The Bloodstained Truth Behind “Palestine”

The Wrong Side of History

It is difficult to understand how anyone can sincerely claim to stand on the right side of history while supporting the so called Palestinian cause. The claim is repeated endlessly in activist circles, on university campuses, and across social media. Yet when one looks honestly at the leadership, the ideology, and the long record of violence carried out in its name, the claim collapses under the weight of history.

One only needs to look at the record of Mohammed Zaidan, better known as Abu Abbas. He was not a freedom fighter. He was a terrorist organizer responsible for brutal acts of violence against innocent civilians. The fact that figures like him became central leaders within Palestinian militant movements reveals a disturbing truth about the nature of that struggle during much of the twentieth century.

One of the clearest examples is the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in October 1985. The attack shocked the world and exposed the ruthless tactics used by terrorist factions connected to the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The cruise ship was sailing in the Mediterranean during a leisure voyage. Hundreds of passengers and crew members were on board, enjoying what was supposed to be a peaceful holiday cruise with stops in Egypt and other Mediterranean destinations. Among them were families, elderly travelers, and tourists from different countries.

Four terrorists from the Palestine Liberation Front had secretly boarded the ship posing as ordinary passengers. Their weapons were hidden in their luggage. Their original plan was not even to hijack the vessel. Instead they intended to use the cruise ship simply as transportation to reach Israel.

Their goal was to arrive at an Israeli port unnoticed, disembark among the tourists, and then carry out a terrorist attack against civilians inside Israel. After carrying out the attack they hoped to escape.

The plan failed when a crew member accidentally discovered one of the terrorists handling weapons hidden in his luggage. Realizing that they had been exposed and fearing arrest, the terrorists quickly abandoned their original plan.

On October 7, 1985, they stormed the bridge of the ship armed with automatic rifles and grenades. They forced the captain to change course and took control of the vessel. The situation instantly became a full scale hijacking.

At the time roughly four hundred passengers remained on board along with several hundred crew members. Many passengers had already left the ship during a stop in Egypt, which meant the terrorists held fewer hostages than they had originally expected.

The hijackers gathered the passengers and crew and began issuing threats. They demanded that Israel release fifty Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. If their demands were not met, they promised to begin executing hostages and destroy the ship.

During the standoff they singled out one passenger in particular. His name was Leon Klinghoffer, a sixty nine year old Jewish American man from New York who used a wheelchair after suffering a stroke.

Witnesses later testified that the terrorists argued with him before shooting him. In an act of cruelty that horrified the world, they threw his body overboard into the Mediterranean Sea while he was still in his wheelchair. His body was never recovered.

The murder caused international outrage. A disabled civilian had been murdered simply because he was Jewish. The brutality of the act exposed the true nature of the ideology behind such attacks. This was not resistance. It was terrorism directed against civilians.

Negotiations eventually secured the release of the remaining hostages. Egypt arranged safe passage for the terrorists, placing them on an aircraft that was supposed to fly them to Tunisia.

However the United States intervened. American intelligence tracked the aircraft and fighter jets forced it to land at a NATO air base in Sicily. A tense standoff followed between American and Italian forces, but ultimately the hijackers were taken into custody by Italy.

The four gunmen were later tried and convicted, receiving prison sentences ranging from fifteen to thirty years. Abu Abbas himself managed to escape justice for many years before eventually being captured in Iraq in 2003 after the fall of Saddam Hussein. He died in American custody in 2004.

The Achille Lauro hijacking was not an isolated act. Abu Abbas and the organization he led were connected to a pattern of attacks and attempted infiltrations aimed at Israeli civilians.

One of the most notorious attacks associated with networks tied to these factions was the Coastal Road massacre of 1978. In that attack militants landed on the Israeli coast, hijacked vehicles, and eventually seized a civilian bus traveling between Haifa and Tel Aviv. Thirty eight Israeli civilians were murdered, including thirteen children. More than seventy people were injured.

Another operation connected to Abu Abbas occurred in 1990 when militants attempted to land on the beaches near Tel Aviv using rubber boats. Their plan was to attack civilians gathered along the coast. Israeli forces intercepted them before they could reach their targets, preventing what could have been another mass casualty attack.

These operations reveal a consistent pattern. The targets were not military bases or soldiers. The targets were tourists, families, buses, and beaches. In other words, ordinary civilians.

It is also striking that October 7 appears twice in this long history of violence. The Achille Lauro hijacking occurred on October 7, 1985. Decades later another massacre against Israeli civilians occurred on the same date.

The date itself has no special religious meaning in the Arab or Islamic calendar. But the repetition is a reminder that Israel faces enemies who deliberately choose moments that will create shock, fear, and maximum media attention.

For Israel the lesson is painfully clear. The survival of the Jewish state has always depended on vigilance and the willingness to defend itself.

Peace will never be achieved by ignoring the reality of violent leadership. History has shown repeatedly that when radical organizations control Gaza, operate from Yemen, or receive backing from regimes such as Iran, the result is not peace but aggression.

Israel does not seek endless conflict. Israelis want what every nation wants. Security, stability, and the ability to live normal lives without the constant threat of terrorism.

But peace requires responsible leadership on the other side. As long as violent ideologues and terrorist networks dominate the political landscape, the prospects for peace remain distant.

If Israel’s safety is at stake, it has both the right and the obligation to act. Removing the power of those who glorify violence is not aggression. It is self defense.

History does not judge slogans. It judges actions.

And when one looks honestly at those actions, it becomes very clear which side truly stands on the right side of history.