Trump and the End of That ‘3,000-Year Catastrophe’

On October 4, Trump boasted on social media about his plan to end the war in Gaza in this way:

After negotiations, Israel has agreed to the initial withdrawal line, which we have shown to, and shared with, Hamas. When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal, which will bring us close to the end of this 3,000 YEAR CATASTROPHE. Thank you for your attention to this matter and, STAY TUNED!

This is worrisome. Apparently Trump has no idea that this “catastrophe” — that is, the war between the Jews and Arabs in the Land of Israel — began after Islam appeared, not 3,000 years ago, but in the seventh century. In the mid-620s, the Arabs conquered the Jewish tribes in Medina. And then Arabs who had embraced the new religion of Islam swept out of the Arabian peninsula and managed to conquer vast swathes of territory from Morocco in the west to Sassanid Persia in the east. Trump does not know, it seems, that the Muslims first attacked the Jews in Arabia; he has no knowledge of Muhammad’s attack on the Jews living in the Khaybar Oasis; he does not know that the Muslim Arabs, during the Rashidun Caliphate, conquered Jerusalem in 636-637 A.D. Nor is he aware that Muslims believe that Jews are “the strongest in enmity” toward them, and that Muslims believe that Muhammad died from eating poisoned meat at a banquet prepared by a Jewish woman, and that the Jews are, according to Qur’an 98:6, just like all non-Muslims, the “most vile of created beings.” Bringing an end to the war in Gaza does not change that.

The war — that is, the jihad — conducted by Muslims against Jews has no end, no matter what treaties are signed by Muslim Arabs. The model for Muslim treaty-making with non-Muslims is the Treaty of Hudaybiyya, that Muhammad signed with the Meccans in 628 A.D., but after only 18 months, sensing his forces had become much stronger, he broke the treaty on a pretext and attacked the Meccans. That is why the Israelis must be wary of relying on treaties with Muslims. It is clear that Trump knows none of this history. Nor does he know about Muhammad’s two most famous hadith, “War is deceit” and “I have been made victorious through terror.”

Donald Trump fondly believes that in ending — possibly — the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, he has brought closure to a “3,000-year catastrophe.” He needs to learn much more about Islam, and Islamic history, in order to realize that the “catastrophe,” as he calls it, began when Islam began, early in the seventh century, and that war has no end. The jihad waged against Israel is also being waged, albeit using different weapons, against other non-Muslim lands and peoples, especially in Western Europe. Forty-four million Muslims now live in Europe, where they may eventually prevail, through continued immigration and Muslim fertility rates that are much higher than those of the indigenous Europeans. Muslims know that, as Muhammad said, “Islam is to dominate and not to be dominated.”

What Trump might have said is that he hopes that the war in Gaza will finally be over, with the hostages returned and with Hamas surrendering all of its weapons, and that he understands completely why Israel must rely on deterrence, and not on treaties, for its security, so that the 3,500-year history of Jews in the Land of Israel will not be snuffed out in order to make room for a 23rd Arab state.

Yes, that is what he might have said. But he didn’t. And he won’t.

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