Boteach:
IS is a group of creatures who through their brutality have erased the image of God from their countenance and no longer resemble anything human.
The
Kurds have essentially been the only group doing anything to battle Islamic
State on the ground and save Yazidi men, women and children from enslavement
and death.
For the
past few years, the West thought they could ignore this “contained” holocaust
that’s been raging in Syria and Iraq.
In
recent months, Islamic State (IS) blew up a Russian passenger jet, France saw
the slaughter of its citizens in the streets of Paris, and the US experienced a
massacre of 14 people in sunny California. These acts add to the growing list
of IS-inspired attacks and attempted attacks that have caused the Western world
to open its eyes to the evil proliferating across the globe.
And
now, finally a number of willing nations have stepped up the war against IS,
with not the US but Russia leading the way, and the IS is suddenly finding
itself on the ropes, with territory being lost and fighters losing courage.
Something
I have found so surprising throughout all these events is how IS and its leader
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi have hardly made even the smallest mention of Israel or
the Jews. I was waiting for that inevitable day when IS would declare its
intentions to destroy Israel and commit genocide against the Jewish people.
It’s
kind of a coming of age, a rite of passage for a terrorist group when the day
comes that they announce their intentions to wipe out the Israelites. But the
weeks and months passed and we heard not a peep.
I was
not alone in noticing this. For the past few years a favorite rumor among
conspiracy theorists and haters of Israel alike has been that IS is actually a
Mossad organization, and Baghdadi is in reality a Jew.
Why
else have they not done anything to harm the Jews? After all, no one can deny
that, barring immediate existential threats, the Jews pretty much always
receive the top honors on the genocide wish lists of terrorist organizations.
And now
suddenly this last Saturday, after IS had finally taken a real beating from
Western forces and air strikes, Baghdadi released a message to his demoralized
fighters in which he declares, “We are getting closer to you [Israel] day by
day. Do not think that we have forgotten about you.”
Baghdadi
continues, “God caused the Jews of the world to gather in Israel, and the war
against them has become easy. It is the obligation of every Muslim to carry out
Jihad.” He added, “Jews, you will not enjoy Palestine. God has gathered you in
Palestine so that the Mujahedeen can reach you soon and you will hide by the rock
and the tree.
Palestine
will be your graveyard.”
Baghdadi’s
threats could have been a little more original, seeing as how Hezbollah’s head
Hassan Nasrallah has also previously claimed that the Jews were gathered to
Israel to make it easier to kill them all, and Hamas and the Palestinian
Authority have referenced the same Hadith about the rocks and trees calling for
Muslims to kill the Jews at the end of days.
Nonetheless,
Baghdadi finally made the “kill the Jews” proclamation, and the timing is
somewhat understandable. History has shown us that whenever the going gets
tough for nations, blaming the Jews and promising to wipe them out has been an
extremely effective technique for distracting the general population from its
woes while uniting them behind a common cause. In 167 BCE, the Hellenized
Syrians led by Antiochus Epiphanes realized their bloody campaign to conquer
Egypt had failed. The Jews in Israel under Antiochus’ dominion were a perfect
scapegoat to vent their frustrations on, and the persecutions began.
This
put in motion the events that led to the rise of the Maccabees who soundly
defeated the Syrians and declared independence for Judea.
Similarly
the Nazis made good use of this technique in the wake of WWI. Hitler blamed the
Jews for Germany’s defeat and claimed an international Jewish conspiracy was
responsible for the suffering of the German people. This set the foundation for
the rise of the Nazis, WWII and the Holocaust.
This
scapegoating of the Jewish people by struggling leaders and nations has
repeated itself over and over again in history. So now that Baghdadi has
referenced the Jews, it’s likely that things must be getting tough for IS. Once
you play the Jew card, you’re desperate for a scapegoat. And it seems to work
every time. In fact, a recent article written by German reporter Jurgen
Todenhofer who visited IS for 10 days claims that IS fears the Israeli army
more than any other.
“They
told me they know the Israeli army is too strong for them,” Todenhofer said.
“They
think they can defeat US and UK ground troops, who they say they have no
experience in city guerrilla or terrorist strategies.
But
they know the Israelis are very tough as far as fighting against guerrillas and
terrorists.”
Regardless
of IS’s fear of starting a war with Israel, hatred of the Jews has been
Baghdadi’s ace in the hole all along. He knows it is the one thing that all
Islamic terrorist organizations the world over can agree upon and rally behind
(not to mention all neo-Nazi and racial supremacist groups as well). The blood
of an infidel may be nice, but the blood of a Jew, now that really gets
terrorists excited. The IS leader must be getting desperate if he’s finally
resorting to this time-honored technique.
TOO BAD
for Baghdadi that he’s failed to learn from history. Sure, the outspoken hatred
of the Jews can often times get someone into a position of power – as the
Talmud itself teaches: “Whoever harasses the Jews will find followers who make
him a leader.” But Baghdadi, and all the other haters of Israel, have failed to
realize that every single one of those nations who persecuted and attempted
genocide against the Jews, in the end faced calamity and destruction and are
lost to the dustbin of history. And the Jews throughout it all have always
managed to survive with each adversary they overcome, albeit with sacrifices
far too numerous to justify the victorious outcome.
It has
often been said that IS is a group of people who want to take the world back to
the dark ages. I disagree. IS is a group of creatures who through their
brutality have erased the image of God from their countenance and no longer
resemble anything human. And the West needs to understand that an international
ground troops coalition against them is a non-negotiable necessity before this
disgusting cancer metastasizes and more innocent people die in the most
gruesome way.
