On February 9, 2024, Imam Sheikh Abdul Salam Zoud at the Masjid As-Sunnah Lakemba in Sydney, Australia, made the following live-streamed pronouncement:
"There is no solution other than Jihad which continues until Judgement Day. The Prophet Muhammad, the Righteous Caliphs – none of them conquered the world by peaceful means. They conquered it through Jihad. The goal of Jihad for the sake of Allah is not to kill people and take over their lands. Rather, the goal of Jihad is to remove obstacles before the spreading and rule of Islam."
The Imam's statement might come across as a bit disingenuous. Although it appears to publicly eschew the elimination of unbelievers (infidels) – meaning those who do not embrace jihad, including Jews, Christians, and devotees of all other religions – he explains that "conquering the world" is not possible other than through jihad. He describes this action as "removing obstacles," a euphemism for the destruction of those opposed to establishment of a global Islamist Caliphate, a 'nizam Islami' (Islamic order), ruled through totalitarian Sharia law. This even includes the distant nations of Australia and New Zealand, where radical Islamists wish to share their gift of Allah, by force if necessary, with the entire planet.
The exposure of jihadists' far-reaching desires is evident from the October 10th, 2023, unruly Sydney Harbour demonstration in favour of the jihadist group, Hamas, during which Israel – and Jews – were vilified, threatened with death and destruction, without recourse of any kind. The demonstration is reflected the Imam's conviction, above, that, "these people only understand the language of force." For extremists, religion appears to be much of their motivating factor as the Imam went on to explain:
"This is the purpose of fighting and waging Jihad against the enemies of Islam – to fend off their evil from the religion of Islam, and to defend Allah's religion, which was created to reign supreme over all other religions..."
This wish by many Islamists for the global supremacy of their religion through holy war could not have been made much clearer. Denial of reality by political and social leaders will, without doubt, result in increased turmoil to that already experienced by societies in France, the UK, Germany, Sweden, and other European nations, not to overlook the USA. In this mode, and given the generally pleasant, easy-going, but sometimes lackadaisical attitude of those far away in the southern reaches of the lower hemisphere, a major awakening is also required. Not only are Jews under threat, but Christians and all "unbelievers" in the radical jihadist agenda as well.
The devastating attack on innocent civilians, particularly young girls, women, children, and babies, in Israel on October 7, 2023, brought international attention to jihad and the Islamist plan of seeking an "end of days" Caliphate. Although an "ostrich" mentality towards these genocidal objectives prevails among Western decision-makers, the reality is quite different: The driving ideology behind Hamas's murderous intent is exemplified by the "Doomsday Clock" located in Palestine Square, Tehran, Iran. Inaugurated by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2017, the clock counts down the time towards Israel's anticipated destruction in 2040, sixteen years from now. Iran's barrage of missiles and drones launched at Israel on April 13, 2024, was presumably another step toward fulfilling that destructive intent.
Iran, as well as its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and terror proxies of Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others -- are actors in the frontline of the intended annihilation of the Jewish people first, then all other unbelievers. Even though Iran remains essentially responsible for the actions of its agents, it has yet to suffer any consequences despite its direct attack on Israel on April 13-14. All the while, taking full advantage of US appeasement and unencumbered by meaningful sanctions, Iran races ahead with development of nuclear weapons for the sole purpose of eliminating Israel and, thereafter Jordan and ultimately the "Great Satan," the United States from the world map.
On April 1, 2024, Abolfazl Bazargan, an Iranian international relations expert, made it clear, with a straight face, that "...for the purpose of bringing about peace - you have to create nuclear deterrence, even if only one (bomb)." Peace, however, seems to mean "after jihad has obliterated all opposition and established an Islamic Caliphate." This objective is couched in rational terms to appease West powers, the sympathetic world leaders, who might be persuaded that it is fair and right that Iran possess a nuclear weapon just as Israel, the US, UK, North Korea, and other nations possess such weapons. The underlying jihadist ideology of world hegemony is concealed under a veneer of rationalism, social justice, victimhood, and fairness.
