Un-Holy Holy War

(Un-Holy Holy War)

The Near East lies at the confluence of three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is no accident then that the entire history of the region has been one of conflict. The cross-roads pf the worlds is here and here it has a stop light. Empires have risen and fell. And then there is religion. All three monotheistic Faiths trace a lineage to Abraham, a somewhat mytho-historical figure who originated from Mesopotamia, Ur to be precise. On the "suggestion" of God, Abraham migrated, with his family to Caanan. It was there that his offspring, two sons, Issac, whom Abraham was told to sacrifice on Mount Moriah, the peak of which is now under the Dome of the Rock. Issac was reprieved at the last minute. Abraham's other son was Ishmael. Issac went on to be the father of the Hebrews and in time. Jews. Ishmeal was the progenitor of Arabs, and, in the Eighth Century, Mohammad received the Revelation. of God (Allah) and that was the beginning of Islam. Then Jesus was Crucified, and emerged three days later and the mosaic was complete.

All three Faiths believe in God but the problem has always the interpretation of those beliefs. Among the more extreme factions has been the belief that there can be peaceful co-coexistence with the other religions. Infidels, non-believers, must be exterminated in a violent process called jihad. This has been the guiding behavior of Hamas, and every other terror group in history. As IDF operations in Gaza intensify and as a ground incursion remains imminent, Hamas's destruction will be a signal that the habitual tolerance of the West is at an end.

That sentiment if far from universal however. Israel is alone in more ways than one. Remarkably, there have been pro-Hamas demonstrations. The slaughter of innocents and the elderly, the kidnapping of dozens of others into Gaza confines, do not seem to be moving what amounts to pro-Palestinian sympathies. It is a combination of anti semitic and anti-Zionist feelings that are motivating these varying protests.

That being said, neither side can claim the high ground and blood has been spilled in quantity over the centuries. The attempts to originally to contain the Muslim surge, the Crusades, and the list is endless. In 1948, the U.N., because the Holocaust was allowed to happen when the West was fully aware and did nothing. It was decided that Palestine would be partitioned into Jewish and Arab sectors. Over the years, those areas that had been assigned to the Palestinians were conquered and that had included Sinai, Gaza, and the Golan Heights, bordering Syria.

Hamas had made itself the authority in Gaza and it was waging a low intensity conflict. That changes last Saturday with the Hamas invasion. The terror group wanted to inflict terror and the images of the horror inflicted were by design. Those de-capitated babies, in in-discriminant killings of families and the most vulnerable, the taking of hostages were all intended to have the shock value now being witnessed.

Now it is the turn of the Israeli Defense Force and the impending ground attack that is said to engage Hamas fighters in a battle of annihilation. How ever long that takes because the alternative is to leave things in limbo where one might have to do this all over again. That being said, Hamas is a local problem. The money shot will come when Iran's role has been determined, and then what to do about it ?