By William Federer

On October 7, 2023, the fundamentalist Islamist organization Hamas committed an unprecedented terrorist attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, killing over 1,400 Israelis.

What led up to this goes back over a century.

After World War One, the Ottoman Empire dissolved, leaving Britain in control of an area called the British Mandate.

In 1917, the British issued the Balfour Declaration giving Jews a home in their ancient land.

The Arab Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi, had helped the British defeat the Ottomans. Sharif is the title of a blood-descendent of Mohammed. His Hashemite family ruled Mecca for centuries.

The British recognized the Sharif’s son, Fasial, as King of Iraq, and his son, Abdullah, as King of Jordan.

Sharif Al-Hashimi was a moderate Muslim, yet he felt the British did not fully adhere to their promises and therefore he refused to ratify the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.

As a result, the British withheld support of the Sharif, allowing the fundamentalist Wahabi leader Abdul Aziz ibn Saud to seize control of Arabia in 1924.

Sharif Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi died in 1931 and was buried on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount in a walled enclosure.

Wahabis were called “Islamic revivalists.” Lawrence of Arabia described them in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1922: “The Wahabis, followers of a fanatical Moslem heresy, had imposed their strict rules … Everything was forcibly pious or forcibly puritanical.”

Brookings Institute scholar William McCants wrote: “Saudis promote a very toxic form of Islam that draws sharp lines between a small number of true believers and everyone else, Muslim and non-Muslim.”

In other words, Wahabis are just as apt to kill a moderate Muslim as they are to kill a non-Muslim.

Wahhabis follow Salafi teachings of a harsh, literal interpretation of the Qur'an with the goal of a one world government called a “Caliphate.”

The British allowing Aziz ibn Saud to take over Arabia affected the entire world in two ways.

Since Mecca is in Arabia, and one of the five pillars of Islam is to make a pilgrimage there, called “haj,” Muslims from around the world were now being infected with Wahabism when they went on pilgrimage.

Every modern terrorist organization can trace its extremist beliefs back to the Wahabis, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, who declared: “Jihad is our way; Death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.”

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna and six workers of the British-run Suez Canal Company.

The Suez Canal, connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, was built by the French, 1859-1869, but after the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882, it was controlled by the British, who defended it during World Wars I and II.

The second way the British allowing Aziz ibn Saud to take over Arabia affected the world was oil.

In 1938, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company discovered oil in Saudi Arabia. In one generation, it went from the poorest Muslim country to the richest and became a magnet for Wahabism. With its new-found wealth it influenced western businesses and political leaders.

An individual who went on pilgrimage to Mecca was the Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini.

Hitler originally expelled Jews from Germany and some fled to Jerusalem. The Mufti of Jerusalem did not like this. He met with Hitler to confirm their mutual hatred of Jews and raised Arab troops to join Nazis.

The Mufti pressured Hitler to commit to “elimination of the Jewish national home,” backing the “final solution” of killing Jews.

When Hitler lost the war, the Mufti avoided prosecution as a war criminal by fleeing on a fake passport to King Farouk in Egypt. There he made an alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt had been the richest Arab country due to cotton exports. It was controlled by the Ottoman Empire until it declared its independence in 1914, being protected by the British. In 1919, the Egyptian Revolution brought an end to British rule.

Egypt’s King Farouk met with President Roosevelt aboard to U.S.S. Quincy in the Suez Canal, February 13, 1945, on his return trip from the Yalta Conference where he gave half of Europe to the Soviets.

The next day, Roosevelt hosted King Aziz ibn Saud aboard the U.S.S. Quincy. Roosevelt tried to persuade the Saudi King to support the Jews in their homeland, but he refused. He then made a secret agreement with Roosevelt for Saudi Arabia to supply oil to the U.S. in exchange for U.S. military protection.

Once back in America, Roosevelt wrote to King ibn Saud, April 5, 1945, promising that as long as he was President, America would not recognize a Jewish State: “I communicated to you the attitude of the American Government toward Palestine … that no decision be taken … I assured you that I would take no action, in my capacity as Chief of the Executive … with regard to the question of Palestine.”

Within a week of that letter, the ailing Roosevelt died, and Harry S. Truman became the next President.

The British grew tired of Middle East tensions and announced they would relinquish the British Mandate on May 15, 1948. Israel declared its independence, and with the help of President Truman, was recognized by the United Nations.

That very day the first Arab-Israeli conflict began. It ended with a treaty negotiated by Ralph Bunche, the first African American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

During the Cold War, Soviets took advantage of internal divisions within countries to overthrow governments — a process called critical race theory.

The C.I.A. copied Soviet K.G.B. tactics. In 1952, the C.I.A. participated in Project FF overthrowing King Farouk during another Egyptian Revolution and installing Gamal Nasser.

In 1953, the C.I.A., helped overthrow the pro-Soviet leader Mosaddegh in Iran and install the pro-American Shah Reza Pahlavi.

In 1956, Nasser took control of the Suez Canal. He refused to pay Britain or France and blocked Israeli ships. In response, Britain, France and Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula and took back the Suez Canal.

When Nasser made overtures that Egypt might become pro-Soviet, the British and French withdrew troops, leaving Israel in control.

