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October 7:

Was it a Pogrom?

Jacob Vetstein

HGS-110: Antisemitism and Racism

Professor Marta Havryshko

February 25, 2024

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On October 7, 2023, Jewish history was forever changed. Hamas terrorists launched an

unprecedented attack against Israel, brutally murdering over 1,200 Israelis and wreaking

unimaginable horror upon Israeli society. The horrific massacres perpetrated on that day brought

back traumatic memories from another dark chapter of history: the violent pogroms that occurred

in Eastern Europe during the early twentieth century. Ever since October 7, scholars have

debated whether or not the attacks committed by Hamas should also be labeled as a pogrom.

This essay will continue that debate and draw a definite conclusion regarding this divisive

question. The essay will be divided into four main sections. The first section will present a

definition of pogroms, along with an evaluation of three historic examples: the Kishinev Pogrom,

the 1905 Pogroms in the Pale of Settlement, and the Odessa Pogrom. The second section will

outline the October 7 Attacks, highlighting three specific instances of atrocities: the Re’im Nova

Music Festival Massacre, the Kfar Aza Massacre, and the Be’eri Massacre. The third section will

put forth an argument as to why the term “pogrom” applies to the October 7 Attacks, with a

focus on atrocities, sexualized violence, perpetrators, and antisemitism. The final section will

explain why the term “pogrom” does not apply, instead focusing on differences between the

October 7 Attacks and the three highlighted pogroms. The essay will conclude by suggesting that

the October 7 Attacks were not a pogrom, but rather something much worse.

Section One: Pogroms

The term “pogrom” holds deep historical significance and painful trauma for the global

Jewish community. The term originated from Russian and literally means “to destroy, to wreak

havoc, to demolish violently.” (Abramson, 109). The Oxford English Dictionary defines a

pogrom as “an organized massacre aimed at the destruction or annihilation of a body or class of

people, especially one conducted against Jewish people,” noting that pogroms primarily occurred
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during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Russia, Poland, and other Eastern European

countries (Oxford English Dictionary). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum notes

that “As a descriptive term, “pogrom” came into common usage with extensive anti-Jewish riots

that swept the southern and western provinces of the Russian Empire in 1881–1884, following

the assassination of Tsar Alexander II,” implying that while violent massacres against Jews have

occurred for centuries, the term itself is relatively modern (United States Holocaust Memorial

Museum). The key characteristics of pogroms include indiscriminate murder, rape, destruction of

property, and looting, usually organized and perpetrated by ordinary civilians, sometimes with

encouragement by government officials and local police (United States Holocaust Memorial

Museum). While there have been numerous examples of pogroms throughout history, this essay

will briefly outline the Kishinev Pogrom, the 1905 Pale of Settlement Pogroms, and the Odessa

Pogrom, arguably three of the most important historical examples.

On April 19 and 20, 1903, the Jews of Kishinev in modern-day Moldova were subjected

to one of the deadliest pogroms of the twentieth century (Havryshko). The pogrom began with a

blood libel accusation, in which Kishinev’s antisemitic intellectuals were able to make violence

permissible by stirring up animosity against the city’s Jews, which numbered at around 46% of

the population (Havryshko). The pogrom began in the late afternoon of April 19, when some

twenty-five bands of around thirty to fifty people, unleashed unrestrained terror in Kishinev’s

Jewish quarter (Penkower, 187). Students, hooligans, and looters smashed windows, destroyed

homes and businesses, and committed atrocities against Jewish civilians, all while local police

made no attempt to stop the violence (Penkower, 187). The mobs then began to attack the

suburbs of Kishinev, where they continued their campaign of terror until martial law came into

effect on April 21 (Penkower, 188). The results of the pogrom were devastating, with forty-nine
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Jews killed, including two babies and a twelve-year-old girl, and 495 wounded, ninety-five of

them severely (Penkower, 188). Furthermore, 700 homes were looted, 600 businesses were

looted, and 2,000 families were left homeless (Havryshko). The Kishinev Pogrom ushered in an

unprecedented era of violence against the Jews of Eastern Europe, opening up a dark chapter in

Jewish history.