There has been a serious escalation in Iran's nuclear weapons program, according to a February 2024, report from Washington's Institute for Science and International Security. The Institute monitors Iranian progress in this field through a virtual "Iran Threat Geiger Counter," which presently indicates a level described as "Extreme Danger." This category is explained as a "national security threat typically posed by a combination of hostile intentions and capabilities." Revealingly, the former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali-Akbar Salehi, admitted on February 11, 2024, that "Iran has crossed all scientific and technological thresholds necessary for producing a nuclear bomb."
Added to the concern of all nations is the exposure by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on February 26, 2024, that Iran is in the process of constructing a nuclear facility hitherto unknown to the West. Such secretive actions are usually accompanied by reprehensible motives.
In the interim, the West watches, seditiously lacking the will to act. Perhaps they plan, as then US President Barack Obama did, that any nuclear breakout at least would not happen "on my watch." Iran has long displayed its malevolent intent against "enemies of Islam" -- in particular the "Little Satan," Israel, and the "Great Satan," the United States. Iran's influential solicitations reach Russia, supplying it with lethal weapons and adding greatly to the possibility of a defeated Ukraine, a country bordering much of Europe. Even so, Western nations, these reputed bastions of a fine civilization, remain largely paralysed by fear, lack of serious preparation, and indecision over the calamity about to descend upon them.
Generally overlooked is the importance of examining the historical background of jihadist animus and its destructive aims against Western nations, particularly Israel and the US. Hamas's Charter of 1988 reflects Islamist theory for the last 1,400 years, and states that Muslims alone are permitted to occupy and rule all of "Palestine." Hence, all infidels, non-believers, have no right of occupation and are to be expelled. The charter (Articles 7-15), reveals the apocalyptic endgame of Islamism, paraphrased by James Turner Johnson as follows:
"The goal of eliminating the Zionist entity and all who support it requires the death of all Jews and when this is accomplished the end of history, the final Day of Judgement, will arrive then the whole earth shall be Muslim for eternity."
The charter's dictates are visible for all to see, along with the multi-front assault by Iran's proxies on Israel, US forces in Iraq and Syria, and global shipping traversing the Red Sea area. The current conflagration between Israel and Hamas over Gaza is therefore only one step amongst many leading towards a comprehensive global war for creation of an Islamist Caliphate, regulated by Sharia law. Followers of the Islamic State (ISIS) aim towards a Caliphate their own way, as do other extremist groups like Al-Qaeda.
On April 3, 2024, analyst Ayelet Savyon proposed that Iran's grand plan was to bring "down the regime in Jordan and to attack Israel from the east while Israel is kept busy by Iran-backed resistance forces in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza." The purpose, she explained, is to frustrate the "Saudi-American project of normalization with Israel," after the expulsion of US forces from Iraq and the "undermining of the Saudi kingdom and Egyptian regime." This strategy, emphasizes Savyon, is how "Iran actualizes its vision of the Islamic revolution," which in turn will establish the Caliphate. While Israeli forces engage malevolent actors in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and Iran, it is clear that the next imminent step is jihadist domination of Jordan. With its substantial Palestinian population, Jordon is particularly susceptible to a hard-line Islamic revolution.
It is significant to note that Hamas, and disparate fundamentalist players, emanate from ideological influence of the covert Muslim Brotherhood movement – a multi-faceted entity like the multi-headed Hydra, the mythical beast of Heraclean fame. Founded in Egypt in 1928, and today enjoying support of Qatar, Iran, and Turkey -- but banned in pro-Western Muslim States such as the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, where it is classified as a terror organization -- the Brotherhood's ultimate agenda is the creation of a paradisical Caliphate under Sharia law.
