At the end of the 19th century, Jews constituted a plurality of the population of the Ottoman city of Salonica; this continued to be the case after 1912, when Greece seized the city and renamed it Thessaloniki. When World War I broke out, Thessaloniki played an important role as a harbor for Allied naval forces, and it endured a bombardment by Austrian planes in 1915. A single housewife roasting eggplants, however, would bring much greater destruction to the city, and especially its Jewish quarter, when an accidental fire in her kitchen got out of control. Ro Oranim writes:

On the evening of August 19, 1917, [after burning for 32 hours], the flames were finally brought under control, but the damage had been done. Forty-five percent of the population of Thessaloniki, approximately 70,000 people, were left homeless with nothing left to show for their lives . . . other than the smoking embers of the 9,500 homes that had found themselves in the destructive path of the insatiable blaze.

For the Jews of Thessaloniki, the majority population in the city, the devastating rampage of the fire proved catastrophic. Before the fire, the city was considered to be the “Jerusalem of the Balkans,” with a rich, thriving, and educated melting pot of Jews from different countries and cultures who came together to build a new life. Along with the local post offices, banks, and newspaper offices, the local Jewish schools, community centers, the Jewish college, and 32 synagogues were completely destroyed along with the entirety of the archives of the community which held records of a centuries-long history of Jewish presence in Thessaloniki. . . . [Due to the fire], many Jews were forced to emigrate and left their home for Athens, the United States, France, and the Land of Israel in the hopes of starting over. . . .

After previous fires in the city the government had simply allowed for people to rebuild, but after the great fire of 1917, the government decided to use the opportunity to . . . build a fully modernized, Hellenized city from the ashes. As part of the planning process, the government revoked the old rights and deeds to the land and the former owners were [merely] given the opportunity to bid on plots of land at auction. [Thus] the government seriously hindered the ability of the Jewish community to reestablish itself.

On the eve of World War II, Thessaloniki’s Jewish population had declined to 40 percent of the city’s total. Those who had emigrated following the fire, however, proved the most fortunate, as the Nazis would oversee the murder of some 90 percent of those who remained.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.