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What You Should Know of the Israel/Iran War
By: Deji Yesufu
Our generation takes a lot of things for granted and one of those things is the subject of war and peace. Any careful study of history will reveal that one common factor among nations is the subject of war. Long before the coming of Western liberal thoughts, that promote freedom and democracy, and the idea that sovereign boundaries of nations should not be exceeded, the one common factor in the relationship of man with man is that there is always one strong man somewhere who is convinced he can overrun the rest of his neighbours, subjugate them, and bring all people under his rule. It is because nations fear the rise of this strong man that we have things like international relations and diplomacy. When these fail, the next thing that we will have in our hands is war – and the conflict that we see between Russia and Ukraine is an example.
What has occasioned this article is the recent rise in hostilities between Israel and Iran. What is going on between these two countries is a lot more than hostilities: these two sovereign nations are at war. Israel targeted Iranian nuclear facilities a few days ago and did not only destroy them, they also killed top leading Iranian nuclear scientists. In the last count, Israel has killed seven of their thirteen leading scientists and they have also taken out a couple of their military commanders. In response, Tehran, the capital of Iran, yesterday, sent hundreds of missiles into Israel. Israel has a dome system that it uses to shield itself against missile attacks. However, a few of these missiles leak through this dome defense and reach Israeli settlements – destroying homes and killing people there. Why is Israel attacking Iran?
The animosity between the two countries is historic. It dates back to the writing and theology of the Quran – the Muslims’ divine revelation. The Quran regards the Jews as enemies of civilization and that there will be no peace in our world until all Jews are annihilated. When the Quran was written, Jews had been dispersed from their land of origin – which the British named Palestine in the 18th century. After the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, one of God’s judgements on the Jews was that they were going to be dispersed from their land of origin. In AD70, the Romans moved into Judea and while trying to quell an insurrection, they levelled Jerusalem, slaughtered thousands of Jews, and sent them all into exile. So, by the time the Quran was written, the Jews were everywhere in the Middle East and Europe. Now, though they had no land of their own, they possessed a unique culture that was influenced by the Bible, the Old Testament, that made them stand out anywhere they found themselves. This is besides the fact that the Jews are so uniquely gifted by God that they excel in anything they lay their hands to do.
Now, even though they had been dispersed from their land, they could read from the Old Testament and see that God often shows mercy to them and restores them to their land. So, in the 19th century, a movement called Zionism began to rise in Europe, where the idea of Jews returning to their fatherland was championed. At this time, Palestine was not occupied by anyone – except for a few Arabs. With time, the Jews began to return to their homeland. But there was a greater exodus to Palestine following the genocide against the Jews by Hitler’s Nazi regime. In 1948, the United Nations recognized Israel as a sovereign nation, and the Jews felt they now had their own country. Except that now they must deal with their Arab neighbors – who are mostly Muslims. While the Jews had overcome one problem, returning home they encountered another. The story of the Jews since 1948 up till date is how they must survive in a Muslim-dominated region, whose scripture teaches that Jews must be annihilated.
The conflict we are witnessing between Israel and Iran has also been elicited by October 7. This was when Hamas, a confirmed terrorist group, moved into Israel and killed 1,400 Israelis. Israel discovered that Iran was behind these terrorist attacks, and they have since launched attacks on not only Hamas strongholds in Gaza but also Hezbollah, which is another terrorist group in Lebanon. Israel succeeded in destroying all the men at the helm of affairs in Hezbollah and the group is non-functional today. Now, if Israel has succeeded so far, what are the issues on the ground?
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At the heart of Israel’s challenge is Islam. Islam has two big problems: there are Muslims who have been exposed to Western civilization and who can see that there is a deep conflict between Islamic ideals and Western values. They understand that they can’t function in the modern world, while at the same time holding to age-old Islamic fundamentalist beliefs. Some of these Muslims include Muslims in nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE countries. What such Muslims do, therefore, is that they try to enjoy the benefits of two worlds. They live within a Western world; enjoy western scientific developments; adopt western values – like education and monogamy; etc. At the same time, they keep some Muslim values. These Muslims are the ones that some of us have come to call “peaceful” Muslims.
The second problem is that there are Muslim groups that do not have the patience that these peaceful Muslims have. They have read the Quran; they have followed Muslim histories and have reached that comfortable position that the true Muslim is the one who will establish the kingdom of God on earth with the power of the sword. They will have an Islamic society now or they will die trying to establish one. Some of these groups are Boko Haram, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, and a host of others around the world. The world has succeeded in labelling these groups terrorist groups; although even that label is being contested by many groups and faulty ideologies.
One such faulty ideology is the rise of the Left in the West. What is very clear is that Western civilization is founded on a Christian worldview. What informs the laws of many nations are the pronouncements of God in the Judeo-Christian scriptures, the Bible. The Ten Commandments and the laws that God gave Moses to establish a civil society for Israel are still many of the laws that are in our constitutions today. This is why when the British established the nation called Nigeria, they simply transposed many of these Judeo-Christian values into our laws. On the other hand, for three hundred years there has been a rise in Western societies of a Leftist worldview that espouses ideas that are against the biblical worldview. This is what has led to the homosexual revolution of the West. These people are enemies of Christians. When you discover that Islam has historically never been a friend of Christianity, you understand why many Muslims are finding comradeship with the left. It is these leftists that are joining Muslims around the world to scream “death to Israel”. Is there a way forward?
I will end the way I began this article: all of us have taken the peace that we enjoy in our world for granted. Lasting peace is the result of conquering. Even after nations have conquered others, laws and justice must still form the undergirding principle of a society – or else the society will return to war. Functional societies are led by strong men and proven institutions. Strong men are established via military prowess. Military actions in our days have gone beyond field battles – most of the terrorists Israel took out in their recent campaigns were killed remotely. Modern warfare is waged with a sound mind. It means that the countries with the best and most modern military armaments are the ones that will win a military conflict. I predict that Israel will defeat Tehran and that the murderous regime in that country that has been ruining that land since the 1970s will be replaced. Terrorist Islam will be defeated in our world. But that will not be the end.
Every one of us has to realize that the future of our world is education. We must begin to learn and gain understanding of issues. Islam must jettison its antediluvian ideology that believes that might is right. In our world today, it is the people who can champion the best ideas and show that those ideas are workable, that will gain the upper hand. Islam is coming of off age, and those who have refused to learn, are learning their lessons the hard way. Those who love peace should pray for America and Israel that God will grant them the ability to neutralize all forces of evil in our day and time and grant peace to our world. The alternative is militant Islam; or, China’s socialist regime; or, Russia’s fascist dictatorship; or, North Korea’s atheism. The choice is ours to make. As for me and my household – we choose life: we choose the Judeo-Christian worldview that has given our time workable societies and modern technological advancements.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached at [email protected].
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