The Guardian claims the Purim story and Gaza's 'Genocide' are one and the same: They're dead wrong.

Peter Beinart’s March 11 Guardian essay, “As Jews celebrate Purim, let us end the slaughter in Gaza committed in our name,” wields the Book of Esther as a moral cudgel against Israel, urging Jews to “shudder” at its violent end and halt the war against Hamas. Laden with selective readings and outright fabrications, his piece casts Jewish self-defense—ancient and modern—as a dark stain, while sanitizing Palestinian violence and reviving antisemitic tropes.

Let’s unpack his claims, line by line, and expose the lies beneath.

Esther’s “Blood-Soaked” Fantasy?

Beinart frames Purim’s climax as a chilling prelude to Gaza: “On the 13th day of the month of Adar, the Jews kill 75,000 people. They declare the 14th ‘a day of feasting and merrymaking’. With the blood of their foes barely dry, the Jews feast and make merry.” He calls this “blood-soaked verses” that “should unsettle us,” suggesting a gleeful massacre.

The distortion is glaring. Esther 9:5-16 details Jews striking “all their enemies” on Adar 13, authorized by a royal decree to counter Haman’s unrevoked edict—dated Nisan 13 (3:12)—for their annihilation. The 75,000 slain weren’t random victims but armed foes, a 5:1 ratio against Persia’s 15 million (per Herodotus’s estimates), in a one-day defensive war. The Talmud (Megillah 16b) notes they took no plunder, underlining survival, not vengeance. Beinart’s “barely dry” bloodlust? A fiction—the feasting celebrated deliverance, not corpses.

“For most of our history,” he concedes, “the conclusion of the book of Esther was a harmless and even understandable fantasy.” But now, with Israel’s power, it’s a mirror to Gaza’s “slaughter.” The leap collapses under scrutiny. Esther’s Jews faced a state-backed genocide; Israel fights Hamas, a terror group that butchered 1,200 on October 7, 2023, and holds 14 hostages as of March. Equating survival against Persia with Gaza’s war—where Hamas embeds in civilian zones—smears Jewish agency as inherently savage.

1948: “Mass Expulsion” or War’s Chaos?

Beinart attacks Jewish narratives of Israel’s founding: “American Jewish leaders blame Palestinians for their own mass expulsion. ‘The Palestinian refugee issue originated in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war,’ explains the Anti-Defamation League… when five Arab armies invaded the State of Israel just hours after it was established.” He counters, “Between one-third and half of the Palestinians departed before 14 May 1948,” citing Jaffa, Haifa, and Deir Yassin. Fact: Benny Morris’s 1948 pegs 250,000-300,000 fleeing pre-May, driven by Zionist offensives like Plan Dalet—securing roads against Arab attacks that killed 1,000 Jews by April. But Beinart’s “mass expulsion” skips context: Arab Higher Committee snipers and irregulars besieged Jerusalem from December 1947; Jaffa’s shelling of Tel Aviv predated its fall. Deir Yassin’s 107 dead, an Irgun atrocity, fueled panic—amplified by Arab radio—yet wasn’t state policy.

He doubles down: “It was not the entry of the Arab armies that caused the exodus. It was the exodus that caused the entry of the Arab armies,” quoting Walid Khalidi. Nonsense. Arab League threats—vowing to “drown Israel in blood”—date to March 1948 (UN Doc. S/745); Egypt’s army mobilized pre-May. The exodus accelerated war, not vice versa—Khalidi’s cherry-picked press ignores Arab leaders’ prior belligerence. Beinart’s flip erases Jewish peril, pinning 700,000 refugees on Zionist malice alone.

Then this: “The other way Jewish leaders render Israel blameless… is by claiming that Palestinians only left because Arab leaders told them to.” He cites Netanyahu’s A Place Among the Nations, mocking “Jews pleaded with their Palestinian Arab neighbors to stay.” The trope’s overstated—Arab evacuation orders were sporadic, per Morris—but Haifa’s Jewish mayor did urge Arabs to remain, per British logs. A 1948 IDF intelligence report attributes 70% of departures to Zionist attacks, 5% to Arab calls. Beinart’s “mostly fiction” overreaches; both sides shaped the chaos, not just Jewish fists.

