The right to believe in one’s God in peace, the right to worship one’s God in peace only come when those rights do not impinge on another’s.

In 1947 the United Nations gave birth to a new “Jewish State” alongside a new “Arab State” in what was the British Palestinian Mandate. Jerusalem would be an international protectorate.

But the Arabs said no, and in 1948 attacked the Jewish State that had declared its independence as “Israel”. And they lost that war, blaming the Jews, calling it a “Nakba” (tragedy).

They then prepared to attack again in 1967 and in 1973 did attack. They lost those wars too.

So, Egypt and Jordan made peace with Israel but Egypt did not reclaim its Gaza Strip, and Jordan did not reclaim its West Bank though Israel offered them both back.

Israel then became occupiers of these areas. That’s where we are today. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005. But still, the Palestinians would not make peace.

Throughout this time, Israel allowed religious freedom in both territories. Today, two million Muslims are full Israeli citizens. Many serve in its army. Some are members of Israel’s parliament. The Dome of the Rock is open to Muslim prayer in Jerusalem, as is Bethlehem to Christianity.

On October 7 last year though, Iran through its proxy Hamas attacked Israel again to kill Jews. Hamas’s charter calls for the elimination of all Jews, and also Christians who don’t repent and convert to Islam.

There should be no need to explain the carnage that Hamas caused, the rape and kidnapping, and hostage taking. But Israel hit back hard. Tens of thousands of Iranian-Hamas militias are now dead. And thousands of civilians were lost with them. Many, Hamas’s human shields. That’s why in countries around the world, Hamas is a declared terror organisation. They don’t care about freedom or life.

On taking power in 2007 Hamas killed hundreds of Palestinians, torturing more, for supporting Fatah against them.

I believe that either tomorrow or in the next week, the certain defeat of Hamas in Gaza after the assassination of its chief Ismail Haniyeh in Iran days ago, is about to widen into a massive Middle Eastern war.

Tonight Israel is on alert, many airlines have stopped flying to the region. Iran’s Hezbollah in Lebanon has caused 60,000 Israelis to flee their homes in Northern Israel these past months. The remnants of ISIS in Syria are being re-armed by Iran. The Houthis in Yemen have been firing Iranian rockets and drones at shipping in the Red Sea. All the while the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan have been protecting Israel’s skies.

But huge US forces are massing off Israel’s coast. 4,000 Marines, an entire aircraft carrier battle group. It will draw in Australia, Canada, and NATO. The question is whether Iran is close to building a nuclear warhead? Israel already has them.

A few years ago, the US and Israel sent a computer virus into Iran to destroy its nuclear enrichment centrifuges—and it worked.

But we don’t know what Iran, as the leader of global Islamic terror, is now planning. The fear is that we will see local attacks on synagogues and churches, local acts of violence in actual terror.

Three people have already been beheaded in Spain by terrorists in the past two days. Three children were stabbed to death in England. Synagogues and Jewish schools were torched in Canada. And the Left’s pro-Hamas marches on the streets are now threatening physical crime. 

The difference between war and peace is leadership. My hope is, that as unpalatable as Israel’s Netanyahu is, statesmanship will bring the Saudi sphere of influence into recognition of Israel and isolate Iran to the fringe.

Few Arab countries tolerate Iran. They hate them. And many want the economic certainty of regional peace.

Unfortunately, the language of the Middle East has always been saving face. “An enemy of my enemy is my friend”, the saying goes. It’s amazing there has ever been peace there at all.

© 2024 Adam Parker.

Picture credit: Natanz, site of Iranian uranium enrichment activity. © 2024 Google Earth.