'If you don't understand 1929, you'll never understand Oct. 7'

(JNS) - When award-winning journalist and author Yardena Schwartz began researching the 1929 massacre of Jews in Hebron, she had no idea she was uncovering what she now calls "ground zero" of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Nor did she imagine that nearly a century later, the patterns she identified would reemerge with devastating clarity on Oct. 7, 2023.

Her book, "Ghosts of a Holy War," explores how the murder of 67 Jews in Hebron-once considered one of the safest Jewish communities in Mandatory Palestine-set in motion religious incitement, disinformation campaigns and rejectionist politics that,...