A few days ago, I was listening to the Commentary podcast when John Podhoretz quoted a remark Barack Obama made shortly after the October 7 massacre. I had almost forgotten the comment, but hearing it again brought back the same feeling I had when I first heard it—a feeling of unease and foreboding.

We were urged to hold two truths at once: 

Hamas’s atrocities were horrific. 

The occupation and the conditions under which Palestinians had been living were unbearable.

The first truth required no explanation. The second has stayed with me for nearly three years. I never doubted that many Gazans lived difficult lives before the war. But what troubled me was this: 

Why was that particular second truth chosen?

There were many second truths that he could have chosen: 

Hamas had openly declared for decades that its objective was not ending the occupation but destroying Israel. 

Israel withdrew every soldier and every settler from Gaza in 2005, hoping disengagement would reduce violence and allow Gaza to develop peacefully. 

Hamas violently seized power, expelled Fatah, and launched thousands of rockets into Israel. 

Hamas built one of the most extensive underground military systems in the world. 

Hamas repeatedly declared that armed struggle—not economic development—was its highest priority.

Instead, he chose Gaza’s suffering. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this wasn’t simply a question about facts—it was a question about which facts we choose to........

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