Throughout 1905 and 1906, a series of violent pogroms erupted throughout Tsarist

Russia, specifically in the southern provinces of the Pale of Settlement in what is now modern-

day Ukraine (Havryshko). These pogroms unfolded against the backdrop of the 1905 Revolution

and the Russo-Japanese War, which led to a dramatic increase in antisemitic violence

(Lambroza, 287). Specifically following Tsar Nicholas’ manifesto on October 17, 1905, full-

scale pogroms broke out in over 300 cities across the Pale of Settlement, with many pogroms

lasting for an entire week. (Penkower, 202). Only until June of 1906 did the wave of pogroms

finally end, with the total number being 657 (Penkower, 202). The 1905-1906 pogroms claimed

the lives of 3,100 Jews, with around 15,000 wounded, 2,000 being severely injured (Havryshko).

Moreover, around 1,500 children were orphaned, and some 800 children lost a parent (Penkower,

202). According to reports, “The destruction of property caused by the pogroms of 1903-1906 is

estimated to be 57.84 million rubles within the Pale and an additional 8.2 million rubles outside

it.” (Penkower, 202). One particularly bloody pogrom during this wave was the Odessa Pogrom

in October of 1905.

The violence in the Russian city of Odessa began on October 18, 1905, when a group of

Jews celebrating the October Manifesto clashed with a group of Russian workers (Weinberg,

62). By the next day, the clashes turned into a full-scale pogrom, with Russians indiscriminately

attacking Jews and destroying Jewish property (Weinberg, 62). This pogrom was especially
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destructive because Jews made up a large percentage of the city’s population and many took an

active role in the revolutionary movement (Havryshko). During the pogrom, rioters broke into

apartments and homes, hurled Jews from roofs, raped Jewish women, and butchered infants

(Havryshko). Unlike past pogroms, Jewish self-defense units attempted to fight against the

rioters, but were ultimately crushed by Russian troops (Havryshko). On October 20 Russian

troops were ordered to stop the pogromists, with the violence fully extinguished by October 22,

four days after the start of the pogrom (Weinberg, 64). The Odessa Pogrom was by far the

deadliest pogrom of 1905, claiming the lives of over 400 Jews, injuring around 300, and causing

damage to 1,632 Jewish homes and stores (Weinberg, 53). In fact, “No other Russian city in

1905 experienced a pogrom comparable in its destruction and violence to the one unleashed

against the Jews of Odessa.” (Weinberg, 54). The pogroms committed against the Jews of

Eastern Europe set the stage for the darkest chapter in Jewish history, that being the Holocaust,

in which over 6,000,000 Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime and their

collaborators. Following the Holocaust and its aftermath, violence against Jews remained

relatively calm and sporadic. That all changed on October 7, 2023.

Section Two: The October 7 Attacks

In the early morning of October 7, 2023, Hamas, the Sunni Islamist group that rules the

Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, launched a series of surprise terrorist attacks against

Israel, systematically slaughtering over 1,200 Israelis, including children and the elderly,

marking the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust (Anti-Defamation League). Israelis were

mutilated, dismembered, burned, and abducted, with around 240 kidnapped and taken into Gaza

(Spencer). Additionally, Hamas committed egregious acts of sexualized violence against Israeli

women, including mass rape and mutilation (Gettleman). Over the course of October 7, Hamas
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carried out numerous massacres throughout Southern Israel, of which three instances will be

discussed in detail, those being the Re’im Music Festival Massacre, the Kfar Aza Massacre, and

the Be’eri Massacre.

During the attacks by Hamas, 364 civilians were killed at the Supernova music festival

near the Israeli kibbutz of Re’im (Magid). At around 7:00 a.m., while the festival was at its peak,

Hamas launched a massive barrage of rockets towards Southern Israel, stopping the music

(Leibovitz). By the time the police had told the partygoers to flee, Hamas terrorists approached

the festival grounds in pickup trucks and began to shoot anything that moved (Leibovitz).

