The Hamas al-Aqsa Flood, a violent invasion by Palestinian Gazans of all ages and genders, occurred with the intent of massacring, burning, raping, looting, and abducting Israeli civilians. This invasion, which targeted Israeli babies, children, women, and elderly, is celebrated by Palestinians as a day of pride.
The aftermath of the invasion, which prompted Israel’s counterattack into the densely populated and weapon-and-tunnel-infested Gaza Strip, has led to a surge in antisemitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric and hate crimes in the Western world. This has created a new challenge for Western statesmanship.
The chilling chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” which has echoed in the streets from Sydney to London and down to small-town USA, represents a turning point in the history of Western society. This chant, which envisions the destruction of democratic Israel and its Jewish and Muslim inhabitants, has been met with equivocation by Western governments.
Despite the evidence of the invasion’s criminal intent and actions, many Western governments continue to advocate for a two-state solution, which would involve the creation of a yet-to-be-founded, non-democratic Palestinian state bordering Israel. This vision is based on the assumption that Israel will finally be accepted as a legitimate Jewish state by the Palestinians, that a Palestinian state will be economically and socially sustainable, and that the agreement will be accepted by the world. However, the Hamas invasion has demonstrated that these assumptions are flawed, and a two-state solution is no longer tenable.
The war against Hamas and the contrasting perceptions of it between the West and Israel, occurring alongside the political and military strengthening of the Russia-China-Iran axis, indicate that a global turning point is imminent. Understanding the conflict’s driving forces is crucial, as the last months have exposed the underlying motives of the Palestinians and their Western supporters.
The genocidal “River-to-the-Sea” call, while not fully understood by many Westerners, is nothing new for Muslims educated in the region between Pakistan and Morocco. In many Muslim countries and even in Western academic journals, the State of Israel is unrecognized. This call signifies the deep-seated influence of Islamic culture in non-Islamic populations of the West.
The cancel culture in social media further paralyzes those who empathize with both sides of the conflict. This new social landscape, influenced by “woke” ideology, is challenging Western leadership’s ability to effectively address Islamic expansion and violence.
The Palestinian resistance narrative and the preservation of the UNWRA refugee status demonstrate that a solution to the conflict can only be reached when the descendants of the refugees are allowed to become Israeli residents and areas designated for a Palestinian state are cleared of Jews. However, this scenario is absurd and unacceptable to both the Palestinians and most Islamic countries.
The tailored conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is designed to weaken Israel and deplete its international support due to its moral obligations to abide by international law. The Palestinian-Israeli, Arab-Israeli, and Islam-West conflicts appear inevitable.
To turn the tide, Western governments must abandon wishful thinking and adopt bold approaches that confront the inner motives of the conflict’s players. They must provide new and previously unaccepted opportunities for Palestinian autonomous existence in Judea and Samaria and the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip, but only on the condition that the Palestinians abandon their terror culture.
Palestinians should be allowed the basic human right to emigrate to Arab and Western countries to pursue better lives. Israel should assist in this effort, such as by unifying families and granting citizenship to its original Arab residents of East Jerusalem, upon their acceptance of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.
Coalition forces must subdue non-state actors like the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Iranian strategic assets. This will allow Gulf-oriented Arab countries to continue their cooperation with Israel, leading to improved human rights in these countries and potentially undermining hardline Islamic regimes in the Middle East and the West.
This axis of development will strengthen Western cooperation in the Middle East and against emerging threats from Asian coalitions. However, if Western academia, policy institutes, and governments fail to address these issues and continue to focus on internal matters, a wave of violence potentially surpassing the Holocaust may become imminent.
