> Islam had been at war with the Jewish people since its defining inception in 627 when Mohammad exterminated the Jews of Mecca and launched the Islamic conquest that swept north and subsumed Syria-Palestina. For centuries, Jews and Christians in Arab lands were allowed to exist as dhimmis, second-class citizens with limited religious rights. These restrictions were enforced by the Turks who, until World War I, ruled the geographically undetermined region known as Palestine, which included Jerusalem.
Seems quite pre-“colonialization”, assuming we count the establishment of the current state Israel in the 20th century as the startng point for that.
Edwin Black is usually quite good so I’m disappointed in him here for focusing on the Banu Qurayza and ignoring the Banu Qaynuqa (and furthermore conflating Mecca with Medina)
If you feel you need to go back that far it's perhaps a good idea to compare the way Jews and Christians were treated in Muslim countries with the way Jews were treated in Europe.
