to it in the West, that may be of interest. This post is a compilation of them. I have included links to pieces about the Iran War, because that conflict is connected in various ways to October 7, even if also distinct.
I hold a somewhat unusual combination of views on the conflict, one likely to annoy some on both the right and left, and both critics and supporters of Israel. I am no great fan of the present Israeli government, or of the ideology of Zionism (the latter because of my general opposition to ethno-nationalism). Yet I nonetheless believe Israel has every right to seek the elimination of Hamas and deal a decisive defeat to its other adversaries, as well. I agree with many, though certainly not all of the points, made in this recent interview by Israeli opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, both in his support of Israel's right to defend itself, and in his condemnation of the present Israeli government (including its treatment of West Bank Palestinians). For all its serious flaws from the standpoint of liberal values, Israel is incomparably superior to its enemies.
A small anecdote can help illustrate the point. I have visited Israel several times, and even been a visiting professor there. One of my acquaintances there is Arab Israeli legal academic Mohammed Wattad; since we first met in 2016, he has become the president of one of the country's major universities.
Can you imagine a Jew leading any major institution under the rule of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, or even the Palestinian Authority? The question answers itself. Indeed, a Jew probably could not even remain alive for long under most of these regimes. Hamas and Hezbollah are severely repressive even towards Arab Muslims who dare dissent from the rulers' quasi-medieval theocracy. Iran, of course, represses Muslim dissenters, as well, as we saw earlier this year, when the regime slaughtered thousands of protestors.
As Wattad will likely remind me next time we talk, Arabs face considerable discrimination in Israel. That is wrong, and deserves condemnation. But the rule of Hamas, Hezbollah and the PA is vastly worse. Arabs under Israeli rule not only have more rights than ethnic and religious minorities under the control of Israel's enemies; they even have more rights than do Arab (or Iranian) Muslims under the latter regimes. Things are worse for West Bank Palestinians than Arab Israelis, on which see my recent post here. But even they are unlikely to be better off with a Hamas victory that would put them under the rule of a brutal theocratic dictatorship.
In any conflict, I prefer the victory of the side that better approximates liberal democratic values - at least in situations where there is a meaningful difference between the two. In this case, there is no question that side is Israel, even as we should also recognize Israel's very real flaws.
Without further ado, here are links to my writings on the post-October 7 conflict and related issues. For convenience, I have put them in chronological order, and divided them into one section on the war itself, one on the related Iran War, and one on the Western reaction, including resulting protest movements. Except where otherwise noted, all of these writings are posts published here on the Volokh Conspiracy blog:
Writings on the War and Related Issues
"Those Who Support Israel Against Hamas Should also Back Ukraine Against Russia," Oct. 12, 2023. There are many parallels between the two conflicts. The post is primarily directed at right-wingers who back Israel, but not Ukraine. But most of the points it makes apply equally to leftists who hold the exact opposite combination of views. That latter group has become more significant since I wrote this post.
"Hamas Attack Should Teach Us the Folly of Hostage Deals with Terrorists,"Oct. 17, 2023. This may be one of my most unpopular takes. It may seem like only a cruel and heartless person could possibly oppose deals that release hostages. But, as I point out in the piece, such deals incentivize further terrorism and hostage taking. The October 7 attack itself was masterminded by Yahya Sinwar, a Hamas leader released in the 2011 Shalit deal, in which the Israelis released some 1200 terrorists in exchange for one soldier captured by Hamas. I was one of the few critics of the Shalit deal at the time it happened. Things turned out much worse than even I expected.
"The Moral and Strategic Case for Opening Doors to Gaza Refugees," Oct. 24, 2023. Granting refuge to Palestinian civilians who wish to flee the war and Hamas's repressive rule is both a moral imperative, and a way to make it easier for Israel to crush Hamas. For somewhat different reasons, this view is fiercely opposed by a combination of Western right-wingers, far leftists, and supporters of Palestinian nationalism. This combination of opponents actually increases my confidence that it is right. Interestingly, this is an issue where I find myself largely in agreement with my much more conservative colleague and co-blogger Eugene Kontorovich.
