A Perspective on the Current War in Israel

While the war in Israel with Hamas has caused a raging debate in the United States, particularly among the young and university educated, it has failed to produce any truly historic articles on the ideology and long-lived history of the conflict.  Instead of an historically informed debate, we have violent clashes between those uninformed supporters of Islam/Palestinian causes versus uninformed supporters of Israel’s right to exist/traditional support for Judaism/Christianity. The following is a historical review of the beginnings…between Islam and Judaism/Christianity….an attempt to provide a historical perspective to the current war.    

ISRAEL PRIOR TO THE ISLAMIC WORLD

Israel existed as a nation in the Middle East from the 1380s-1340s BC (after their departure from Egypt and arrival in Canaan 40 years later) until 70 AD. This is an abbreviated but historically verifiable timeline (both Biblical and archeological):

+  Based on the Biblical account, Israel entered Egypt 215 years after the Patriarch Abraham first settled in the land of Canaan.  Best estimates are they arrived in Egypt during the rule of Amenemhat III during a recorded great drought (somewhere around 1814 BC) and existed as a free growing Semitic people until around 1525 BC when Pharaoh Amose I (founder of the great 18^th Dynasty) destroyed the Semitic people they referred to as the Hyksos (who occupied/self-ruled much of northern Egypt and are believed by most scholars to be the Hebrews).  Egyptian engraved history claims he drove them from Egypt but there is strong historical evidence he destroyed their ruling center of Avaris (and the Semitic leadership) and most likely enslaved the preponderance of the remaining population. The Bible states that Israel left Egypt under the leadership of Moses after 430 years.  This would mean they departed (after 141 years of slavery) during the rule of Amenhotep III around 1384 BC (Amenhotep was father of second born Akhenaten).  The first-born of Amenhotep, Prince Thutmoses, died mysteriously at a young age.  Akhenaten was the Pharaoh who turned Egypt upside down and established monotheism.  His actions can easily be tied to the chaos caused by the successful departure of Israel during his father’s rule.  

+  14^th century BC.  Israel settles in Canaan after departure from Egypt and 40 years as a nomadic nation.  

+  10^th century BC.  400 years after arrival in Canaan and after the death of Solomon, at the height of the Jewish kingdom, the nation divides into Israel (northern) and Judah (southern) during a civil war.

+  8^th century BC.  The Assyrians, the dominant kingdom in Mesopotamia, destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

+  6^th century BC.  Babylon (after defeating the Assyrians) conquers Judah and destroys Jerusalem and exiles many Jews to their kingdom. Babylon is later defeated by the Medes and Persians around 536/538 BC and the exiled Jews are permitted to return to Israel by the Persian leader Cyrus the Great.

+  5^th to 4^th centuries BC.  Jews are in the land of Israel but under Persian rule.

+  4^th century BC.  Israel falls under Greek rule after Alexander the Great’s defeat of the Persians in 331 BC.

+  4^th to 2^nd centuries BC.  Israel under of Seleucids and Ptolemies (Greek states established by Alexander’s successors).

+  2^nd to 1^st centuries BC.  Israel achieves limited autonomy under the Maccabees for a little over 100 years…but remained at war with the Seleucids the entire period. 

+ 1^st century BC.  The Roman general Pompey conquers Israel, Syria, and Egypt etc…Roman rule begins.  In 37 BC, Herod the Great is made the Roman client king of Israel by Caesar Augustus.  

+  70 AD After a hundred years of tumultuous domination, Jerusalem is destroyed by Titus after a Jewish rebellion.  After Jews again revolted under Hadrian’s rule (132 to 135 AD), Jerusalem is totally leveled…rebuilt as the Roman city of Aelia Capitolina.  All Jews are banned from the city and depopulation of Jews from Judea begins.  Rome settles retired legion soldiers (and others) in Israel/Palestine.  A mixed population develops, with the few remaining Jews and other Semitic inhabitants, and the growing Christian population who remained.  Palestine remains under Roman rule until 614 AD when it was seized by the Persians during a Persian/Roman war. 

