Israel’s ‘Just War’ Explained
Gil Troy | May 21, 2025

As my children donned their uniforms while going off to defend Israel, America, the West, after Oct. 7, I told them: “The morality of this war is clear. You do whatever you need to do to protect yourself, your buddies, your homeland. I am not speaking now as a father, an Israeli, or a Jew – but as an American historian. I’ve studied how America fought in World War I and World War II, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hamas started this war with a vicious attack. That puts the moral onus on them.
(Photo by World Economic Forum – Flickr: George Soros – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011,
In my recent article, 







