The Oct. 7 massacre was an attack not just against Israel but against the collective West. Israel, the heart of the West’s Judeo-Christian roots and values, is the last standing outpost of the collapsing liberal West, as much a state of mind as an actual physical location. To be clear, when talking about the “liberal West”, I am referring to the concept of “liberal democracy” as understood by Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan and not the “progressive liberalism” that has nothing to do with classical liberalism and has more to do with a new totalitarian Marxist-inspired ideology.
In the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967, Italian liberal politician Ugo La Malfa said: “The freedom of the West is defended under the walls of Jerusalem.” Indeed, this sentence is even truer today. The battle in Gaza is not just between Israel and Hamas, as what is at stake is not only the existence of Israel but of the whole collective West, of which Israel is part.
Hamas Is Not Interested In Palestine But In The Caliphate
Hamas is not fighting merely to create a Palestinian State (which the majority of Israelis would accept if the existence of Israel would not be threatened) but to build an “Islamist pole” that would defy the Western-led unipolar world. As explained by Egyptian author, poet and journalist Dr. Mouna Al-Hilmi, daughter of the renowned Egyptian feminist writer Nawal Al-Saadawi, Hamas is not interested in liberating the Palestinian homeland, because, ultimately, it does not recognize the idea of the nation-state and regards Islam as the homeland. “Ever since it won the elections to the legislature [in 2006], the power of the terrorist Hamas has grown, and since it is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, it takes part in the [Brotherhood’s] jihad to establish a global Islamic caliphate,” Al-Hilmi wrote.
The formation of this Islamist pole is being supported by other anti-liberal powers, such as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Putin’s Russia that want the shaping of a multipolar world, in which the liberal West (and their local allies) will be defeated.
A caliphate would be the Islamist pole that both Qatar (Muslim Brotherhood’s principal patron) and Iran (the Axis of Resistance’s patron) are sponsoring in the Muslim and Arab world through their proxies. The formation of this Islamist pole is being supported by other anti-liberal powers, such as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Putin’s Russia that want the shaping of a multipolar world, in which the liberal West (and their local allies) will be defeated.
If Israel Falters, The Whole Liberal Collective West Will Be Wounded
Oct. 7 was Part II of 9/11. Before the Sept. 11 attacks, the West thought that “the end of history,” Francis Fukuyama’s idea that predicted that liberal democracy and free markets would prevail as a permanent global order, would be achieved. Yet, American political thinker Charles Krauthammer spoke about the “unipolar moment,” since he was not quite sure whether it would be permanent or not. According to anti-liberal Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, the “unipolar moment,” which began in 1991 (with the collapse of the Soviet Union), ended in 2001. He maintained that this unipolar system began to erode with the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center by Islamic terrorists and with the rise to power of President Putin (in 2000).
Meanwhile, since 9/11, progressive liberalism started to erode the West from within. Progressive liberalism, or woke culture, has been sponsored also by China and Qatar with the goal of bringing about the collapse of the collective West. Woke-ism is in fact one of the worst enemies of liberal democracy and it is for this reason that it became the best ally of other anti-liberal forces, such as Islamist groups. They have succeeded in adding anti-Zionism as part of a witch’s brew of intersectional causes involving gender, racial, anti-capitalist and other radical issues. Even more worrying is that this toxic combination has now been mainstreamed in the West, in leftist-ruled cities and in elite liberal institutions.
On Oct. 7, Hamas launched a long-prepared attack against Israel with the goal of defeating the strongest component of the weakening West. Like their allies in the West, the Islamists want to see permanent ferment and revolt until ultimate victory is achieved. If Israel falters, the whole liberal collective “West” (which includes South Korea, Taiwan and Japan) will be deeply wounded. China will feel confident to invade Taiwan and occupy the South China Sea, North Korea will try to unify the peninsula from Baekdusan to Hallasan, Russia will take over the whole of Ukraine and may use tactical nuclear weapons, Iran and Qatar will bring back the Muslim world to the seventh century by further radicalizing it. This is a battle launched by the opponents of the Western liberal dominance: Russia, China, the Islamist world (led by Qatar and Iran) and their fifth columnist allies embedded like ticks in Western society. “After all, this is a struggle between the multipolar world and the unipolar world,” Dugin wrote, adding that the time for the final battle against the West has come.
Time For The Collective West To Unite
The anti-liberal forces are organizing themselves and are uniting to defeat the collective West that still does not understand what is at stake. The conspiracy against the West is being waged from within and on the frontlines in Gaza and Lebanon. If the liberal West does not unite to defend its values and the truth its demise is doomed to happen. The struggle approaches its climax and the night approaches. Recently, Argentinian President Javier Milei said: “Truth has never gone down to defeat as a result of opposition, it has done so only when its friends are too weak to defend it.” Seemingly, liberalism will be defeated not because it was opposed, but because the West allowed itself to become too weak to defend its own liberty.