In 1957, President Eisenhower pressured Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to give up the Sinai Peninsula in a “land-for-peace” promise.

United Nations forces were sent to keep the Suez Canal open in the U.N.‘s first “peace keeping” mission.

The Soviets helped create the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1964. The Mufti of Jerusalem’s nephew, Yasser Arafat, became head of the P.L.O.

Soviets helped Fidel Castro create unrest and overthrow Batista in Cuba. Soviets helped create unrest in Columbia with the National Liberation Army of Columbia – F.A.R.C. Soviets created unrest in Bolivia by helping Ernesto “Che” Guevara found the National Liberation Army of Bolivia – E.L.N.

Soviets created “liberation theology” to promote Marxist “social justice” among naïve students on college campuses and seminaries.

Eisenhower confided, June 10, 1963: “The United Nations has seemed to be two distinct things … To the free world it has seemed that it should be a constructive forum … To the communist world it has been … a weapon to be exploited in spreading disunity and confusion.”

On June 5, 1967, Nasser prepared Egypt’s military to attack Israel in the Six Day War. Cairo radio announced: “The hour has come in which we shall destroy Israel.”

Jordan and Syria used Soviet-made weapons to shell Jerusalem and Israeli villages. The hot-line between Washington and Moscow was used for the first time.

Israel’s Foreign Minister, Abba Eban, addressed the U.N., June 6, 1967: “An army, greater than any force ever assembled in history in Sinai, had massed against Israel’s southern frontier … Egypt had dismissed the United Nations forces which symbolized the international interest in the maintenance of peace … Nasser had provocatively brought five infantry divisions and two armored divisions up to our very gates; 80,000 men and 900 tanks were poised to move.”

In a surprise move, Israeli Air Force flew under the radar and destroyed 400 Egyptian planes.

Sara Yoheved Rigler wrote in “Hidden Miracles,” February 2, 2003 (Aish HaTorah, Aish.com), that on the morning of June 5, 1967, Egyptian intelligence sent warning of Israel’s attack to the command bunker at Cairo, but the commander could not be found.

The previous night, he and other officers were at an air base in Egypt’s north delta attending a party where a famous belly dancer performed, and early the next morning were meeting a high-ranking delegation from Iraq. As a result, not one senior Egyptian officer was at his post when the Israeli air strike occurred.

Israelis retook the Sinai Peninsula, drove Syria from the Golan Heights, and captured Jerusalem, including the West Bank, the Old City, and the Temple Mount.

In a CBS-TV interview, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion stated: “In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.”

Israeli Commander Motta Gur told his brigade upon recapturing Jerusalem’s Old City: “For some two thousand years the Temple Mount was forbidden to the Jews. Until you came — you, the paratroopers — and returned it to the bosom of the nation. The Western Wall, for which every heart beats, is ours once again … You have been given the great privilege of completing the circle, of returning to the nation its capital and its holy center … Jerusalem is yours forever.”

Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan, in an act of “land-for-peace,” ordered the Israeli flag which soldiers had raised over the Temple Mount to be removed, leaving Muslims in control of the Holy Site.

After Nasser died in 1970, Anwar Sadat became President of Egypt. In 1973, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in the Yom Kippur War. The U.S. and Soviets supplied opposite sides, almost erupting into a direct confrontation.

The Yom Kipper War ended with a ceasefire, October 25, 1973.

President Jimmy Carter brokered the Camp David Accords in 1978, in which Israel agreed to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and participate in a “land-for-peace” process. Both Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Shortly after, Sadat was assassinated in 1981 by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, who also wounded Egypt’s next President, Hosni Mubarak.

In 1979, Carter withheld support of America’s ally, the Shah of Iran, allowing the fundamentalist Ayatollah Khomeini to seize power. Iran switched from pro-America to “death to America.”

Soon after, the Ayatollah Khomeini helped found Hezbollah in Lebanon. In 1981, U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon were blown up by Islamic terrorists. The U.S. response was to withdraw.

During the Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988, U.S. President Reagan supported Iraq’s Saddam Hussein against Iran’s Ayatollah.

Richard Aldrich described in The Guardian: “In the 1980s Washington’s secret services had assisted Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran.”

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush switched from supporting Saddam Hussein to fighting him in the First Gulf War.

During the Soviet-Afghan War, 1979-1989, the C.I.A. conducted Operation Cyclone, its largest covert operation, supplying arms and training to the Taliban Afghan “mujahadeen” fighters.

Sylvester Stallone’s 1988 movie “Rambo III” depicted this, as well as the 2007 movie “Charlie Wilson’s War,” starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.

One of those working with the U.S. backed Taliban was Osama bin Laden, who founded Al Qaeda in 1988. An Al-Qaeda affiliated group is Al-Shabaab, founded in Somalia in 2006.

Hamas was founded in 1985, out the Muslim Brotherhood.

In 1995, Bill Clinton was running for reelection when news of the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke.

Clinton fired cruise missiles into Serbia and, in Operation Deliberate Force, smuggled U.S. weapons through Iran to support the Bosnian K.L.A. – Kosovo Liberation Army against Orthodox Christian Serbia.