The Brotherhood reportedly believe that the Caliph himself, regarded as a messianic religious-political figure and disciplic successor to the prophet Mohammed, will be supreme ruler of the entire Muslim world. It is from these teachings that Hamas draws its ideological underpinnings, not to minimise the allure of money, influence and power. There may even be -- if there is not a fight to the finish -- a convergence of Sunni and Shiite jihadist ideology for the purposes of establishing the Caliphate, upon demise of the enemies of Islam. This event, albeit remote, looks possible from Sunni-Shiite cooperation as evident in Shiite Iran's support for both Sunni Hamas and Shiite Hezbollah, jointly seeking eradication of Israel and the US, as do all splinter terror groups whatever their affiliation.
The jihadist movements, therefore, claim to have as their core reason for being that of a religious purpose whereby Islam is the sole true faith – one that is destined to dominate the world. It follows that those who dispute this view are regarded as infidels, worthy of death. Of particular focus are the Jews, described in an April 2002 sermon by the highest ranking cleric in the Sunni Muslim world, Al-Azhar Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, as "the enemies of Allah... the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the violators of pacts and agreements, the murderers of the prophets, and the offspring of apes and pigs."
Tantawi was simply repeating certain verses from the Quran (2:65; 5:60; 7:166). Prominent Shiite clerics hold the same opinion. Quranic commentators apply this description to Christians as well as Jews. For well over 1,000 years, Islamic clerics have taught this worldview to countless generations of students and, as a consequence, it has long been ingrained in the Muslim psyche.
In February 2024, an expert on Islamism, Idit Bar, noted:
"Israelis often underestimate the religious sentiment in Muslim societies. Mainstream Israeli society is Western-oriented, rationalistic, and generally not religious, so for us, it's hard to understand.
"Many Muslims are driven by a messianic ideology, an apocalyptic vision that Israel will eventually be vanquished by Islam. Many believe it's imminent — think of the clock in a Tehran square counting down the days to Israel's destruction.
"We Israelis find that ludicrous, but for many Muslims it's a certainty. The same goes for the belief that Jews are the descendants of 'apes and pigs,' based on a curse that Allah pronounced against them according to three Quranic verses.
"It's a belief that goes a long way in explaining the dehumanization of the Jews: It's much easier to brutalize and slaughter, the way Hamas did on October 7, if you think that Jews are apes and pigs. In our rational Western way of thinking, all of this is unfathomable."
Rationality, as history indicates, is not relevant when confronting fanatical religious fervour. In his seminal text of 1996, The Clash of Civilizations, Samuel Huntington wrote :
"So long as Islam remains Islam (which it will) and the West remains the West (which is more dubious), this fundamental conflict between two great civilizations and ways of life will continue to define their relations in the future even as it has defined them for the past fourteen centuries."
Here, Huntington emphasized a deep cultural and religious identity chasm as the basic cause of discord. This is ironically exacerbated by a commonality between them, between the Judeo-Christian and Islamist faith systems in their understanding of time as linear and finite, leading inexorably to an apocalyptic event at the "end of days." In both instances the advance of a messianic age is dependent upon certain factors. In radical Islam, it is the establishment of the Caliphate, which can only occur upon the eradication of Jews and Christians from the region. For Christians and Jews, the advent of "the time of Jacob's troubles" is heralded by the very same "storm of the Lord." In both faiths, the long-awaited apocalyptic process has been inaugurated, whether this is fully grasped or not. This agenda is no secret, as Iran quite openly "depicts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a religious one – Islam vs Judaism – and thus presents its particular aim of eliminating Israel as pan-Islamic."
As Israel battles for survival against Islamist radicals on many fronts, leaders of the US, the world's guarantor of liberty and democracy, play political games with providing Israel urgently needed military support, thereby emboldening Israel's adversaries and compromising its war effort. To add to Israel's woes, the US seeks to micro-manage its war strategy while ignoring the reality taking place daily on the battlefield. It was the British political commentator Douglas Murray who, in October 2023, suggested:
"Israel seems to be the only country in the world never allowed to win a conflict. It is allowed to fight a conflict to a draw, but rarely to a win. Which is one reason why the wars keep occurring."