IT ALL BEGINS 

Islam had its beginnings with the Prophet Mohammad in the early part of the 7^th century AD.  After his death in 632 AD, the primary guidance for the Islamic faith remained the Quran, the written text that is believed by Islam, to be the revelation from God to Mohammad (created and written by his followers after his death).  While Islam claims religious lineage all the way back to Adam, there is little historic doubt that it was a completely new concept of who God is and what is revealed truth about God (Allah).  What is unique about Islam is that it allows for liberal interpretation of the text in the modern world…particularly when it comes to the issues of Jihad or Holy War and methods of atonement.  In her scholarly study on “Escaping Atonement in Sunni Islam, Death by Jihad for deliverance”, Christine Rinehart (PhD) states,    

“This author has used three different translations of the Quran to write this article. Al-Qurían by Ahmed Ali was published by Princeton University Press in 1993 and portrays Islam as the least warlike of the Quranic translations. The second translation is The Holy Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, a Saudi translation that was published in 1934. This translation portrays Islam as a warrior religion, although it has been banned in some schools in the United States due to its prejudiced statements against Jewish people. The most violent portrayal of Islam referenced in this article comes from The Qurían translated by Muhammad Habib Shakir, which was published in 1993 in Pakistan, although there is some controversy as to whether he did the translation or plagiarized it.”

Unlike the Old Testament Judaic writings and the New Testament Christian scriptures, which seek to be true to the original Hebrew and Greek texts, the Quran is significantly liberally translated based upon the worldview the translator wants to support.  Why is this important?  Because it allows for the supporters of Islamic Holy War to find justification in the Quran for the worldwide war for the Islamic Caliphate and for terrorism by Islamic sects, while still allowing mainstream Islamic nations to disassociate themselves from the violent and less “distasteful” historically documentable proof of Jihad or Holy War.  

WHO STARTED THE WAR BETWEEN ISLAM VS JUDAISM/CHRISTIANITY?

This is a very important question.  To understand, it is important to go back to the 7^th century AD when the war with Islam started immediately after the death of Mohammad.  In 633 AD the assault on Persia by Islamic forces began.  Led initially by Khalid ibn al-Walid, forces of the Islamic Caliphate completed the defeat of Persian forces by 642 AD and Persia was incorporated in the Caliphate by 644 AD.  It needs to be clearly understood that it was not by proselytizing (as Christianity primarily spread through the Roman empire) …everything done by Islamic forces was done at the point of a sword….and I might add was justified by the Quran teachings. It did not stop with Persia…all the Middle East, Egypt, all North Africa, Spain, and Aquitaine were quickly overwhelmed by the early 8^th century.  The following is a timeline of the advance of the Islamic Caliphate:

+  638 the capture of Syria and Middle East to include Palestine.  (Palestine had been under Roman control until 614 when it passed to the Persians after their successful war with Rome/Byzantine Empire).

+  641 the capture of Mesopotamia. 

+  643 capture of Egypt and Barca.

+  644 the final capture of all the old Persian empire and Middle East.

+  697 the capture of Carthage (North Africa).

+  705 the capture of Mauretania and all North Africa.

+  713 the capture of Spain. 

+  732 the capture of Aquitaine (between Spain and France).

At this point the last vestiges of the Roman Empire and Western Civilization were completely surrounded…only opposed in the East by a weakened Byzantine Empire at Constantinople and on the Atlantic by the Franks (the forerunners of Charlemagne’s great empire). (It is also important to note that by this timeframe, the old Roman Empire had been mostly Christianized as a result of Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity and the work of early Christian missionaries).  In 732 armies of the Caliphate crossed the Pyrenes and were marching on Paris.  The die had been cast for one of the most significant battles in the history of Western Civilization.  From 3 to 10 October, 732 at the Battle of Tours, Charles Martel (grandfather of Charlemagne) defeated the armies of Abdurrahman…saving Western Civilization from complete domination.  Martel drove the Islamic Caliphate forces back over the Pyrenes and the battle to liberate Spain began. The following is an abbreviated timeline of that liberation:

+  It took until 1065 AD before Leon was liberated and most of Spain returned to the control of the Christian Holy Roman Empire.  

