All Hell is Breaking Loose in Israel
I fear the 21st Century will be driven by Wars of Religion
As I watch the terrible violence in Israel and Palestine unfold, I am left with the cold fear that in the 21st century the world has turned inexorably towards religious war between Jews, Muslims, and Christians.
All the leading political movements of the 20th century were secular; Marxism, Communism, Capitalism, Secular Humanism, and Social Democracy, all these secular movements worked to separate religion from the state and address social issues in material and not spiritual terms. But these ideologies are now being swept away by a new wave of tribal and religious ideologies that are not interested in tolerance or peace but in the primacy of their views. In America, this includes Christain Nationalism on the political right and the Eco-Marxist-Maoist woke activist left.
Through the 20th century, the Israel debate was framed in secular terms, at least in the West. Israel presented itself as a Social Democracy built on a strong Marxist labor movement with only a veneer of Jewish religious character. Many secular socialist Jews worked hard to establish peace with the Palestinians, even as hard-line religious elements on both sides undermined the negotiations.
Most left-wing criticism of Israel focused on the harsh treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories as opposed to Israel existing as a Jewish state. The Muslim Arab states universally objected to Israel’s existence, but some of the more secular states like Egypt and Jordan were able to make peace deals. Even the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasser Arafat which engaged in decades of terrorist attacks on Israel was primarily organized in secular terms despite having a strong Islamic character.
The historically vicious attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023, tore off any secular veneer to the conflict and has reframed the situation as a life and death struggle for the very existence of Jewish Israel against the potent ideology of Islamic Jihad, Holy War, which has taken hold among the Palestinians.
The Jihadis want to spread Islam all over the world, whether peacefully or through violence. Most Muslims are peaceful, as are most people, but Jihad only needs to take root in a few and this ideology has spread successfully for centuries across Eurasia and Africa where Islam is dominant. Jihadi ideology is immune to the appeals of secular humanism but will definitely inspire Israeli Zionists and Christian Nationalists to take up arms against it.
Say the words Islamic Jihad. Marinate in the words. Meditate on the concept of global Holy War, do not ignore it, get used to it, Christians and Jews also have their radical militants who are ready to fight. This is not a popular topic to discuss in public but we have to now.
In my opinion, Islamic Jihad is now the most important political movement of the 21st century. Ever since the 9/11/2001 Al Qaeda attacks on the USA the Jihadis have driven world events and forced the rest of us to react. They have won a succession of wars against the USA in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, spread mayhem across the Middle East, and waged many brutal massacres in Europe. Russia and China have both worked hard to keep Jihad out of their lands and it is a huge concern for countries around the world.
Islamic Jihad is bigger, more global, more organized, more violent, and a more dangerous ideology than Communism was a century ago. Islamic Jihad is an idea, not an organization and it is very hard to defeat because every time you kill a Jihadi you create a martyr that inspires others to join the cause. They celebrate death and new Jihadi groups like Isis seem to sprout up overnight, inspired by the same rhetoric of Holy War.
It is not racist or Islamaphobic to call out Islamic Jihad as a threat since the Jihadis kill far more Muslims than they ever kill Christians and Jews. The Jihadis are a far bigger threat to secular Muslims than they will ever be to Westerners. I am not racist against anyone, I want all life to thrive, but I am not going to shy away from calling out violent ideologies that want to impose their narrow views on all the world, which is exactly what the Jihadis call for.
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It is no surprise that the Palestinians have radicalized to Jihad since they have been failed by every secular institution in the world. It is not only the Israelis who keep them imprisoned under brutal occupation, it is also the secular Arab countries who use the Palestinians as pawns against Israel. The Gaza Strip has a border with Egypt which they could open but choose not to. Likewise, Jordan shares a border with the West Bank that they refuse to open. Lebanon maintains huge Palestinian refugee camps but won’t let them out to work. The UN has failed the Palestinians. The US has failed them. Europe has failed them. The incompetent and corrupt secular Palestinian Authority has failed them. The Oslo Peace Accords in the 1990s were never bargained in good faith by either side and predictably failed. There have not been serious peace talks in 30 years. This is a collective failure by an entire generation of leadership.
If you are Palestinian then there is only one group that has consistently had your back, that has consistently fought for your cause, your dignity, and your life, and that group is Islamic Jihad, of which Hamas is the Gaza Strip chapter. Jihadi groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, and the Iranian theocracy have been the most instrumental in their material and spiritual support for the Palestinians.
When every secular group has sold you out and left you to rot, but the Jihadis come in and show you a way to fight and win, and are successful, then why wouldn’t you join them? All the Palestinians are radicalized now, just look at how they educate their children in public school to celebrate martyrs and suicide bombers. There is no longer a window for a secular peace deal based on a two-state solution. As far as I can tell, it is now a life and death struggle for the existence of Israel, and the ultimate prize, the Temple Mount, the most contested piece of real estate on the planet.
