The Hebron Massacre and the Myths Fueling Today’s Conflict — with Yardena Schwartz (Part 2)

Unpacking Israeli History

Unpacked

Judaism, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Help us take Unpacked podcasts further by supporting our crowdfunding campaign: https://unpacked.bio/podgift2025 Noam Weissman talks with journalist and author Yardena Schwartz about her book Ghosts of a Holy War and how the 1929 Hebron massacre helped ignite the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They trace the century-long thread of the cry “Al-Aqsa is in danger”—how Grand Mufti Hajj Amin al-Husseini weaponized it in 1929, tied it to his alliance with Nazi Germany, and how those myths continue to fuel violence from the Hebron riots to the Second Intifada to Hamas’s “Al-Aqsa Flood.” Along the way, they explore Hebron’s sacred place in Jewish history, the trauma of 1929, the rise of the settlement movement, the Jewish underground’s plan to bomb the Dome of the Rock, and Baruch Goldstein’s 1994 attack. They end in present-day Hebron—H1 and H2—meeting Palestinians and Israelis who still believe a different future is possible. Here is a link to Ghosts of a Holy War, The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict, by Yardena Schwarz. This episode is in memory of Leo M. Bernstein. To sponsor an episode or to be in touch, please email noam@unpacked.media. Check us out on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand. ------------------- For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wondering Jews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Noam Weissman, and this is Unpacking Israeli History, the podcast that takes a deep dive into some of the most intense, historically fascinating and often misunderstood the events and stories linked to Israeli history.
0:12.3	This episode of Unpacking Israeli History is generously sponsored in memory of Leo M. Bernstein.
0:17.8	To sponsor an episode of Unpacking Israeli history, what are you waiting for? Be in touch with us at noam at unpacked.med. Media. Or if you just want to say what's up, that's awesome
0:25.7	too. Noam at unpacked.com. As always, check us out on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube, all the
0:31.6	places. Just search Unpacking's Early History and hit the follow or subscribe button.
0:37.0	Okay, Yala.
0:38.7	Let's do this.
0:43.5	We're Makhryzenba God.
0:46.2	Al-Hanat-Muddinah, Israel,
0:50.5	we, the people of Israel, are prepared and anxious to meet the representatives of our neighbors without any preconditions.
1:01.6	There are people in Israel and elsewhere say it's impossible to make peace between the Arabs and Israel or the Jewish people.
1:12.0	I think they're home.
1:19.9	This might be one of the most sweeping episodes that we have ever done in the show,
1:21.0	and that is saying something.
1:27.4	And I almost want to say that if you want to understand the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in one
1:29.9	sitting, like really understand it. This is the episode. Last week, we re-released our episode about
1:36.5	the Hevron Massacre of 1929. And if you didn't get to listen yet, definitely check it out.
1:42.3	And for this week's episode, I sat down with Yardena Schwartz
1:44.9	to talk about how the massacre both shaped and represented the conflict in a way almost no other
1:52.1	moment has. I really thought I knew the story. I mean, I've written about the topic. I've
1:57.2	researched the topic, and I did a whole podcast on this story, like I said.
2:06.2	I really thought I knew it, but Yardena reframed the entire thing for me with a different lens.
	...

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