Anna Mahjar-Barducci is a MEMRI Senior Research Fellow.
Why Oct. 7 Is An Attack Against The Collective West – Oct. 7 Was Part II Of 9/11
Anna Mahjar-Barducci
The Oct. 7 massacre was an attack not just against Israel but against the collective West. Israel, the heart of the West’s Judeo-Christian roots and values, is the last standing outpost of the collapsing liberal West, as much a state of mind as an actual physical location. To be clear, when talking about the “liberal West”, I am referring to the concept of “liberal democracy” as understood by Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan and not the “progressive liberalism” that has nothing to do with classical liberalism and has more to do with a new totalitarian Marxist-inspired ideology.
In the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967, Italian liberal politician Ugo La Malfa said: “The freedom of the West is defended under the walls of Jerusalem.” Indeed, this sentence is even truer today. The battle in Gaza is not just between Israel and Hamas, as what is at stake is not only the existence of Israel but of the whole collective West, of which Israel is part.
Hamas Is Not Interested In Palestine But In The Caliphate
Hamas is not fighting merely to create a Palestinian State (which the majority of Israelis would accept if the existence of Israel would not be threatened) but to build an “Islamist pole” that would defy the Western-led unipolar world. As explained by Egyptian author, poet and journalist Dr. Mouna Al-Hilmi, daughter of the renowned Egyptian feminist writer Nawal Al-Saadawi, Hamas is not interested in liberating the Palestinian homeland, because, ultimately, it does not recognize the idea of the nation-state and regards Islam as the homeland. “Ever since it won the elections to the legislature [in 2006], the power of the terrorist Hamas has grown, and since it is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, it takes part in the [Brotherhood’s] jihad to establish a global Islamic caliphate,” Al-Hilmi wrote.
A caliphate would be the Islamist pole that both Qatar (Muslim Brotherhood’s principal patron) and Iran (the Axis of Resistance’s patron) are sponsoring in the Muslim and Arab world through their proxies. The formation of this Islamist pole is being supported by other anti-liberal powers, such as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Putin’s Russia that want the shaping of a multipolar world, in which the liberal West (and their local allies) will be defeated.
If Israel Falters, The Whole Liberal Collective West Will Be Wounded
Oct. 7 was Part II of 9/11. Before the Sept. 11 attacks, the West thought that “the end of history,” Francis Fukuyama’s idea that predicted that liberal democracy and free markets would prevail as a permanent global order, would be achieved. Yet, American political thinker Charles Krauthammer spoke about the “unipolar moment,” since he was not quite sure whether it would be permanent or not. According to anti-liberal Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, the “unipolar moment,” which began in 1991 (with the collapse of the Soviet Union), ended in 2001. He maintained that this unipolar system began to erode with the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center by Islamic terrorists and with the rise to power of President Putin (in 2000).
Meanwhile, since 9/11, progressive liberalism started to erode the West from within. Progressive liberalism, or woke culture, has been sponsored also by China and Qatar with the goal of bringing about the collapse of the collective West. Woke-ism is in fact one of the worst enemies of liberal democracy and it is for this reason that it became the best ally of other anti-liberal forces, such as Islamist groups. They have succeeded in adding anti-Zionism as part of a witch’s brew of intersectional causes involving gender, racial, anti-capitalist and other radical issues. Even more worrying is that this toxic combination has now been mainstreamed in the West, in leftist-ruled cities and in elite liberal institutions.
On Oct. 7, Hamas launched a long-prepared attack against Israel with the goal of defeating the strongest component of the weakening West. Like their allies in the West, the Islamists want to see permanent ferment and revolt until ultimate victory is achieved. If Israel falters, the whole liberal collective “West” (which includes South Korea, Taiwan and Japan) will be deeply wounded. China will feel confident to invade Taiwan and occupy the South China Sea, North Korea will try to unify the peninsula from Baekdusan to Hallasan, Russia will take over the whole of Ukraine and may use tactical nuclear weapons, Iran and Qatar will bring back the Muslim world to the seventh century by further radicalizing it. This is a battle launched by the opponents of the Western liberal dominance: Russia, China, the Islamist world (led by Qatar and Iran) and their fifth columnist allies embedded like ticks in Western society. “After all, this is a struggle between the multipolar world and the unipolar world,” Dugin wrote, adding that the time for the final battle against the West has come.
Time For The Collective West To Unite
The anti-liberal forces are organizing themselves and are uniting to defeat the collective West that still does not understand what is at stake. The conspiracy against the West is being waged from within and on the frontlines in Gaza and Lebanon. If the liberal West does not unite to defend its values and the truth its demise is doomed to happen. The struggle approaches its climax and the night approaches. Recently, Argentinian President Javier Milei said: “Truth has never gone down to defeat as a result of opposition, it has done so only when its friends are too weak to defend it.” Seemingly, liberalism will be defeated not because it was opposed, but because the West allowed itself to become too weak to defend its own liberty.
