The recent murder of two Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C., and the terror attack in Boulder, Colo., against elderly peace-walkers were tragedies—cold-blooded, horrific and telling as manifestations of the ongoing cry to “Globalize the intifada.”
They were also acts of desperation and frustration by the perpetrators, rather than acts of escalation. They were also a recognition that what their side has been doing to try and play to the heartstrings of the average Westerner has not worked. Transitioning to violent acts is a violation of their purported principles and undercuts their message. These were not acts from a position of strength but ones committed out of frustration, fear and helplessness.
That distinction matters.
In recent years, the chant to “Globalize the intifada” has become more widespread on university campuses, in street protests and on social media. Young people have been cynically indoctrinated by a radical anti-colonial ideology and have taken up the cause of Israel’s enemies with fervor. These movements have become emotional and increasingly aggressive—not just toward Israelis, but Jews in general. These threats should not be diminished, but they should be understood in the context in which they are taking place. They are attempting to do the work that they see their allies in the real battles are failing to do.
For decades, Israel’s enemies understood they could not win on the battlefield. The Israel Defense Forces was too strong, its intelligence too sophisticated and the Israeli resilience too deep-rooted. So, Israel’s enemies adapted. They identified a different front, the ideological vulnerability of the West, and they attacked it brilliantly. They hijacked the language of social justice and repackaged terrorism as resistance, and then sold the lie that Israel is a settler-colonial state oppressing an indigenous people.
This wasn’t a show of power. It was a pivot from weakness. Like any desperate army, Israel’s enemies found a crack in the wall and drove through it. These forces may seem to represent a formidable foe, but they are just one front in a much larger war—one that they are losing.
The illusion of Israel’s decline is cracking. Yes, in the early months following Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, it may have seemed like Israel was on the ropes. The protests in the West were loud, organized and effective, but beneath the noise, history has been moving in a different direction.
In the last 20 months, Israel has decimated Hamas and Hezbollah. The Syrian regime, with its seemingly endless appetite for conflict with Israel, has evaporated, and the Iranian threat is in the process of being systematically dismantled.
The Middle East battlefield tells a different story from TikTok.
At the same time, peace across the region seems to be on the verge of breaking out. This flies in the face of everything that the protesters stand for. How could it be that most of the Middle East doesn’t agree that Israel is a fascist, genocidal regime? In their worldview view this makes no sense, and that is leading them to desperation.
In war, final battles often come long after the outcome is decided. In World War I, the Battle of Amiens in August 1918 broke the German lines and signaled the inevitable Allied victory. But fighting continued. Soldiers still died. The Meuse-Argonne offensive, the deadliest operation in U.S. military history, raged on until Nov. 11, 1918, the very day the armistice was signed. Victory was certain, but the violence hadn’t yet stopped.
We are in a similar moment now. The ideological war against Israel has not ended, but the momentum is shifting. This isn’t to suggest people should be complacent. The danger is real as Jews around the world remain vulnerable, and the battle for the minds and hearts of the average person must still be won. Yet it should be understood that these recent spasms of violence and venom are the final, furious attempts to turn back the tide of a war that Israel and worldwide Jewry are winning.