The danger from messianic extremists

The messianic visions of extremists in the three monotheistic religions are closing in on the citizens of the State of Israel.

Despite their rivalry, the extreme messianic versions of all religions rely on the same basic beliefs, such as the shared belief in the vision of the Eschatology, or the “end times.” The war of Gog and Magog which will bring Mashiach (Messiah) son of David, and with him the supremacy of his believers in the Jewish version; the battle of “Armageddon,” after which all humanity will follow Jesus, returning as he promised’ the “last promise” in the Christian one and the Islamic vision (الوعد الأخير, al-wa’id al-akhir) to kill all the infidels or convert them into Islam. Even the (seemingly peaceful) Nordics cultures have their own battle of the end of days – the “Ragnarök.”

These apocalyptic visions are sometimes “eschatological ornaments” of an undefined future that will never come. This is the case in mainstream versions of both orthodox Sunni Islam and traditional Judaism. There is a messianic vision there – but it is not an actual plan of action, but rather an ideal that must not come to be realized. As soon as the messianic vision turns into a real and earthly plan of action that aims to bring utopia – it necessarily leads to a catastrophe.

This actual messianism, embodied nowadays by Hamas, by the Israeli government extremists and by the evangelicals in the US, is not traditional but rather it is new and radical. It is anti-tradition in the very innovation that lies in it, and it goes against the main currents, both in Judaism, in Christianity and in Islam.

The preoccupation with the “last promise,” of a jihad war and the killing of all infidels, has been part of the messages of the Hamas leadership in recent years and has also become a central part of justifying the October 7th massacre. For the extreme evangelical Christians, the support for Israel is only a step on the way to the war of Armageddon, when Jesus will return in his second coming and will kill all the unbelievers, on the way to the establishment of a kingdom of heaven in which all will be his followers. Even in Judaism, there are many, some of whom hold positions of power in the government, who see the current war as the beginning of the war of Gog and Magog, at the end of which the Messiah will come on his white donkey and the people of Israel will dwell safely in their land forever and ever.

Now, the messianic visions of the three monotheistic religions are closing in on the citizens of the State of Israel and are threatening to take away from us the Zionist and secular Jewish state that our parents and grandparents sought to establish here. They also threaten those who seek peace, security, and prosperity in the region and in the entire world.

On the one hand, these are the Hamas tyrants, who set out to slaughter Israeli children, women, and men, imbued with the belief that they were doing this as a step on the way to the resurrection of the dead and to bringing the unbelievers to God’s judgment. On the other hand, these are the Messianic Jews who are deeply rooted in the Israeli government, who see the war as a means of settling Gaza with Jews, another step on the way to realizing their apocalyptic vision, and who carry out provocations on the Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif, to set the entire Middle East and the Muslim world on fire. Across the ocean, these are the American evangelicals, who, apart from the large sums of money they invest in settlements and settlers as promoters of their Armageddon war, may soon get a president who is very attentive to their aspirations, and this is just one of the dangers inherent in Trump as president.

The messiahs of the whole world have united and have put their bets on making us all another tool on their way to materializing their visions of death. The way to stop them must go through the understanding that although technically we speak the same language as they do, we are moving along parallel paths of ethics that will never meet. The Messianic religious factions, be it Muslims, Christians, or Jews, will always seek to bring the future of the “end of times” to which they are longing, while we, the secular, the traditional and the moderate religious, will seek to secure and strengthen the present and the foreseeable future, for us, for our children and for our grandchildren.

This argument can be used as a fulcrum to focus on the basic and traditional mitzvah of “do good, avoid evil, seek peace and pursue it,” and to embark together on a journey against messianic radicalism. In this battle between “the end of days” and “our present day,” it is our duty to create alliances with our partners on the other side. With those who, like us, seek to build a better present and future here and not to fight Gog and Magog wars of any kind. To create an alliance of moderates with the Palestinian Authority, moderate Arab countries, the large majority of European countries, and the American liberal public, which is a majority in the United States, a majority which might be able to take advantage of its numerical superiority, despite the distortion of the electoral college, to continue the rule of the Democratic Party in the White House.

This alliance is critical for the future of the region. Unless we find the way to build and strengthen it, and if the Israeli centrist parties continue to try to play the right-wing card and deny the Palestinians their very right to self-determination, continue to be afraid to talk to the moderates on the other side – we will all be swept towards destruction in the murky and powerful current of religious fundamentalism, which closes down on us more and more with every day that goes by.