What "Globalise the Intifada" Means

The mass-murder terror attack in Sydney on Sunday, Australia, was not simply an anti-semitic incident that got out of control. It was a professional military operation conducted as part of the global Jihadist war being waged on every continent.

To plan an operation like this takes time and resources, which was only possible in an environment created by the Australian government that has been conducive to the development of radical Islamist infrastructure. An environment that indulges the demonisation of Israel and Jews on the streets. That allows people to chant “gas the Jews” on the Sydney bridge. That tolerates and even endorses the genocidal slogan “From the river to the sea” – a call for the extermination of Israeli Jews.

It is what “Globalise the Intifada” looks like in action – a Jihad against the Jews.

It’s what happened in Manchester, where a terrorist attacked Jews at prayer on Yom Kippur. It’s what happened in Amsterdam where Israeli football fans were hunted down in the streets.

And it can happen anywhere, to any Jewish community in the world.

Because “Globalise the Intifada” means exactly that: hunting Jews everywhere. It is not a protest movement. It is not resistance. It is a Jihad of murder, terror, and destruction.

Global version

Like the original Intifadas launched against the Jews of Israel, the global version has nothing to do with a Palestinian state. It never has. If it were about a state, there would have been one in 1948, in 1967, in 2001, and many times since.

The multi-front Islamist war from Iran to Gaza to Lebanon and Yemen is not about a Palestinian state. It’s about Jihad – the violent spread of a global Islamist movement whose purpose is the destruction of the Jewish state first – and then the West and the rest of the world.

When Western leaders, like this Australian Prime Minister and his counterparts in Europe, in response to the Gaza war recognise a Palestinian state they endanger themselves. They make a lethal mistake, lethal to the survival of the free world.

Because the Jews are only the first target. The Jihadists take aim at all infidels. Their slogan says it all: “First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people.”

We are already seeing this goal being carried out.

Across Africa, from Nigeria to Mozambique, Sudan to Mali, Jihadists are on the march, slaughtering Christians, and in Europe, its capitals – in London, Paris, Berlin, and Amsterdam and beyond – have ever expanding “no-go” areas governed by Sharia law. What happened in Sydney is not ordinary anti-semitism.

It is part of global Jihad. And until the West recognizes that it faces mortal peril. And that starts with recognising that Israel and the Jews are on the frontlines defending the world against the global Jihad. It is about Western governments having the courage to name the evil, by calling the attack on Bondi what it is – a Jihad on the Jews, something that even after all that has happened the Australian prime minister cannot bring himself to do. Until he does that – his countrymen and the free world will not be safe.

Cross-hairs

Abandon Israel and the Jews and you place yourselves in the cross-hairs of the Jihadists. Jewish history teaches that those who rise up to destroy the Jews, seek ultimately to destroy all that is sacred in the world.

When Jewish citizens in the world’s democracies call on their governments to protect them from this Jihad, it is not merely a call to defend Jewish lives – though that alone would justify decisive action. It is a call to save those societies. A place that is unsafe for Jews is unsafe for all decent people, and unsafe for civilized values.

Those in the West who chant “Globalise the Intifada” are the academic, political, and media elite of the woke left in their hatred for Israel have made themselves the useful idiots of the Islamists, united by a common enemy: the foundational values of Western liberal democracy, values that originate in the Hebrew Bible:

The sovereignty and freedom of the individual. The innate dignity of the human being created in God’s image. Faith, family, personal responsibility. The preciousness of life. The greatness of the human spirit.

For the West to survive, it must regain moral clarity: and to stand for the values upon which civilization is built.

Here in South Africa, the government’s support for Hamas and Iran is under scrutiny. Its almost complete silence on the Jihadist war being waged in Africa is shameful and dangerous. Let me be clear: you are on notice. The attack in Australia is another warning – not that one was needed.

Attacks

In December last year, there were two attacks on Jewish community centres on the same day – one in Melbourne and one in Cape Town. There is a high probability that these attacks were linked. The Australian government has since exposed Iran as being behind last year’s attack. Early indications point to Iran being behind this most recent attack in Sydney too.

And Iran is active in South Africa. You have close ties to them. Jihadi groups are active across the continent. The message to the South African government is clear. You have been warned. You dare not fail the Jewish community, or any peace-loving South African. If any terror attack, God-forbid, happens in South Africa – we will hold you responsible. Because protecting your citizens is your first and most sacred duty.

As Jews around the world mark the festival of Chanukah, we remember the brave Maccabees who fought the tyranny of the ancient Greek Empire for the most sacred of human rights: freedom of conscience, the freedom to worship and practise your faith without fear, intimidation, or coercion.

We are an ancient people, and we know our Divine destiny to be “a light unto the nations” draws the forces of darkness to extinguish that light. As Jews, we have never been – and will never be – intimidated. When we sing the words of Maoz Tzur as our Chanukah candles burn, we recall the generations who, with God’s help, overcame those who sought to destroy us.

That same strength and defiance endures in us today.

Like those who came before us, with God’s help, we will overcome the darkness, we will defeat the forces of Jihad and their willing accomplices in the West.

Each candle we light is a declaration: we will not be intimidated. We will not surrender. And we will keep our Divine values burning bright in the face of darkness.

As South African Jews we stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters of the Australian Jewish community at this terrible time. Our two communities are deeply connected by the bonds of family and history, and we feel your loss and grief and horror, personally.

May Hashem bring healing to the injured and comfort to the families of those murdered, among all the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

Am Yisrael Chai.