Israeli ‘hegemon’ will make deal-making in the Mideast all the more moral.

 As appeared in JNS (Jewish News Service)

 

By: David S. Levine and Alex Sternberg

 

A recent New York Times opinion piece by Aaron David Miller and Steven Simon (April 14, 2025) ran with the headline “The U.S. Must Now Reckon With a Hegemon in the Mideast: Israel”. This is not only inaccurate and incorrect; it also recklessly incites more intense anti-Semitism.

Hegemon is defined as: a leader, country, or group that is very strong and powerful and therefore able to control others. Using it in this context, the authors, who are two former State Department and National Security Council officials, show they have no concept of history or higher moral foundation of Judaism versus Islam.

In commenting on Israel’s response to “Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, has fundamentally altered the Middle East balance of power in a way not seen since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War,” they go on to state “Enabled by the United States, its Arab treaty partners and key Gulf States, the Israelis have broken the Hamas-Hezbollah…” Then the authors immediately call Israel the region’s “hegemon” and mean it in a very negative light.

Two important points come immediately to mind. 1. How else should a sovereign country have responded to the barbaric attack on their innocent civilians with hostages being held to this day? All of Hamas’ actions on October 7 (that they themselves joyously filmed and posted), blatantly violate international laws, Geneva conventions, and human decency. 2. Israel was not consistently “enabled” by the previous U.S. administration but often deliberately hampered to effectively and efficiently deal with these inhumane terrorists.

The authors go on to say, “Israel has benefited from the weakness of surrounding states, much as Iran did while it was, until very recently, vying to be the top dog.” Incredulously the authors also claim that it is Israel’s fault that “Lebanese leaders remain preoccupied by internal rivalries while Syria’s new government faces enormous economic, political and security challenges. Despite its oil, Iraq can’t meet the needs of a large population.” Talk about unfounded conspiracy theories to undermine the sovereignty of the only democracy in the area.

Furthermore, to falsely imply that Israel is gloating at the pain of others is to ignore history and the fundamentals of the Jewish people’s religion.

Israel only wants, and has always wanted, safe defensible borders and to be left alone. Unfortunately, you cannot make peace with enemies who don’t want to make peace with you. Islamic jihadists will never make peace with anyone. Political and religious dominance is their stated goal, in their own words in their founding and guiding charters; Hamas and Palestine National Charter, to name just two.

This goal of political and religious dominance has been evident in the many repeated statements by Arab and Palestinian leadership. One example of such sentiment and rhetoric repeated to this day, is a February 1948 UN memorandum, where Azzman Pasha, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, referring to the upcoming May 1948 war, in which five Arab nations attacked the newly formed modern Jewish State of Israel, said, "This war will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongol massacres and the Crusades."

This goal is even repeatedly mentioned in the Qur’an. Here are just two examples of many: 9:33 “It is He (Allah) who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it superior over all religions even though the Mushrikun (polytheists, pagans, idolaters, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) hate (it).” And 9:123 “O ye who believe! fight the unbelievers who gird you about, and let them find firmness in you: and know that Allah is with those who fear Him.”

Whereas in Judaism, there is no call for non-Jews to convert and no commandments to conquer land outside the Promised Land of Israel, a small sliver of land along the Mediterranean coast. This claim is proven in Biblical texts, archaeological finds, and ancient historians, all thousands of years before the existence of Islam and hundreds of years before the creation of Arab “Palestinians.”

The authors, Aaron David Miller and Steven Simon, incorrectly point out that “Israel’s form of hegemony has engendered a temporary stability.” As attacks from Hamas, the Houthis, and other terrorists, continue to this day, and that all the hostages still have not been returned, there is no stability. The authors go on to claim with ignorance, “But it won’t last without converting Israel’s military dominance into arrangements and agreements with its Palestinian and Arab neighbors that reflect a balance of interest rather than the current asymmetry of power, which sooner or later will lead to more confrontation, violence and terror.” These former US government officials ignore the many times that peace and territory has been offered to, and turned down by, Israel’s Palestinian and Arab neighbors.

As always, the answer to peace in the Mideast seems to be forcing and putting pressure on Israel to concede, step back, give up, and compromise to Arab demands, and then be encouraged not to respond too harshly to the ensuing Arab violence that inevitably accompanies Israel’s “good faith acts”.

This has historically been proven to be a failure. In the hundred years of this conflict, there has never been any voice to force Muslims for any compromise. Muslims consistently state their absolute intention to commit genocide by destroying Israel and killing all the Jews. While Israel is incomprehensively being encouraged to compromise with these Moslem neighbors.

As has been demonstrated over and over again, they are not “neighbors” in the good sense. They are destroyers, and following any of the misguided advice of Messrs. Miller and Simon would actually aid in Israel’s destruction. Such opinions need to be understood in that they are voices designed to aid Muslims in their mission to destroy Israel. And after that, the Islamist target is Western civilization.

 

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Dr. Alex Sternberg. Author of “Recipes from Auschwitz: The Survival Stories of Two Hungarian Jews with Historical Insight” and the forthcoming “The Toughest Jew in Brooklyn: A Memoir”.

 

David S. Levine, MBA. Author “Revolutions: In Their Own Words – What They Really Say About Their Causes” and the forthcoming book “Prayer: What do They Pray For?”