Richard Aldrich wrote in The Guardian, April 21, 2002, “America used Islamists to arm the Bosnian Muslims.”

The Bosnian War drove one million ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo. It ended with Clinton signing the Dayton Agreement in November 1995, recognizing the former Orthodox area as a new Islamic nation. In gratitude, Kosovo’s capital city of Prishtina erected a statue of Bill Clinton on Bill Clinton Boulevard.

The timing of the war distracting from the Lewinsky scandal was the theme of the 1997 movie “Wag the Dog,” starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro.

On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked by Islamic terrorists. A hunt began to find Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda.

President George W. Bush invaded Iraq in 2003 and removed Saddam Hussein in the Second Gulf War, leaving a power vacuum. This allowed the Islamic State of Iraq, later called ISIS, to arise, aligning itself with Al-Qaeda.

David Kilcullen, Former Chief Strategist in the State Department’s Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, said “There undeniably would be no ISIS if we had not invaded Iraq.”

The Boko Haram was founded in Nigeria in 2002, aligning with ISIS.

In 2005, President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressured Israel to give up Gaza in a “land-for-peace” promise.

President Obama supported the Muslim Brotherhood’s ousting of Egypt’s moderate President Mubarak. Reuters ran the headline, January 31, 2011: “Israel shocked by Obama’s 'betrayal’ of Mubarak.”

In July 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with 57 leaders of the O.I.C. – Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to support a U.N. Resolution 16/18 prohibiting anyone from insulting Islam, effectively abolishing free speech worldwide by placing non-Muslims in a dhimmi status.

At the end of the meeting, O.I.C. Secretary General Ihsanoglu stated: “The Istanbul Process initiated with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton … must be carried forward.” Clinton added: “We now need to move to implementation.”

Shortly after, October 2011, U.S. weapons were used to oust Libya’s President Gaddafi. Reuters reported March 25, 2011: “US mainly using precision weapons in Libya.”

Then, on September 11, 2012, there was a planned attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Six hours into the attack, President Obama spoke via telephone with Secretary Clinton and it was decided no rescue would be attempted. The next morning, Clinton’s State Department blamed the attack on a video insulting Islam and sent memos to YouTube and Google to censor speech insulting Islam.

When it was uncovered that the attacks had been pre-planned and not a spontaneous response a video insulting Islam, Secretary Clinton deflected, “what difference does it make.”

Then her emails surfaced, and it was uncovered that U.S. Stinger missiles had made their way from Benghazi to the Afghan Taliban who used them to shoot down a U.S. C-130, and that U.S. weapons were being sent to arm terrorists to oust Syria’s President Assad. Terrorist attacks reduced Syria’s Christian population from 2.5 million to a few hundred thousand.

The New York Post, June 18, 2014, reported: “The Obama administration isn’t only giving the Taliban back its commanders — it’s giving them weapons.”

Obama’s arming of Islamists was reported by The Los Angeles Times, March 27, 2016: “In Syria, militias armed by the Pentagon fight those armed by the CIA.”

Pushing back was Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who introduced the “Stop Arming Terrorists Act.”

The New York Times reported July 29, 2017: “President Trump has ended the clandestine American program to provide arms and supplies to Syrian rebel groups.”

TIME Magazine reported July 28, 2017: “President Trump ends covert plan to arm Syrian rebels.”

Around the date of September 11, 2021, the Biden Administration withdrew from Afghanistan, allowing China access to Afghanistan’s rare earth metals needed for batteries.

The U.S. left over the $85 billion worth of weapons for the Taliban, including 600,000 infantry arms and Black Hawk helicopters. Many of these weapons reportedly found their way to Hamas to attack Israel on Yom Kippur, October 7, 2023.

Biden’s response included sending humanitarian aid to the Palestine Authority which supports Hamas.

Biden gave Iran billions of dollars on September 11, 2023, in a prisoner exchange. Reports are that Iran supports Hamas which is attacking Israel.

There are even reports claiming that some of the U.S. weapons Biden supplied to Ukraine have fallen into the hands of the neo-Nazi group Azov, and from there to Hamas to attack Israel.

Much prayer is being offered for Israel, a small country of only 9.3 million people, surrounded by the Arab League of Nations with a combined population of 400 million.

An incredible story is revisited. The co-founder of Hamas was Sheikh Hassan Yousef. In 1978, his son, Mosab Hassan Yousef, was born. Yousef grew up in Palestine and saw how ruthlessly Hamas terrorized civilians. From 1997 to 2007, Yousef secretly warned Israelis of impending suicide attacks to save their lives. He eventually became a Christian and escaped to America.

Having seen the effect of Hamas’ Wahabi beliefs up close, Yousef explained in a CBN interview, May 22, 2010: “My problem is with the god of the Qur'an … If we compare his personality to the God of the Bible, we will find the difference … ‘From their fruits we know them’ … The fruits of the god of the Qur'an is terrorism, beating women, killing children … My transformation … took six years of study, it was not overnight … I had to study Christianity … and other religions … I considered at some point not to believe in any religion … The only path I found peace, which was good for me and good for all mankind, was Jesus Christ.”