Partygoers were shot on the spot at point blank or fled for their lives and were later rounded up

by Hamas, either to be taken hostage or killed (Leibovitz). One survivor recounted that “I saw

videos with a male getting held by a group of Arab kids. Like, they’re like 16, 17,” and that

“Women have been raped at the area of the rave next to their friends’ bodies, dead bodies”

(Leibovitz). The Re’im Music Festival Massacre was just one of the many massacres that took

place on October 7.

In the nearby kibbutz of Kfar Aza, Hamas attempted to annihilate the entire village

(Spencer). The massacre began with the arrival of Hamas terrorists via paraglider, who were able

to seal the perimeter of the kibbutz, followed by snipers who planted anti-tank and anti-personnel

mines in order to trap Israelis inside and prevent the Israel Defense Forces from entering

(Spencer). The terrorists then proceeded to methodically go from house to house, killing,

mutilating, and kidnapping innocent Israelis, along with burning the homes of Israelis in the

process (Spencer). Following the initial onslaught, Gazan civilians then looted the decimated

kibbutz and brought back valuables into Gaza (Spencer). Over 100 people were killed in Kfar

Aza, including babies, with a basketball court serving as a temporary morgue (Hutchinson). In
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one such instance, the smell of rotting flesh was so strong that an Israeli soldier was forced to

stuff earplugs up his nose in order to take the body of a slain civilian out of a home (Hutchinson).

Akin to Kfar Aza, similar atrocities were committed in kibbutzim across Southern Israel.

Just south of Kfar Aza, Be’eri was the site of another horrific massacre. On October 7,

Hamas violently killed 112 people, in what has been described as Israel’s ground zero

(Hutchinson). Hamas terrorists stormed the kibbutz’s gates on all sides, entered the village, and

proceeded to commit unspeakable atrocities (Hutchinson). Maj. Libby Weiss of the Israel

Defense Forces stated that “People were asleep. They [Hamas] surprised them in their homes.

Some were butchered in their beds” (Hutchinson). Online footage shows Hamas terrorists

rounding up civilians, marching them out to the street, and ultimately executing them at point

blank (Hutchinson). Moreover, buildings and homes throughout Be’eri were in ruins, with

concrete walls reduced to rubble, collapsed floors on top of each other, and roof beams exposed

and tangled (Kierszenbaum). Like the pogroms of Europe before them, the massacres committed

against the Jews of Israel on October 7 have forever altered the course of Jewish history.

Section Three: Why the Term “Pogrom” Applies to October 7

Immediately after October 7, numerous survivors, scholars, and journalists remarked on

the sheer brutality of the attacks, often drawing comparisons to past instances of violence against

Jewish communities. Perhaps the most common comparison that was made was to the pogroms

of Eastern Europe during the early twentieth century. Like the pogroms, what happened on

October 7 was more than just killing – it was full-scale atrocities with the intent to destroy entire

communities (Halpern). During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, pogroms were

designed not only to kill Jews, but rather to completely annihilate the presence of Jewish life

(Astashkevich, 40). As outlined in the prior section, this type of genocidal violence against Jews
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was very much present on October 7. The key objective of this violence was to obliterate the

very foundation of Jewish existence, destroy sacred values of Judaism, and to inflict intense

suffering onto innocent Jews through both direct and indirect violence (Astashkevich, 40). This

section will highlight the similarities between the pogroms of the early twentieth century and the

October 7 Attacks by evaluating instances of destruction, mutilation, sexualized violence,

civilian perpetrators, and antisemitism present in both cases.