Anna Mahjar-Barducci is a MEMRI Senior Research Fellow.
Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.
Editor's Picks
Israel and the Internet Wars – A Professional Social Media Review
The Invisible Student: A Tale of Homelessness at UCLA and USC
What Ever Happened to the LA Times?
Who Are the Jews On Joe Biden’s Cabinet?
You’re Not a Bad Jewish Mom If Your Kid Wants Santa Claus to Come to Your House
No Labels: The Group Fighting for the Political Center
Latest Articles
Order, Please – A poem for Passover
Why the Seder Is the Oldest Classroom in Human History
Rabbis of LA | Rabbi Shapiro Wants Music in All Aspects of Temple Life
Antisemitism, Deicide, and Revolution
Ruth Wisse Challenges Americans to Live American, Jewish and Zionist Values
Shuk-style Mazal Market Returns with Pre-Passover ‘Renewal’
Israeli Entrepreneurs Fuel California’s Economy with High-Paying Jobs
California has long been home to Israeli entrepreneurs and companies spanning tech, cybersecurity, custom software, financial services and full-service restaurants. These businesses generate jobs and strengthen the state economy.
Israel Bachar on Antisemitism, Hollywood and Mobilizing Global Support for Israel
While some voices on the far left and far right attempt to portray Israel as dragging the U.S. into war, Bachar stressed that this is not the reality, noting that the United States is acting based on its own strategic interests.
Chametz Is More than Crumbs in the Corners of our Homes
Chametz is also something that gathers in the corners of our being, the spiritual chametz that, like the physical particles we gather the night before Passover, can infect, wither, influence and sabotage us as we engage with others.
Kugel Kugel Everywhere
At Passover time, all kugels are welcome.
Joan Nathan’s Passover Favorites
Nathan’s family holidays go back 46 years with rotating guests and a community that forms around her ever-changing table.
Magic of Mimouna and a Walnut Cookie Recipe
They are perfect for a Mimouna table because they are flourless and can be baked during Passover, before Mimouna.
Alpine Flavors—a Crunchy Granola Recipe
Every Passover, I prepare a truly delicious gluten-free granola. I use lots of nuts and seeds (pistachios, walnuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds) and dried fruits (apricots, dates and cranberries).
Table for Five: Passover
The Our Ongoing Exodus
From Late-Night Vacuuming to Transcendence: A Passover Meditation
Passover itself denotes transcendence. Leaving one’s limitations. Leaping beyond the ordinary.
Pesach Reflections
How does the Exodus story, Judaism’s foundational narrative of freedom, speak to the present? We asked local leaders, including rabbis, educators and podcasters, to weigh in.
Rosner’s Domain | Be Skeptical of Skeptics, Too
Whoever risks a decisive or semi-decisive prediction of the campaign’s end (and there is a long list of such figures on the Israeli side as well as the American side) is not demonstrating wisdom but rather a lack of seriousness.
When We Can No Longer Agree on Who Is Pharaoh
The Seder asks us to remain present to the tension between competing fears and obligations. It does not require choosing one lesson over the other, but rather, it creates space for us to articulate our concerns and listen to the fears and hopes that shape others’ views.
The Battle for Zionism Will Be Won — or Lost — at the Seder Table
The Haggadah’s original purpose is not to soothe. It is to mobilize.
Pesach at War. Leaving Fast, Leaving Slow.
Freedom, it would seem, is erratic; it happens in fits and starts, three steps forward and two steps back. Freedom is a leap into the unknown, driven by a dream. We will figure it out in time.
A Moment in Time: “Passover – Bedikat Chametz”
The Bias of KPBS, San Diego’s National Public Radio Affiliate
NPR executives may deny accusations of political bias, but the reporting by KPBS on the IHRA definition and the presence of an outspoken anti-Zionist as a producer exemplifies of what makes NPR so vulnerable.
Can an Artificial Rabbi Lead a Real Seder?
As long as we mortals keep showing up to our Seders and telling the Passover story with our whole hearts — the fake rabbis don’t stand a chance.
The Legacy of Lincoln, and Passover, from Generation to Generation
Rabbi Max Lilienthal understood that like Moses, Lincoln’s impact would achieve immortality.
On This Night: The Secret to Jewish Survival
We have to choose actively, financially and urgently, to teach our children who they are before the world teaches them for us.
It’s in Israel’s Interest to Put an End to Extremist Settler Violence
Anyone who cares for Israel and its security, should not only support, but insist on firm steps against far-right violence in the West Bank.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.