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Order Jamie Glazov’s new book, ‘United in Hate: The Left’s Romance with Tyranny, Terror, and Hamas’: HERE.
It has frequently been noted that the kibbutzniks whom Hamas attacked on October 7, 2023 were for the most part leftists, believers in “two states, one Jewish and one Palestinian, existing side by side in peace and security,” and prepared to entertain some kind of “land-for-peace” deal as believers in the essential decency of the “vast majority of the Palestinians” who “had nothing to do with Hamas or terrorism.”
Those who were hostages in Gaza have returned with a different understanding.
Almog Meir Jan was one of those who came back from his captivity in Gaza with a much less optimistic view. He saw the hatred and cruelty both of Hamas and of the civilians in Gaza, and is now determined to share what he observed with other Israelis who need to be disabused of their dangerous dreams.
More on his experience can be found here: “Former Gaza hostage Almog Meir Jan says captivity shattered his belief in coexistence,” by Dan Ezra, Jerusalem Post, January 29, 2026:
Former Gaza hostage Almog Meir Jan shared how, having spent 246 days in Gaza, his belief in coexistence crumbled, and how he sees that hatred and the focus on the destruction of Israel are why Gaza is in ruins and why Palestinian society is unable to succeed.
Jan, whose comments were published in an interview with Maariv’s Dan Ezra on Thursday, was rescued during Operation “Arnon,” which took place in June 2024. The operation was named after the late IDF soldier Arnon Zamora, the commando chief inspector of the Yamam counterterrorism unit, who was mortally wounded in the operation that led to the rescue of Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv from Gaza captivity.
When you hear Arab Knesset members calling IDF soldiers “murderers” and expressing sympathy for the people of Gaza, how does that make you feel?
“It disgusts me that anyone in this country can call a soldier a murderer,” Jan said. “Before October 7, I had different thoughts about coexistence and peace. Today, my perspective has changed dramatically.”
“I saw it with my own eyes, and eyes don’t lie,” He explained. “The people there are driven by hatred, and someone driven by hatred can never reach anything good. You can’t befriend someone like that. During my captivity, my greatest fear was that the people of Gaza would discover where I was, break into the house, and lynch me in the street. That fear haunted me the entire time.”…
“As long as hatred and terror are the driving forces, it will never happen. And I say this clearly: I don’t pity them. They did this with their own hands. They brought this on themselves.”
As long as they remain Muslims, convinced that they are “the best of peoples” and Jews, like all non-Muslims, are “the most vile of created beings,” the Palestinians will not make peace with Israel. As long as they believe that any land that was once possessed by Muslims must forever belong to them, they will not make peace with Israel. As long as they believe Muhammad’s command that “Islam is to dominate, and not to be dominated,” they will not make peace with Israel. As long as they — all of them, as Jan says — are consumed with hatred for the Jews, they will not be able to build a sane society.
Almog Meir Jan wants to disabuse other Israelis of any belief that in the Palestinians they could ever have a “partner for peace.” He saw the delight his Hamas captors took in tormenting him and his fellow hostages, constantly threatening them with death, starving them, tying their hands to their legs behind their backs, forcing them “to sit like a pretzel, tight and painful.” They were initially put in cages so small they could not move, and endured much, much more, And he also saw that the so-called “innocent civilians” whom he came across were just as full of hatred as their Hamas captors, beating the hostages when they were first brought into Gaza, screaming with delight at their suffering and, if given half a chance, would likely have beaten them to death.
He is prepared to spend time warning his fellow Israelis about what he witnessed during his 246 days of captivity. He’s preparing lectures on the subject. But now he needs to breathe again, to move, to travel, to put Gaza out of his mind, if only temporarily. So Jan is going away for a few months:
“I’m flying to India, to the Nova festival in Goa, and then to Thailand. I deserve a little vacation. I’m working hard on projects and lectures, and it’s time to breathe. It’s important to me to remind the world of those who didn’t return alive, like Ran Gvili. We wake up every morning for those who aren’t here to be better people and grow from the pain. If we’re united, nothing can defeat us.”
Remember what he, Almog Meir Jan, learned as a captive for 246 days in Gaza:
There are no innocents in Gaza.
The people in Gaza are driven by hatred. “You can’t befriend someone like that.”
During his captivity, Jan’s greatest fear was that the people of Gaza would discover where he was being held, break into the house, and lynch him in the street.