+  The battle for Spain would rage throughout the Crusade period and not be fully complete until 1492 when Granada was finally liberated from Islamic rule.  

+  One of the reasons that Columbus sailed (1492) was to find a new route to the Orient which would allow for trade with the Oriental empires without having to pass through the Islamic Caliphate.  

THE CRUSADES

The Crusades, often cited by Islam as the beginning of Christian warfare against Islam, were in fact a poor attempt to counterattack against the Islamic Caliphate.  Strategically they were a complete failure…never successful in any long-term resistance to the Islamic world.  To make matters worse, Holy Roman Crusaders sacked Eastern Orthodox Constantinople (capital of the Byzantine Empire) during the fourth crusade thus weaking even more the Byzantine Empire and the southern flank of Western Civilization. The following is an abbreviated timeline of the post -Crusades and the remainder of the late Middle Ages/modern age: 

+ 1261 Constantinople falls to Islam…practical end of the Byzantine (Latin) empire.

+ 1389 1^st Battle of Kosovo.  Serbia falls to the Islamic Caliphate.  Death of Murad during the battle halts the further advance of Islam.  

+ 1389 to 1481 Islamic Ottoman Empire and Murad II invade Venice, Hungary, Bulgaria, retake Constantinople and seize Rhodes.  Continuous warfare in Balkans.  

+ 1492 Islamic forces again invade Italy.

+ 1683 Islamic Ottomans (Kara Mustafa) reach the middle of Europe and siege Vienna (Austria).  They take 30,000 civilian hostages and threaten to kill them all if their siege fails.  This is the high-water mark of the Islamic Caliphate in Europe.  On September 11^th, 1683, a massive Cavalry assault by John Sobieski (German/Polish Holy Roman Empire Army) defeats the Ottomans, frees the hostages, and forces back the Islamic Ottomans.  The 911 (Sept 11^th, 2001) attackers of the US and World Trade Center would use this date for their revenge against Western Civilization.  

TRANSITION FROM EMPIRES TO NATION STATES  

+ 1700s to 1878 Decline of the Ottoman Empire and Islamic Caliphate.  Egypt taken for a short period by Napoleon.  The entire Balkans were freed of Islamic control after successful war by Austro-Hungarians/Russians/Serbians against the Ottoman Empire (Treaty of Berlin 1878).

+ 1877 Turkey established as a semi self-rule nation state.  

+ 1881 French occupy Tunis. 

+ 1882 British occupy Egypt.   

+ 1914 WW I and Turkey sides with Germany…Britain, Russia, Serbia and France declare war on Turkey.  

+ 1915 Battle of Gallipoli.  Turks successfully repel the British amphibious invasion.  Mustafa Kemal (later to be known as Ataturk) distinguishes himself as a Turkish officer. 

+ 1917-18 British forces (operating out of Egypt) completely overwhelm the Turks and capture Palestine and most of the former Ottoman lands in Asia Minor.  Post WW I treaties result in the Sultan of Turkey losing all non-Turkish lands:  

• Syria was mandated to France.
• all Mesopotamia (Persia) and Palestine came under the British Mandate.  Brits divide up the Middle East into nation states.
• Smyrna and Turkish Islands to Greece, Rhodes falls under Italian control etc.  

+ 1919 British complete reorganization of the Middle east into Palestine, Trans Jordan, Iraq etc.  The Balfour Declaration will begin the migration of thousands of Jews back to Palestine.  

+ 1918-1922 Young Turks and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk seize power in Turkey and fight to rebuild the Turkish Empire.  Ataturk will participate/lead in the destruction of Armenia and the Armenian Holocaust (1916-22) that killed 1.5 million Armenian Christians (men, women, and children). Ataturk will seize Smyrna from Greece and kill hundreds of thousands in the process.  