A defining characteristic that sets pogroms apart from other forms of violence is the

unrestrained destruction unleashed upon Jewish neighborhoods and villages. During the

Kishinev Pogrom, gangs of teenagers smashed windows, followed by students and seminarists

armed with axes and aided by looters, ravaged and demolished the Jewish quarter of the city

(Penkower, 187). Likewise, during the Odessa Pogrom, Russians vandalized, looted, and

destroyed Jewish homes and businesses (Weinberg, 62). A similar pattern of destruction was

carried out by Hamas terrorists throughout Southern Israel during the October 7 Attacks. In Kfar

Aza, reporters stated that they saw the bedrooms of children decimated by gunfire, blood

splattered on floors, and soot from burnt tires and grenades (Spencer) In neighboring Be’eri,

photo and video evidence show that “Car after car were reduced to burnt shells, home after home

reduced to ruins by explosions and rockets that rained down on the kibbutz,” along with

numerous homes riddled with bullet holes (Hutchinson). During an interview, Uri Ben Tzini,

who hid in a narrow hallway with his wife, said that what happened in Be’eri “…was a pogrom.

Like going back to the Kishinev pogrom,” comparing his experience to Anne Frank

(Kierszenbaum). The levels of destruction present in the southern communities of Israel rivals

the destruction that occurred in Eastern Europe during the pogroms, presenting a strong case that

a pogrom did in fact occur on October 7.

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Another atrocity commonly associated with pogroms is bodily mutilation and other forms

of gruesome acts. In Kishinev, “Nails were driven through heads; bodies, hacked in half; bellies,

split open and filled with feathers” (Penkower, 187). A particularly ghastly incident occurred

during the Odessa Pogrom, in which a woman was hung by her legs above the mutilated corpses

of her six children (Weinberg, 64). Just as had happened during the pogroms, several instances of

mutilation were discovered in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 Attacks. Following the

Re’im Music Festival Massacre, “The [New York] Times viewed photographs of one woman’s

corpse that emergency responders discovered in the rubble of a besieged kibbutz with dozens of

nails driven into her thighs and groin,” with reports of similar instances having occurred

throughout the festival site (Gettleman). In Kfar Aza, whole families were tied up and burned

alive, with the kibbutz likened to a slaughterhouse due to numerous instances of atrocities

committed by Hamas (Spencer). Considering the barbarity that occurred on October 7, numerous

parallels can be drawn from the massacres by Hamas to the pogroms of the early twentieth

century.

Perhaps the most appalling attribute of pogroms is that of widespread sexual violence and

rape. In December of 1919, a pogrom broke out in Skvira, a town just southwest of Kyiv, during

which an unprecedented number of women were violently raped by pogromists (Astashkevich,

38). During this particular pogrom, the perpetrators were indiscriminate in their acts of sexual

violence, as “They raped a seventy-year-old woman before her husband’s eyes, the twelve-year-

old daughter of a local distiller, and a new mother who had just given birth” (Astashkevich, 42).

This pattern of sexualized violence was widespread throughout pogroms during the early

twentieth century, as the weaponization of rape was intended to “…promote the social death of

the community,” via destroying women’s sense of dignity and victimizing entire communities
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due to humiliation (Astashkevich, 41). This tactic of weaponized sexual violence was also used

by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 Attacks, with a New York Times investigation

revealing a frightening pattern of rape (Gettleman). Investigators were shown harrowing videos

of dead Israelis who “…appeared to have been shot directly in their vaginas” (Gettleman).

Moreover, a survivor by the name of Sapir, said that while she watched Hamas terrorists shred a

woman to pieces, and “While one terrorist raped her…another pulled out a box cutter and sliced

off her breast,” comparing the systematic rape of Israeli women to that of an assembly line

(Gettleman). The stark similarities between the weaponized rape that occurred during the

pogroms in Eastern Europe and the gruesome acts of sexual violence committed by Hamas on

October 7 are deeply disturbing, furthering the notion that October 7 was indeed a pogrom.

