The Fall of Islamofascism

Just when the Islamofascist venom infected the bloodstream of Western society, causing convulsions in Europe and threatening to destabilize other Western societies, a miracle, being forged for the Jewish people, runs well-hidden behind this specter. Paradoxically, though Arab peril seems to be waxing, Yishmael's downfall is, in fact, in the making.

The Purim miracle, unlike that of Chanukah's for example, wove itself through the fabric of day-to-day events without breaking Nature's rules. An observer of daily events in ancient Persia would never have noticed the many "coincidences" that intertwined to produce the one big miracle. In ancient Jerusalem, on the other hand, this observer would easily have spotted the miracle of the rout of Rome's huge, well-equipped army by a handful of Maccabees, or that the Temple's one day's supply of oil lasted 8 full days.

Of the two sorts of miracle (let alone that Nature itself is an ongoing miracle), the Purim-type is the "greater" miracle (as if God needed extra effort to camouflage the miracle within regular, day-to-day events.)

We now have a Purim-like miracle transpiring for the Jewish people. Let's step back to scan the unfolding picture. The birth pangs of Moshiach brought us from the holocaust back to our Holy Land, after some 2,000 years. Jews continued to suffer, mostly from Muslim terrorism, because the labor contractions can continue a while longer, even after birth.

The all-powerful Soviet Union vaporized and hundreds of thousands of captive Jews fled for freedom and opportunity.

Israel's hostile enemies, the Arab and Muslim dictatorships, are beginning to fall. Iraq's sadist despot, Saddam Hussein, was overthrown, captured and hanged. Tunisia, who many years gave Palestinian terrorists refuge, recently collapsed.

Egypt went next. Although the country appeared stable, the economy suffered horribly because most of its money went into boosting military might. It exploited the "peace" with Israel by spending billions on armaments, including hundreds of F-16s, Mirage 2000s, Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, scores of missile ships, thousands of American artillery canon and tanks (including the Abrams, which ranks with Israel's Merkava), modern anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as sophisticated systems for electronic warfare and surveillance.

Mubarak encouraged international incitement against Israel and turned a blind eye to the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip. With Mubarak gone, chances are high much effort will shift to improving the lot of the citizenry and economy. Perhaps a form of democracy too will sprout.

Much of Libya's huge wealth was channeled into support for terrorist organizations. The Pan-Am disaster over Lockerbie was a Libyan initiative. Reagan called Quaddafi "the most dangerous person in the world". Enormous amounts of armaments were purchased. He bought more tanks and artillery than his own army could deploy; He promised to transfer these to those who would war against Israel (as he did during the Lebanon War, and as he helped Egypt during the Yom Kippur War). For this purpose he also had long-range missiles in place and developed the capability of aerial refueling. Libya too no longer poses a threat to Israel.

Syria's aggressive tyrant will also soon fall. He fostered strong ties with Iran. He set up a nuclear reactor (that Israel later destroyed). He armed the Hezbollah in Lebanon, built an anthrax production facility and runs a big army. The protests he now tries to quell are in major cities, like Damascus and Halab. Even army officers and soldiers are rejecting orders. Syria's revolution would bring a severe blow to Hezbollah, being that Syria served as its conduit for arms from Iran. Iran too would suffer because Syria today is its only ally in the Middle East. In a heartbeat, the peril at Israel's North border that had approached the flashpoint for conflagration has dissipated.

A short while ago, fear mounted that Turkey and Syria might join forces against Israel. And now, just as Turkey rattles its sabers against the Jewish state, Syria's strong relations with her neighbor suddenly deteriorated, because Syria was killing many Moslems as he tries to crush the revolution, to the point where Turkey threatened to go to war unless Syria stops the killings.

Iran too has miraculous "coincidences" to take note of. The huge protests there, violently suppressed, reflect the little faith the populace has for its leadership party. As for Iran's nuclear aspiration, significant delays mark its progress. Many of their centrifuges became dysfunctional by the Stuxnet virus, and important nuclear physicists are dropping like flies.

Many more Arab dominoes have yet to fall.

What Torah lesson might these facts refer to? The last words of the last verse of the Torah portion Chayei Sarah, regarding Yishmael's ancestors, literally reads, "... on the face of his brethren he fell". The first words of the next verse, the first verse of portion Toldot, reads, "And these are the chronicles of Isaac...". The famous commentator, the Ba'al Haturim, reveals the significance in juxtaposition of these two verses. "This comes to teach us that when Yishmael will fall at the end of exile, that's when the son of David will emerge" (Gen 25:18). In other words, once Moslem dominion begins to decline, the Jews and Moshiach will be on the ascendancy.

In a nutshell, what we are witnessing is the terrorism support base of the Middle East disintegrating, all while the redemptive process for which we eagerly look forward to stealthily waxes. We are witnessing the bright light at the end of the tunnel. Happy 5772! Moshiach now!!