Published: 9th of June, 2024

Anyone who says that the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a war between Muslims and Jews is highly mistaken or is trying to soft-soap the reality of the ongoing situation in the Middle East. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is rooted in religious differences. The Jews believe that they are the chosen people of God through selection when Jacob was born and God chose him over his brother, Esau. The Muslims believe that they are God’s chosen people selected through divine ordinance and identified through their faith in Islam. Muslims believe that the Jews “were” indeed the chosen people of God before the advent of Mohamed and the Koran, but that God broke His covenant with the Jews and gave it to the Muslims through the Koran and Mohamed. Muslims believe that God is no longer with the Jews and therefore they should not control the Holy Land. The Jews believe that the Muslims are in error and that God will never break His covenant with them, the Jews. Therefore, this war has more to do with proving whose side God is on than who owns and occupies a piece of land.

Not all Muslims around the world understand the deeper meaning of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because not all Muslims have read the Koran thoroughly or studied the Jewish texts. Most of them just swallow and regurgitate what was fed to them through traditional media or oral tradition. The same goes for Christians, Jews, and people in general. But a thorough examination of both the Torah and the Koran, along with Islamic and Jewish history, will reveal that this is a conflict of astronomical proportions. Most Mosques around the world teach that Muslims will one day defeat the Jews and regain control of Israel, making it an Islamic State, and they have vowed to “fight until the day of judgement” to accomplish this. Indeed, this conflict, which started in the 1940s when the Jewish people decided to reclaim their ancestral homeland, has not shown any signs of subsiding.

Given all of the above, why then do Muslims fight for the Israel in the Israeli Defense Forces? Although Israel is controlled by the Jews, and the Jewish religion, Judaism, is practiced by about 80% of Israelis, there are nearly 2 million Muslims living peacefully, happily, and prosperously in Israel. These Muslims enjoy all the rights, privileges, security, and freedom that Israeli Jews enjoy. These Muslims will, needless to say, have a patriotic love for Israel. But given the deep-rooted religious nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we can only speculate as to why Israeli Muslims still defend the Holy Land for the Jews. Perhaps those Muslims fighting for the IDF really don’t care too much about religion. Perhaps they are only superficial Muslims. Perhaps their love for their country overrides their dedication to their religion. Perhaps they are mandated to fight because of their citizenry and have no choice. Or perhaps it is a combination of all these and other factors.

What’s sure however, is that, the Muslims fighting in the Israeli Army is yet another example of how humans group themselves and how one grouping sometimes override or conflict with another. Some of the ways that humans group themselves include: race, religion, politics, and nationality. These groupings often come in conflict with each other as in the case of Muslim Israelis fighting for the Israeli Army.