An astonishing similarity between the pogroms of the early twentieth century and the

October 7 Attacks is the involvement of civilian perpetrators. Analysis of the 1905 pogroms

reveal that soldiers were not the primary perpetrators, but rather potential military recruits who

were still participating in civilian life, along with eager civilians (Suhr, 223). Moreover,

empirical evidence suggests that “…unskilled, non-Jewish day laborers, more than any other

group (including the police), filled the ranks of the pogromist mobs,” as this demographic was

extremely susceptible to anti-Jewish animosity (Weinberg, 68). In a manner reminiscent of the

pogroms, civilians also took on the role of perpetrators during the October 7 Attacks. In the small

kibbutz of Nir Oz, CCTV footage, along with analysis by the kibbutz’s security guards, suggest

that around 550 of the 700 Palestinians that ravaged Nir Oz were in fact unarmed and non-

uniformed Gazan civilians (Danan). The footage showed some of the civilians carrying out

atrocities, including rape and kidnapping, while the rest of the civilians looted Israeli homes and

farms (Danan). Furthermore, an investigation by NBC News concluded that Israeli hostage Noa
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Argamani was almost certainly kidnapped by civilians, as video evidence shows that she was

dragged away by unarmed men in civilian clothes (Danan). The active participation of ordinary

civilians during the October 7 Attacks mirrors the actions of civilian perpetrators during the

pogroms of 1905, revealing yet another alarming commonality between these two episodes of

horrific violence.

A final characteristic that makes pogroms unique is that of unadulterated antisemitism.

Throughout the Russian Empire, antisemitism infested every aspect of society, “…reaching from

the most ignorant street thug to the tsar himself, from the most impoverished and envious peasant

to the upper reaches of the government bureaucracy and parts of the intelligentsia” (Suhr, 217).

Moreover, in Russian society, antisemitism was viewed to be fashionable, as “Jews were

considered aliens (inorodtsy) and parasites” (Lambroza, 288). In fact, just prior to the start of the

Odessa Pogrom of 1905, mobs screamed “Beat the Kikes” and “Death to the Kikes,” thereby

enabling the impending pogrom (Weinberg, 63). This same antisemitic rhetoric was also present

during the immediate lead-up to the October 7 Attacks. In April of 2023, a Hamas official

described Jews as filthy apes and pigs, claimed that Jews brought evil and injustice to the world,

and prayed for the Jews to be annihilated (Anti-Defamation League). Immediately after the

attacks, senior Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad pledged to duplicate the October 7 attacks “time and

again until Israel is annihilated” (Anti-Defamation League). Palestinian society in Gaza is also

embedded with antisemitism, as “School children are taught to hate Israel, Jews are demonized

as part of official curriculum, and ‘summer camps’ involve learning how to fire automatic

weapons and kidnap Israelis” (Greenblatt). In both European and Gazan society, virulent

antisemitism paved the way for cataclysmic violence against Jews. The aforementioned evidence
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and evaluation of shared atrocities suggests that the events of October 7 do indeed fit the

category of, and therefore constitute, a pogrom.

Section four: Why the Term “Pogrom” Does Not Apply to October 7

Even though there is a strong case for categorizing the October 7 Attacks as a pogrom,

there is substantial evidence to suggests that the attacks by Hamas do not constitute a pogrom.

This section will examine these differences and explain why using the term pogrom may be

misleading. A key difference between the pogroms of the early twentieth century and the

October 7 Attacks is that of the participation of the state authorities, along with societal

acceptance. During the pogroms in Russia from 1903 to 1906, the Russian army simultaneously

promoted and prevented violence against Jewish communities (Suhr, 217). This can be attributed

to the fact that “When clearly ordered to stop the pogroms, troops usually did so with dispatch

and with nearly instantaneous success,” as although troops were never instructed to protect Jews,

they were never ordered to actually attack Jews (Suhr, 218). Concerning the role of widespread

societal participation, in the aftermath of the Kishinev Pogrom, reports state that a majority of

the public simply “…walked calmly along and gazed at these horrible spectacles with the utmost

indifference,” suggesting that much of Russian society was neutral towards the pogrom

(Penkower, 188). However, the actions of Hamas, the elected government of Gaza, and the

attitudes of Palestinian civil society in Gaza immediately after the October 7 Attacks, suggest a

much more complicit picture. A quick look at Hamas’ founding charter helps to explain these

sentiments, as the charter states that “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will

obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it” and that “There is no solution for the

Palestinian question except through Jihad,” suggesting that Hamas not only endorses violence

towards Israelis and Jews, but actively encourages it (Anti-Defamation League). In fact,
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immediately following the Hamas attacks, news footage shows massive crowds of Palestinians in

Gaza handing out candy, along with celebrating the attacks (Middle East Media and Research

Institute). The direct encouragement of Hamas and the celebratory attitude of Gazans suggest

that what happened on October 7 was more consequential than a pogrom.

