People sing during a community solidarity gathering for Israel hosted by the Jewish United Fund of Chicago on Oct. 10, 2023, outside North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) At the first reports of a massacre of Israeli civilians, I shuddered, fearing the worst was yet to come. Sadly, I was right. Before sundown on Oct. 7, Israel was being blamed for Hamas’ killings, mutilations and kidnappings of Israeli civilians. As a historian, I know only too well the common denominator of thousands of years of my people’s experience: Jews are blamed for whatever calamity humanity suffers. That...