Did Hamas Accidentally Save the World

An Unthinkable Title.

I’m writing this at 5 a.m. on a Monday, so if my thoughts seem scattered and some of it is tongue in cheek, bear with me.

Who would have thought that a week before the U.S. elections, we would see Donald Trump in a mosque in Dearborn, Michigan, receiving the Muslim endorsement for president—as the peace president, no less? It is more than absurd to think about. Who would have thought that this would align with what most Israelis think, who, after the incredible support received from President Biden on the days following October 7th, would prefer a second Trump presidency as a promise to let Israel win, and ultimately stop the war. Who would have thought that by attacking Israel on October 7th, Hamas might have accidentally saved the Western world by revealing the extent of infiltration by its supporters and other Islamist groups in the U.S., across Europe, and beyond?

After October 7th, when hundreds of thousands of “spontaneous” demonstrations popped up around the world, before Israel had even gathered its wits, before it realized what had actually happened or fully absorbed the shock and scope of the disaster. While Hamas fighters were still occupying Kibbutzim in southern Israel, hundreds of thousands gathered in London, Paris, Melbourne, and other cities, not to show solidarity for the victims of this terror attack, but to show their appreciation for it, and to show their desire to join in the fray.

Who would have thought that, thanks to the same type of “spontaneous” demonstrations popping up all over U.S. campuses, we would wake up to the fact that many of these universities, which produce leaders for the U.S. and the West, were funded in large part by their enemies?

Imagine if we had woken up to this reality in 10 or 15 years from now, after new generations of leaders with these ideologies had entered their strategic positions. We might still find that we woke up too late.

Just like Putin’s invasion of Ukraine woke Europe up to the fact that the post-WWII peace years had ended, so did October 7th reveal the new alignment of sides in this potential new worldwide conflict. A new axis and allies have formed.

On October 6th, most Israelis were too comfortable to really consider the possibility of war, believing a small, professional military was all they needed. Yes, there were the terror attacks from Judea and Samaria and the occasional flare-up in Gaza. But even then, Hamas had kept out of the previous round, and let Palestinian Islamic Jihad fight on its own, giving the sense that they were finally more concerned with governing Gaza than picking a fight with the Jews. There was a general belief that large-scale, multi-front wars were a thing of the past, with most attention focused on the northern threat from Hezbollah, which had been preparing for war since 2006. Hamas, it seemed, had fooled Israel into thinking they were on the path of reason and compromise.

Not only did the Hamas attack of October 7th shatter that illusion, but the first missiles shot at Israel from a ragtag group, on the edges of the world as far as Israelis were concerned, woke Israelis up to the ring of fire, or the noose that had been slowly building around their necks. Imagine if Hamas had not jumped the gun and actually coordinated with its allies, with Hezbollah, the Houthis, militias in Syria, and Iran itself. Or by orders of magnitude worse, it happened with a nuclear armed Iran in the picture

The Israeli army that was surprised on October 7th, 2023, might have found itself overwhelmed. The Israeli army on October 7th, 2024, is a whole new animal.
If there was any doubt, the campaign in Lebanon and the attacks in Iran have shown an Israel, willing and able to fight.

Another consequence of the wars in Ukraine and Israel is the changing role of the U.S.—a role now marked more by absence than by action. Even the most isolationist American, with only a cursory interest in world affairs, would have to recognize this: any vacuum left by the U.S. will not remain empty. It will be filled by powers with their own agendas and ambitions. By stepping back, the U.S. risks watching its influence wane, as others take the lead in shaping a new global order beyond its control.