+ 1930s to 1940 Hitler rises to power in Germany and plans the elimination of the Jews. Russian Jews suffer through pogroms under Russians from 1800s to early 20^th century.  Jews attempt to flee Europe but are stopped by refusal of most nations to accept them and British limiting of only 75,000 a year to enter Palestine.  US Sec of State Cordell Hull (even though married to a Jew) works tirelessly to stop any Jews from entering the US (with quiet support from FDR).  He orders all Embassies to not issue visas to Jews. 

+ 1939-1945 WW II Holocaust of 6 million Jews.  Grand Mufti of Jerusalem meets with Hitler in 1943 to beg permission for Islamic Palestinians to enter war with Germany, requests for no more Jews to enter Palestine/solve the Jewish problem.

+ 1947/48 Post WW II Exodus to Palestine of surviving Jews. UN sanctioned division of Palestine and the formation of the nation of Israel.  War began immediately by Islamic forces after the 1948 declaration of the State of Israel…Islamic wars against/with Israel 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 etc. With each of these wars, large numbers of Islamic Palestinians flee their traditional homes in Palestine and settle in Gaza/West Bank/Jordanian migrant camps while Israel gains political control over more and more land in Palestine.  1987 is the date for the beginning of the first Intifada in Israel/Palestine.  The Intifada continues today as the Hamas war against Israel.  

+ 1945-1989 Western Civilizations Cold War with Communism…hot in Korea, Viet Nam/Southeast Asia, Cuba, Central America, Angola, Philippines etc., distracts Western Civilization from the growing power of the Islamic Caliphate.  

+ 1989 Collapse of the Soviet Union and emergence of economically powerful China and an emerging Islamic world.

REEMERGENCE OF THE ISLAMIC CALIPHATE

+ 1979 Iranian revolution and rise of radical Islamic Terrorism:  Rise of Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaida, Taliban, Boko Haram, Houthis, Brotherhood etc.

+ 1983 Beirut bombing of Marines.

+ 1987 Beginning of the Intifada in Israel.

+ 1991 1^st Gulf War against the emerging Caliphate of Saddam Hussein & and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

+ 1993 Gothic Serpent in Somalia and fight against (Al Qaida equipped and trained) Islamic tribes in Somalia.  It results in significant loss of US soldiers on 3 October 1993.

+ 1993 World Trade Center bombing.  

+ 2001 “911” Massive Attack on US on September 11^th by Islamic Terrorists.

+ 2002- present.    War on Terror: OIF, OEF, Syria, Disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan etc.

+ 2010-2012 Arab Spring.  Radical Islamic Terrorists use this to increase power throughout the Middle East.

+ 2023 War on Israel by Hamas…entire Islamic world blaming Western Civilization, Christianity & what they call the “illegitimate nation of Israel”. 

TODAY

It is patently clear that the current war against Israel started by the Hamas on October 7^th (brutal murder of Israeli civilian men, women, and children) is simply an extension of a 1400-year-old war between Christian Western Civilization, the Jews and Israel, and the Islamic Caliphate.  The Palestinian cry “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is nothing more than a continued war by Islam to rid the Middle East of the Jewish state (and eliminate all Jews in the process) with the ultimate goal of confronting Christian Western Civilization once again with a unified Islamic Caliphate.  

Conclusions.  We can only expect the war by Islamic terrorism against the West and Israel to continue….no matter what agreements are reached in diplomatic efforts; total defeat of Israel and the Christian West remains their ultimate goal.   Clearly both the Palestinians and the Jews have legitimate “homeland” claims to the lands in Palestine/Israel.  They have both lived there for 1000s of years.  The problem is that neither will allow for the peaceful existence of the other or treat the other as having claims to the land.  It is a nearly unsolvable problem.  A two-state solution seems to be the only long-term solution.  However, with the current attitudes of both the Islamic Caliphate and Israel…that solution seems distant at best.