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This turn toward religious war has already fractured left-wing Democratic-Socialist politics. Jews have been strong supporters of every progressive and socialist cause for the last century. They were among the most dedicated, educated, and generous benefactors of Black civil rights, freedom of speech, feminism, environmentalism, LGBTQ, and socialist causes. On October 1, 2023, those bonds of solidarity across the left were solidly intact, but one month later those bonds are shattered.
Left-wing activists in street protests and on college campuses cheered on Hamas’ murderous attacks of October 6 as righteous and justified anti-colonialist struggle. The Jews are understandably horrified that yesterday’s friends now chant antisemitic Jihadi ideologies like, “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free!” If you are a liberal, left-leaning, peace-wanting, pro-Israel Zionist Jew you now find yourself in a difficult and terrifying position.
The left is splintering, Democrats in Congress are harshly divided over the war in Gaza while the DSA, Democratic Socialists of America, the biggest left-wing organization in the USA outside the Democrat Party is coming apart at the seams.
President Joe Biden’s unequivocal support for Israel will likely have massive political blowback since he was never popular with the hard-left to begin with. They had to be convinced to vote for him the first time but they probably won’t come back now and he will likely lose next year’s election.
The Christian Nationalist Right is rallying behind Israel and gaining steam, a hard-line Evangelical Christian, Mike Johnson, has just become Speaker of the House, the 3rd most powerful politician in the USA. The Christian Right has already been gearing up for a revolt against the Liberals, the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol were a preview. But with the Democrats fracturing the right-wing Republicans might just sweep to victory in next year’s elections without even needing a revolution.
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In the last couple of days, we have seen murderous threats of Jews on American Ivy League campuses like my alma mater Cornell. And a mob of angry Muslims overrunning an airport in Dagestan, Russia looking for any Jews they could find. Antisemitic abuse is being hurled at Jews across the USA and Europe and they are justifiably worried considering their long history as victims of pogroms and genocide.
Do you think the Jews are just going to sit back and take it? Are the Jews going to run and hide or are they going to fight for their lives? I am certain that they will fight.
This is the third nation of Israel and it just turned 75 years old. Both the first two Israels, the Biblical Kingdom of David and Solomon, and the Roman-era Hasmonean Kingdom only survived around 80 years. There is no guarantee that the current nation of Israel survives past 80 either. Islamic Jihad is intent on destroying Israel, the Jews are intent on surviving, and the Christian Evangelicals see this as the final battle before the second coming of Jesus Christ.
We are facing an apocalyptic showdown between the three Abrahamic faiths who all believe their depiction of the Biblical God is the only correct one and all their enemies must be destroyed. A dramatic move on the Temple Mount by radicals (of any stripe) is almost certain now.
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As traditional political coalitions fracture, it is those with coherent ideologies that will emerge and the biggest ideology in the USA is Christianity. Without even blinking the Christians are promising full military, financial, and emotional support for Israel in their battle to survive. You hear this message from preachers and politicians alike. The Christians and the Jews will go to war together against the Muslims and I believe this will be a major driving force in 21st-century history. Meanwhile, the Marxist-Socialist left will find itself politically isolated and out of step with most of the USA which will support Israel.
So where does the multicultural, ecumenical, peaceful, eco-feminist, LGBTQ-friendly person go after all their Marxist coalitions have been smashed and rendered obsolete? In a war with Christians and Jews on one side fighting against Muslims on the other, it might not feel like you have a side.
Personally, I support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state amidst a sea of Islamic nations, even though I recognize that the Israelis fucked up badly, and perhaps fatally, by not resolving the Palestinian issue years ago before it metastasized into the cancer it is now.
The big winner in these bloody wars of religion will be Kali. She delights in slaughter and bathes in the blood of the guilty and innocent alike. Kali is, of course, the Mother Goddess in her angry form, when she cleanses the land of iniquity and prepares it for rebirth. When Kali is finally satiated she will calm down and revert to the protective and nurturing Mother who wants all her children to thrive, but only after her terrible work is done.
Perhaps it is time we move beyond religion of the Father and return to religion of our Mother, as she has much to teach us about how to live in peace with each other in an ecological civilization.
Do you feel this millennia long war is rooted in the battle of monotheism over polytheism? or the fight of the father god vs the mother goddess (as you mentioned)? So many other places in the world managed to end long lasting war. But this region where most of the conquest of old gods vs new gods, idols vs idols took place - seems like there are so many layers of ancient revenge. Maybe this is why it came back to be a religious war, because destroying each other temples back then is a deeply rooted pain that just evolved over the years into the 3 big religions, but is actually that old wound