"Biden is Right to Grant Temporary Refuge to Palestinian Migrants Already in US, but Should go Further," Feb. 15, 2024. Trump's policies on this are very different. But Biden was right, and Trump is wrong.
"Why I Don't Buy the Idea that You Can't Kill an Idea," Feb. 24, 2024. It's often said you can't defeat movements like Hamas and Hezbollah by military means, because "you can't kill an idea." This post explains why that ubiquitous claim is wrong. Though I also emphasize that doesn't mean the Israelis should rely on force alone, or that they need not observe any moral constraints on their military measures.
"Another Terrible Hostage Deal," Jan. 19, 2025. The January 2025 hostage exchange deal shows Israel and the US failed to fully learn the lessons of previous terrible hostage deals with terrorists. I would add that the later deal that released the remaining living hostages has similar flaws.
"Reflections on a Visit to Israel," Dec. 30, 2025. Reflections on my time as a visiting professor in Israel in December 2025, including issues related to the war, and Israeli views on it.
"Israeli Settler "Terrorists" Unjustly Expel West Bank Palestinians From Their Land," Aug. 15, 2026. Violent Israeli settlers have been using force to push West Bank Palestinians off their land. In this post I go over this issue, and condemn the violent settlers, and the Israeli government's failure to meaningfully constrain them. On this point, my views are actually pretty similar to Gadi Eisenkot's, noted above. I hope he and his allies defeat Netanyahu and his in the upcoming Israeli election, and crack down on this violence.
Writings on the (Related) Iran War
"Trump's Unauthorized Strikes on Iran Take America's Imperial Presidency to New Heights," UnPopulist, Mar. 1, 2026. My initial explanation of why Trump's Iran war is unconstitutional.
"Why Donald Trump's Iran War is Unconstitutional," The Dispatch, Mar. 5, 2026. More detailed explanation of why the Iran War is unconstitutional. In this article, I also warn about the harmful practical consequences of initiating war in this way; doing so exacerbates the risk of defeat. Those concerns have, I think, been vindicated by later events.
"Trump's Iran War Continues to Violate the Constitution - and Now Also the War Powers Act of 1973," May 1, 2026. Why the Iran War violates the War Powers Act of 1973, as well as the Constitution.
"An Unconstitutional War Results in a Bad Deal," June 14, 2026. Trump's unconstitutional war resulted in a badly flawed ceasefire agreement with Iran. The flaws in the agreement are directly related to Trump's flouting of the Constitution. The agreement has since been periodically breached, at various times. But there is still no evidence that Trump has any good plan for achieving a positive outcome to the war that is any better than the prewar status quo.
Writings on Western Reactions to the War and Protest Movements
"Some Cancellations are Justified," Oct. 15, 2023. Why employers and others are often justified in refusing to hire people who express support for Hamas terrorism. As noted in the post, this is not a new position adopted in response to controversies arising from the October 7 war. It builds on arguments I advanced years before.
"Far-Left Support for Hamas is not an Aberration,"Oct. 30, 2023. Western far-leftists have a long history of supporting repression and mass murder. Thus, we should not be surprised that many of them now support Hamas. As noted in the post, "far left" is not a pejorative term for anyone to the left of me. As used here, it has a far more specific and narrower meaning.
"Student Movements Are Often Wrong," April 26, 2024. The idea that causes espoused by student-led movements are always or almost always right is a myth. Today's student anti-Israel movement is just the most recent of many counterexamples. Obviously, movements led by older people are often misguided, as well.
"Campus Anti-Israel Protests and the Ethics of Civil Disobedience," June 5, 2024. Violence and other lawbreaking perpetrated by many campus anti-Israel protesters can't be justified by theories of civil disobedience.
"Nationalism Is Driving the Neo Right's Virulent Antisemitic Turn," UnPopulist, Dec. 9, 2025. The growth of right-wing nationalist anti-Semitism is only secondarily about Israel. Nonetheless, adherents of this ideology tend to take similar views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to those of the anti-Israel far left, discussed in my 2023 post on that subject, linked above.
The post Compendium of Writings on the October 7 War and Related Issues appeared first on Reason Magazine.