Another noticeable difference between the pogroms of the early twentieth century and the

October 7 Attacks is the duration of the violence relative to its severity. The Kishinev Pogrom of

1903 lasted from April 19 to April 21 and killed forty-nine Jews (Havryshko). During the 1905

Pogroms in the Pale of Settlement, the average pogrom lasted for about a week, and with a total

of 657 pogroms killing roughly 3,000 Jews, each individual pogrom only killed an average of

less than five Jews (Penkower, 202). The Odessa Pogrom, which was the deadliest of the 1905

pogroms, lasted from October 18 to October 22 and killed at least 400 Jews, making this pogrom

especially deadly (Weinberg, 53). In contrast, the attacks by Hamas on October 7 lasted for less

than a day, with the attacks beginning just after 6:30 in the morning and the IDF securing Israeli

communities and striking Hamas targets by 1:45 that afternoon (Martínez). Even the most

extreme and antisemitic perpetrators of pogroms never instructed their attackers to murder 1,200

Jews in a single day (Halpern). With the attacks on October 7 killing 1,200 Israelis and lasting

for just over seven hours, the ratio between the duration of the attacks and its death toll is

unprecedented and far exceeds any of the pogroms discussed in this essay. Therefore, labeling

October 7 as a pogrom may actually undermine the true severity of the attacks.

A final reason why labeling the events of October 7 as a pogrom is misleading stems

from the nature of the attack's planning. The Kishinev Pogrom was planned spontaneously over

the course of a few days, as a recent accusation of blood libel had ultimately laid the foundation

for violence against Jewish communities (Penkower, 189). Likewise, the Odessa Pogrom broke
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out almost instantaneously, as the release of Tsar Nicholas’ manifesto the prior day led to mass

outbreaks of violence (Penkower, 202). However, the planning of the October 7 Attacks was

much more meticulous. The massacre in Kfar Aza on October 7 was described as a “…pre-

planned, pre-meditated slaughter of an entire village,” by military experts, as each Hamas

battalion had a guidebook of specific instructions on how to kill as many people as possible in a

methodical manner (Spencer). Concerning the larger objectives of October 7, documents

obtained by Israeli officials suggest that Hamas had been planning the attacks for years

(Sabbagh). Israeli intelligence revealed that Hamas drew detailed maps of kibbutzim, had spies

inside of Israel, and drafted a forty-page blueprint of the planned attack (Sabbagh). This evidence

shows that unlike the pogroms of the early twentieth century, October 7 had been precisely

planned well in advance. The argument put forth in this section suggests that October 7 does not

constitute a pogrom, and when combined with the damning evidence in the prior sections, it

argues that what happened on October 7 was actually something far worse and much more

sinister.

Concluding Remarks

This essay presents a substantial overview of the pogroms that occurred in the early

twentieth century and the attacks committed by Hamas on October 7, outlining the numerous

similarities and differences between these two horrific episodes of violence against the Jewish

community. Based on the evidence put forth in this essay, it can be concluded that categorizing

October 7 as a pogrom is an inaccurate and flawed assessment. While the October 7 attacks and

the pogroms of the early twentieth century do share eerily similar instances of destruction, bodily

mutilation, sexualized violence, civilian perpetration, and antisemitism, these commonalities just

scratch the surface of the savagery of Hamas’ attacks. October 7 was fully backed, endorsed and
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celebrated by nearly all aspects of Palestinian society in Gaza; was shorter and more deadly than

any pogrom; and was carefully planned for years, all characteristics that were never present

within the scope of the pogroms of the twentieth century. The October 7 Attacks were far worse

than any pogrom. It was a medieval extermination campaign driven by unrestrained

antisemitism, deliberately designed to murder, rape, and defile Jewish society, rivaling the

bloodiest days of the Holocaust.

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