Arab leaders frequently invoke the name of Allah in their ceaseless quest to gain control of the Land of Israel. Even if they have murder in their hearts, their appeal to Allah sanctifies the Name of God. It thereby furthers the Arab cause vis-à-vis Israel, whose leaders are unabashed secularists, not to say practical atheists.

These words may disturb some readers, but they go to the heart of the Arab-Jewish conflict. They also underlie the failure of secular as well as religious critics of the “peace process” to have any discernible effect on Israel’s government-sponsored death march.

How Arabs win by invoking their idea of God

No one can deny the Arabs have made enormous gains since Anwar Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem in November 1977. Recall his speech in the Knesset, a speech broadcast to countless millions of people around the world. In the first ten sentences of that speech Sadat intoned the name of “God” ten times!

Wonder of wonders, without firing a shot, Egypt recovered the Sinai with its Alma oil fields and sophisticated air bases. A $17 billion infrastructure, which Jews developed, Egypt obtained in exchange for what Sadat scornfully called “a piece of paper.”¹

Israel, its neighbors, and disputed territories. Graphic: Central Intelligence Agency

And when Yasser Arafat triumphantly marched into Gaza and spoke of the ultimate aims of the “Palestinians,” he, too, invoked he name of “God” on behalf of the Arab cause. Behold the result: The Arabs now control Gaza and are on the way to gaining control of Judea and Samaria!

Turn, now, to the late King Hussein of Jordan. Again and again Hussein intoned the name of “God” while calling for “peace and justice,” whether he was speaking from Amman or from Washington. Lo and behold, in October 1994 he signed a peace treaty with Israel. For this the godless government of Yitzhak Rabin rewarded him with 330 square kilometers of Jewish land! Yet the religious parties supported that treaty!

Arabs, inspired by “Allah” and confident in the justice of their cause, advance. Jews longing for peace and silent about God only retreat. Let us first try to understand the Arab advance and the Jewish retreat in psychological terms.

Why Jews lose

Because Jews clamor only for peace, they make no serious demands on Arabs. Indeed, Israeli governments are ever making unilateral concessions. This can only arouse Arab contempt and encourage them to make more demands, however outrageous. But the Arabs are predisposed to make demands if only because they demand “peace and justice.”

Now justice involves a relation between persons and things. In the present context, the persons are Arabs and Jews, while the things consist of land. Arab leaders vow they will not be satisfied until they possess all the Land of Israel; the Jews settle for a mere strip of this land. The asymmetry is striking.

The Arab’s maximalist attitude, parading in terms of justice, precludes justice. So does the Jewish attitude, which is silent about justice. The Jews are also silent about Divine Justice, according to which the entire Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People. The Jews want only peace, for which they are willing to give Arabs land. But peace, unlike land, is not a tangible thing. Justice in these terms is not possible. Only Divine Justice is possible, but this exalted idea does not animate Israel’s godless leaders.

Nevertheless, godless Jews have been desperately seeking a common ground with their Arab enemies. The Jews would like to believe that Arabs, like themselves, fear violent death, hence war. But Arab suicide-bombers tell a different story: they believe in paradise. Godless Jews do not, another asymmetry. As for religious Jews, they cling to life under the concept of “pekuach nefesh.” So how can Jews, by yielding land, purchase peace from Arabs who love war and even death in the name of “Allah”?

Ready to try calling to God?

God has given the Jews “good” enemies! For this enemy serves but one world-historical purpose, which is to render obvious the ineptitude and failure of the godless State of Israel and the necessity of reconstructing it on new grounds. That’s why I have so often called for regime change by means of a simple formula. Make Israel’s political institutions more democratic by Jewish means, and more Jewish by democratic means!

This will increase the influence of Jewish convictions on public policy and thus magnify the influence of the Torah on statecraft.☼

Editor’s note: