Every time Israel has traded land for peace with enemies still committed to our destruction, we have paid in blood. Now that the direct war with Iran is on pause, headlines are flooding the Israeli and international media with news that should sound like a dream: Israel and Syria in direct talks, a potential peace deal on the horizon, normalization, even rumors that Syria could join the Abraham Accords.But let’s be honest with ourselves: this isn’t a dream. It’s a nightmare dressed up in diplomatic clothing.
I understand the desire for peace. Every normal human being desires peace. Israelis have been at war with Syria, officially and unofficially, for decades, but peace with a Sunni ISIS regime built on jihad, death, and terror against its own minorities? That is not peace. That is suicide. While we celebrate the fact that the Iranian-backed Assad regime is gone, we can not delude ourselves into thinking that peace is possible with a Turkey-backed Islamic State regime, no matter how much even US President Donald Trump wants to have Syria join the Abraham Accords.
It is important that we all be reminded who the new leader of Syria is. Ahmed al-Sharaa, the man now being laundered as a pragmatic leader, is the same man who had a bounty placed on his head by the US government for years as a terrorist. Under his rule today in Syria, Christians, Kurds, and Druze are persecuted, oppressed, and killed.
We also cannot afford to forget that the moment he toppled the Assad regime, he declared proudly that their next destination for conquering would be Jerusalem. This is not a man seeking peace. This is a jihadist Sunni leader following Muhammad’s military strategy of hudnas, seeking a strategic pause. In the Middle East, a strategic pause is a time to reload. (Read More)
