In the wake of the horrific bus bombing in Jerusalem, there were more than a few people who were quick to assign blame to Israel:
https://twitter.com/ayeletw/status/722296309416378369
This is of course the sanitized and “appropriate” way to paraphrase Hamas’s praise for the attack as a “natural response to occupation’s crimes.”
https://twitter.com/HamasInfoEn/status/722167487433936896
There is just one big problem with this type of explanation: attacks on buses not only pre-date the “occupation” of 1967, but they even pre-date the very existence of the State of Israel!
In April 1936 – 31 years before “the occupation” began – one of the first attacks leading up to the Arab revolt was an attack on a Jewish bus that left two passengers dead. Not only was this not condemned by the Arab leadership, it was actually one of the major causes behind the establishment of the Arab Higher Committee! The Irgun subsequently responded with it’s own attacks on Arab buses, but these were condemned by the Jewish Agency.
Due to these attacks, the Jews invested in armoring their buses, though these efforts weren’t always successful.
There were two attacks on buses in February 1948 – 19 years before “the occupation” began. 6 Jews were murdered on the 3rd and 4 more were murdered on the 19th in Haifa.
These attacks continued after Israel won the war. On 17 March 1954 – 13 years before “the occupation” began – terrorists ambushed a bus traveling from Eilat to Tel Aviv. First they shot the driver before boarding the bus and murdering 11 people by shooting each passenger one by one. They then spat on and cursed the bodies.
There were two more attacks on buses in 1962, 5 years before “the occupation” began. On April 12, terrorists shot up an Egged bus traveling to Eilat, wounding one passenger. Then on September 30th, another Egged bus driving to Eilat was shot up by terrorists, but thankfully no one was wounded.
This isn’t a chicken and egg conundrum, this is a very clear-cut case of cause and effect. The only way “the occupation” could be the cause of terrorism on Israeli buses is if one were to alter the laws of the time and space.