The Palestinians are consumed with hatred for Jews, and with the need for “revenge.” They can think of nothing else.
A durable peace with the Palestinians is a dangerous illusion.
Listen up, any Israelis who still cling to an Edward-Hicksian dream of a peaceable kingdom, where assorted lions lie down with assorted lambs. Take heed of what Almog Meir Jan reports. The Palestinians, whether in or out of Hamas, are full of hate, and wish to murder you. As long as Islam is Islam, that hatred will remain.
I wish him well and pray that the people will listen. Sadly most leftists only learn when they are personally hurt.
prof. dan schueftan is correct , that you cant reason with barbarians . islam is a barbarian cult not a religion and not what the west is trying to convince itself as a peaceful religion . brigitte gabriel knows all to well . her book [ because they hate ] tells you all you need to know . read up while you can and get some islamaphobia . there is no such ethnic group as palestinians and no such place as palestine , they are arabs , ishmaels cursed offspring . and they will remain that way until the tribulation . not long to go . !
Hamas themselves state that there are no civilians in Gaza, that every man, woman, and child is willing to kill or die, be used as human shields in the fight against Israel. It’s only when Israel retaliates that all of the sudden some of them are civilians again.
The humane thing to do is bomb Gaza into glass, then bomb the glass. In 10,000 years try and repopulate with humans next time.
Life unworthy of life?
This pretty much what Mosab Hassan Yousef, the “son of Hamas,’ has been saying since his book was published.
Exactly. Peace with the Gazan population is a pipe dream. Islamists will always see Jews as their enemies. There will NEVER be a 2-state solution. It’s an impossibility.
Gazans are among the Arabs brought up from birth to hate and kill Jews and others. Simple arithmetic and good hygiene dictates the only cure.
Are we to believe that every Palestinian should be killed? Isn’t that blood guilt? And every Jew is “the most vile of human beings”? The truth is much more complex. We cannot believe that ANY nation or people is universally good or evil. Heck, even individual people have gradations of good and evil in them. To believe in homogenous national evil is to be willingly deceived – an intentional and dangerous rejection of truth. War is ugly and can reveal the best and worst in people.
Where was the good in Soviet Russia? Mao’s China? Pol Pot’s Cambodia? Hitler’s Getmany?
You are naive beyond belief.
This article can be summarized as “Palestinians bad” which strikes me as cartoonishly naive. Diverting attention to Mao and Pol Pot is squid ink, unless you can explain the connection.
The uncritical piling on in the comments section is depressing.
In an age of precision warfare, Israel bombed the ancient Christian churches, while simultaneously claiming to be a friend of Christians. Israeli sources put the civilian death rate in Gaza at 83%. Babies and children are always innocent, no matter their ethnicity. Are these innocents bad because they are not Jewish? Or am I being naive again?
Before 1948, Christians, Muslims and ancient Jews who never left the Holy Land were on much friendlier terms. Mutual expulsion is the rule since 1948, and understanding the background of that is much more complicated than the fiction that all Palestinians are sub-human filth. So what do I get wrong?
Not true. As a starting point, look up the Hebron massacre of 1929. There were many others.
Thank you. I am in need of further study.
I tend to see the British as being very responsible for the various conflicting promises made to various nations about what should happen in that territory after WW2. Human beings are very attached to their homes and people. That land has been continuously occupied for a very long time by various people groups, whose delicate balance is easily upset. The events since the final version of Britain’s grant through Balfour could have been anticipated, but were not, probably due to a combination of misunderstanding human nature (we are tribal at the core) and worse, apathy about what happens when people are forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands.
You mention the Hebron Massacre, but not the Sabra and Santila massacre. There are so many other events, too! Looking solely at the justifications for one side, but not the other, is to ignore the humanity of both sides.
Not one person has yet to contest any of the statements that I have made here. I see my offense as being that I have failed to pass a purity test of unquestioning allegiance to the post-war consensus, of which loyalty to Zionism and / or Israel is only one facet.
This is the connection:
The Good German? Wasn’t that George Clooney?
There is fault for being deceived, but greater fault belongs to the deceiver. Almog Meir Jan’s opinions deserve understanding and sympathy because they spring from a horrible experience, but we must not believe all Palestinians uniformly are evil. It is evil to do so.
Those who take Hostage should get Life in Prison like they just did with that fool who tried to Assonate Trump while on the Golf Course
“When they love their children more than they hate us, maybe there will be a chance for peace”. Golda Meir.