Refusing to directly confront Iran as the source of Middle Eastern terror amounts to a form of appeasement. It was an attitude of pusillanimous appeasement by UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Nazi Germany in 1938, with the Munich Agreement, that directly resulted in Hitler's unrestrained march on neighbouring countries, thus inaugurating WW2. In like mode, US President Joe Biden's acolytes now appease Iran's Ayatollahs, an approach that commenced under President Barack Obama. Once again, the consequences for the West and the world at large will be horrendous.
Israel is "burning" and the West itself will soon experience great internal mayhem from the millions of radical Islamists in its midst. The US can expect vehement instances of jihad from the myriad of Palestinian supporters residing there. An article in the Wall Street Journal of February 2, 2024, headed, "Welcome to Dearborn, America's Jihadist Capital," observed that "Imams and politicians in the Michigan city side with Hamas against Israel, and with Iran against America." With Dearborn's Muslim Mayor leading the way, thousands of activists marched in support of terrorists of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran while chanting "America is a terrorist state" and "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." Iran's strategy in planting covert agents within US borders has been ominously successful.
The same conclusion applies even more so to Europe, Scandinavia, and the UK, with frequent mass protests on the same basis. In an interview on February 4, 2024, Douglas Murray commented on the opposition by Islamist fanatics to his anticipated appearance at a London venue – which was cancelled after threats to staff, and relocated -- by lamenting:
"I don't recognise Britain anymore. It's filled with Islamists parading around the streets, praising terrorists and with cowards in all positions of public life. When a threat is enough to cause such fear amongst staff members that they refuse to show up for work, we all have a very big problem."
Iran and Russia, together with China and North Korea, comprise an axis of evil insofar as the West is concerned. These pretenders seek a new world order, one reflecting their revolutionary and totalitarian ideals. To bring that about, the US as foremost global power needs to be weakened. This view might explain the hostility against the West's allies, such as Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. Australia and New Zealand are likewise considered part of the Western alliance and will not escape involvement despite their remoteness from the Middle East. In the result, a multi-front war scenario can be anticipated -- but one which Western powers might be unable to successfully contain due to their present state of unpreparedness. Iran, with its underlying agenda of a Sharia Caliphate, is the instigator of world revolution, commencing in the Middle East. In the interim, Iran, in the conflagration of world discord, appears to be racing toward its nuclear opportunity for world domination.
As the possibility of another world war rapidly escalates, coupled to internal social unrest, the prognosis for peace deteriorates. Refusing to directly confront Iran as the source of Middle Eastern terror -- and instead rely on diplomatic "conflict resolution" that enables Iran to buy time -- amounts to a form of appeasement. At this time, preparation for war is the best deterrence, especially in the current circumstances of a misguided faith in "talking." It was described in an earlier context by Winston Churchill, referring to the pivotal 1940 Battle of Britain: "The odds were great, our margins small; the stakes infinite."
Finally, the sombre statement on January 14, 2024, by President Isaac Herzog of Israel, as representative of the liberal democratic order in the Middle East, captures the dangerous situation ahead for all Western nations, especially the canary-in-the-coalmine, Israel:
"Despite the challenges ahead, I have no doubt that we will emerge from the shadows of this conflict stronger and more determined than ever. Together, as one nation, we will overcome the darkness, rise from the ashes, rebuild, replant, sow, affix mezuzahs on homes, turn each and every hell into a paradise, as we have always done... The spirit of the people of Israel will always overcome. This time too, our spirit will prevail."
Leaders of all Western nations, extending from Norway and Canada in the north to New Zealand and Australia in the south, need to emulate Israel's resolve for the sake of their peace-loving citizens, for the sake of their liberal democratic values and freedoms, and the future of their nations.
Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A lawyer by profession, he is member of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Retired from law, his particular field of interest is political theory interconnected with current events. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology (Apologetics). Dr. Haug is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.' His work has appeared in First Things Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute, Jewish News Syndicate, Israel Hayom, and others.
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