Gaza: “Excessive” or Hamas’s War?

Beinart’s Gaza critique peaks with venom: “Israel’s assault on Gaza became excessive on 9 October, when it cut off food and electricity to everyone in the Strip.” He quotes Defense Minister Gallant—“released all the restraints”—and a +972 report on 1,000 “power targets” bombed for “psychological effect.” Excessive? Hamas fired 300 rockets that day, killing 10; cutting power aimed to cripple its command, per IDF briefs. The +972 scoop—high-rises, banks—notes dual use: Hamas laundered funds via banks (UNRWA probe, 2024); towers hid launch sites. Beinart’s “shock the population” skips this, framing Israel as wanton.

He sneers at “human shields” excuses: “Hamas certainly operates within civilian areas. But that’s typical of insurgent groups… militants have hidden among civilians.” True—Viet Cong did it; so did the IRA. But international law (Geneva Protocol I, Art. 51) doesn’t absolve fighters who militarize civilian zones—Hamas’s al-Qassam bases in Shifa Hospital (IDF footage, 2023) prove intent. Beinart’s “fallacy upon fallacy” dodges Hamas’s agency; Israel’s 37,000-death toll (Gaza ministry, likely padded) reflects war’s toll, not genocide—1,200 aid trucks entered since March 5, per COGAT, after U.S. pressure eased cuts.

“Now, rather than proceed to the second round of a ceasefire… Israel has relaunched the war with even greater ferocity,” he writes, claiming “all humanitarian aid” is stopped. Lie. Phase Two stalled over Hamas’s refusal to free 14 hostages, per Qatar mediators, March 10; 300 trucks crossed Kerem Shalom this week. Beinart’s “starvation policy” pins blame solely on Israel, ignoring Hamas’s rocket stockpiles under UN schools (UN Watch, 2024).

Antisemitic Core

Beinart’s venom crystallizes here: “Our refusal to reckon with the dark side of Purim reflects a refusal to reckon with the dark side of ourselves… capable of being not only victims, but victimizers as well.”

The Esther-Gaza link reeks of an old slur—Jews, once pitiable, now revel in power’s cruelty. Where’s Hamas’s “dark side”? Its 7th—1,200 dead, 251 abducted—gets a nod, but Beinart pivots to Israel’s toll, as if Jews alone bear sin. His “sanitized” Esther mirrors his sanitized Hamas—a group whose 1988 charter vows Jewish extinction, not mere “liberation.”

He claims Jewish leaders denied Gaza’s deaths: “The death figures… were ‘simply untrue,’” quoting Michael Oren. Yet Yale’s 40% undercount (January 2025) reflects war’s fog—buried bodies, not lies; Oren’s skepticism targeted Hamas’s tallies, not corpses. Beinart’s “blameless Israel” straw man crumbles—Jewish voices, from B’Tselem to Haaretz, critique IDF excess. His real target? Jewish power itself, recast as moral rot.

Purim’s Truth

Beinart’s “anguished tune” for Esther’s dead—then Gaza’s—demands Jewish shame for surviving Haman and fighting Hamas. Purim’s joy—costumes, feasting—honors resilience against genocide, not slaughter’s thrill. Israel’s war, messy and costly, seeks Hamas’s end—1,400 rockets fired since October 2023, per IDF—not Palestinian erasure. Beinart’s “slaughter in our name” hands Hamas victory, sparing it accountability while Jews repent for strength.

A Call to See Through the Lies

Beinart’s distortions—recasting Esther’s desperate defense as a revelry in blood, twisting 1948 into a tale of Jewish malice, and painting Gaza’s war as Israel’s unprovoked “slaughter”—unravel under the weight of scripture, history, and facts. His insidious thread, tying Jewish power to an inherent “dark side,” resurrects an antisemitic specter that demands Jewish guilt while excusing Hamas’s atrocities.

This Purim, let’s not shudder at our survival but stand tall—rejecting his false mirror with clear eyes. The Book of Esther celebrates deliverance from annihilation; Israel’s fight seeks the same. Beinart’s plea to end the war “in our name” is a siren song to surrender to terror’s narrative, not a path to peace. We owe it to truth, and to ourselves, to see it for the sham it is.