Is Israel fated to eternal war over its protection and existence? Sadly, the answer is yes. This is the cold, harsh truth and indeed, the only truth. The sooner Israel understands and accepts this, it will better be able to address its security concerns.
In this paper, I would like to discuss this axiom on three levels: religious, national and historic.
On a religious level, the hostility towards Israel in all its forms and manifestations in the Middle East falls under the umbrella of a war of religion. The end goal of the Islamic religious war is the establishment of world-wide rule of Islam. This fight comprises two parts: “Dar Al-Islam” (house of Islam) and “Dar Al-Harb” (house of sword). Dar Al-Islam refers to the regions held or conquered in the past by Islam, whereas Dar Al-Harb pertains to those regions that have not yet been taken over by Islam. According to Islam, one of the duties of the observant Muslim is to liberate the Dal Al-Islam areas that are controlled by non-Muslims (heretics or others). Israel, having been for a certain period under Islam rule, must be “liberated” and returned to Muslim control, as the per Dar Al-Islam doctrine.
Furthermore, Muslims buck against the very idea of being under the rule of Jews, and living as a minority under Jewish rule in the State of Israel is an insult added to the injury that is the Jewish control over the many biblical Jewish heritage sites across Israel that throughout history have taken on religious significance to Islam, such as the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Put all this together in one small land and you have all the ingredients for a holy Jihad. It was not incidental that Hamas dubbed the October 7 massacre “The Al-Aqsa flood” – all Muslim believers, whether Shia or Suni , subscribe to the principles above mentioned. This is also the reason why Muslims around the world – Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and more – closely follow what is happening in Israel, and are even mobilizing to send forces to join their Muslim brethren in the current war. Any expectation that this would – and indeed could – change, is absurd and has no leg to stand on.
Peace with Egypt – Why is the Egyptian army building up its forces?
Some may wonder how, then, in light of the Dar Al-Islam and the pan-Islamic solidarity could Egypt and Jordan sign a peace agreement with Israel. This is explained by the approach in Islam that commands Muslims to follow in the footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad, who preached that peace with an enemy is acceptable when a Muslim is in a disadvantage, but once the Muslim is strong enough to uphold the Islam rules of war the agreement may be broken. When understanding this way of thought, who can guarantee that these peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan will last for long? Over the recent years, the Egyptian army has been undergoing a rapid and significant buildup of force, including the construction of infrastructures under the Suez Canal and in the Sinai Peninsula on the border with Israel. It is true that Egypt has its own threats and conflicts within the African continent (Libya, Sudan and Ethiopia), but these conflicts are not on a scale that could justify this buildup of force. Why, then, are the Egyptians doing this? Isreal has a track record of warm relations with Muslim states that have soured and turned hostile – Iran and Turkey to name but two. Is there really anyone who truly believes that the same cannot happen with Egypt?
The State of Israel was established on the territories of a decaying Ottoman empire. At the time, the territory was considered part of what was called the Greater-Syria region, as were the territories of Jordan and Lebanon. Modern Syria has never disguised its ambition to regain control over Lebanon – a state that was artificially created in the 20th century by the French and British mandates over territories in the Middle East. The same is true of Jordan, that continues to exist in the past decades thanks to Israel’s close attention. Can we truly say that Syria had gave up its desire to regain control of the Land of Israel?
A Palestinian state has never existed, and inasmuch as it depends on Israel – one will never come to be. The October 7 massacre helped many understand this. Furthermore, all public opinion polls taken in the past year among the Judea and Samaria Arabs show that the overwhelming majority would commit such a massacre of Jews if given the opportunity. It takes a great degree of naiveté to believe that there would come a time when the entire Arab population from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea would forsake their collective aspirations to be the sole lords of the entirety of the Land of Israel.
Moving on to the historical level. Several years ago I spent the day with my children at an amusement park in the Netherlands. Looking around and seeing all the happy faces of the children, I thought to myself how wonderful it must be to be able to live life without being under constant threat. However, this, apparently, is not the lot of generations of Jewish children. History shows time and time again, that no matter where Jews live there will always be those who persecute them, whether for religious causes, xenophobia or – mostly- pure antisemitism. Anyone with even a general knowledge of history cannot but acknowledge this simple yet sad fact. Whether Jews staunchly uphold their religious believes and traditions or try as they might to assimilate into the society they live, whether we live in Europe, America or Israel – this is the truth. Do the images from university campuses across the United States leave any doubt that this is not something that will change in the foreseeable future?
I do not know of one Jew who does not wish to live a peaceful threat-free life; I do not know of any Jew who lives in a place that allows this. To put it succinctly, nothing has really changed since founder of the Revisionist Zionist movement Zeev Jabotinsky wrote in his seminal essay “About the Iron Wall” from 1923, that we can live in the State of Israel only through military might that would deter Israel’s enemies from without and within.
And those of us who still choose to leave Israel and try their luck elsewhere, all we can do is wish them the best of luck and remind them that the State of Israel will always be here to welcome them back when the next pogrom sends them back home.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the movement
