Good evening, everyone.

Thank you, Avi Abelow, for inviting me to speak at this “Conference on A New Era for Israel” as a “Light Unto the Nations.”

Israel faces a challenging region, where Jew hatred, fueled by Jihadi ideology, makes the noble vision of being a “Light Unto The Nations” difficult.

Nations who hate us are not very interested in our “Light”

To be a “Light,” Israel must understand our enemies in order to be invincible, to overcome them and to survive — and then hopefully for them to see the “Light.”

Chinese General Sun Tzu said: “Know your enemy.” He is right.

Tonight, I’ll explain the Islamic doctrine of Jihad, its motivations and why understanding it is critical for Israel’s security and future.

Many Israelis underestimated Hamas before October 7th, believing that Hamas prioritized Gaza’s prosperity over conflict.

This “Conceptsia” was disastrously wrong, as Hamas’s brutal attack on October 7th—murdering 1200 Israelis and taking 250 hostages—showed.

Had we better understood Jihad, we would have anticipated and better defended against this tragedy.

Jihad is central to Hamas’s actions, yet it is not understood.

To grasp it, we must know the story of Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam, whose example the Koran in 89 places urges Muslims to imitate and emulate. Mohammed is regarded in Islam as “The Perfect Muslim.”

Because the Koran itself lacks biographical details of Mohammed, the Hadiths—the 6,400 authenticated stories of Mohammed’s Sayings and Deeds—and the Sira, his biography, both written 200 years after his death, provide a very clear picture.

Mohammed was born in 570 CE in Mecca, a tolerant polytheist town in Arabia where many tribes worshipped at the black meteorite cube in the town, the Kaaba.

During 13 years from 610 to 622, in his Mecca Period, he received revelations from Allah through the Angel Gabriel and preached Islam peacefully, converting between 100 to 150 followers: family, relatives, neighbors and others.

In 622 when he argued that only Muslims could pray at the Kaaba, his own tribe, the Quraish, expelled him.

He fled to Yathrib (later Medina), an agricultural town where 50% of the population consisted of three Jewish tribes.

Expecting the Jews to accept him as the Final Prophet because the Jews knew their Scriptures, Mohammed was disappointed when the Jews did not do so.

After a year of unsuccessful peaceful persuasion preaching Islam in Medina, Mohammed turned to violent Jihad toward the Jews, the first victims of Jihad.

The fate of Medina’s three Jewish tribes was grim:  In two years all the Medinan Jews were annihilated by exile, enslavement and the mass execution of 800 Jewish men and teenage boys who were beheaded in Medina’s Town Square, with their women and children enslaved.

The culture and civilization of the Jews of Medina and later of the Jews of Khaybar was the first of many cultures and civilizations to be destroyed by Jihad.

It was during Mohammed’s later Medina Period that Jihad By The Sword became his principal tool to spread Islam over all Arabia.

Mohammed committed Jihad and so Jihadis today, commanded by the Koran, must follow his example and commit Jihad as well.

The Hadiths permit Jihadi acts which ignore all civilized norms such as murder, rape, maiming, torture and deception against Kafirs or unbelievers — Provided That They Are Done For The Advancement of Islam.

This is what Hamas committed on October 7th, with terrorists joyfully celebrating and videoing their atrocities as acts commanded by Allah.

Jihad is Islam’s highest duty, offering a “Win/Win” for Jihadis. Let me explain:

If the Jihadis survive the Jihad, they conquer the Kafirs, spread Islam to new populations and territories and are honored by the Muslim Umma or Community.

If they die in so doing, they become shahids or martyrs and benefit from two important post mortem Islamic benefits:

First, they skip “The Terrors of the Grave”—a Muslim belief in torment in the grave for long periods of time by two angels fighting over whether they should be sent to Heaven or to Hell.

Second, they are promised Life in the Highest Muslim Heaven cavorting with 72 “Houris” or ethereal virgins for Eternity.

The Commandments of Allah and these two post mortem benefits drive Jihadis to embrace death, believing that it secures Eternal Reward.

It is for this reason that they say, “We love Death as you love Life.”  Douglas Murray calls them a “Death Cult.”

This strongly held religious belief and expansionist mindset fuels their relentless commitment to Jihad for the advancement of Islam.

Hamas’s actions reflect Political Islam – How Islam deals with Kafirs or Non-Muslims – which is discussed by more than 51% of the aggregate words in the Koran, the Hadiths and the Sira.

It is astonishing that Islam devotes so much time and attention in these books to Kafirs or Non-Muslims. Why?

Political Islam seeks to conquer the population and territory of the entire world and to convert or kill “Kafirs” or unbelievers or to enslave them or turn them into Dhimmis (discriminated minorities.)

“Kafirs” is an extremely derogatory term for Infidels.

The Koran states: “Allah hates the Kafirs and plots against them.”

The Koran further states that Kafirs can be warred against, beheaded, terrorized and humiliated.

Mohammed in the Hadiths and the Sira states that Kafirs can be killed, raped, tortured, mocked, cursed, deceived and condemned.

In Islam, Kafirs are considered to be “Concealers” or “Cover Uppers” in that we Kafirs know very well that there is only One True God: Allah, One True Religion: Islam, and One True Prophet: Mohammed — But we evilly choose to cover it up.

Koran Sura 2, Verse 191 declares, “Drive them out from where they drove you out,” commanding that lands such as Israel, which was conquered by Muslims from the Byzantine Christians in 637, remain Islamic forever.

This explains why Palestinians reject a Two-State Solution— The ceding of Muslim Land to the Jews is forbidden by Allah’s Command in the Koran.

If Israel were to defeat Hamas and control ALL of Gaza, Jihadis would see this as a catastrophic loss of Muslim Territory, sparking internal conflict over “Who Lost The Islamic Territory of Gaza?”

Jihad’s history is violent.

In the 9 years from 623 to his death in 632, Mohammed led 65 raids or battles, averaging one every six weeks, increasing his followers from 150 to 100,000 and making Arabia nearly entirely Muslim.

Jihad, as compared with his gentle preaching and persuasion in Mohammed’s earlier Mecca Period, was extremely successful.

Over the ensuing 1400 years, Jihad has killed an estimated 270 million people, particularly in Africa and India, destroying many cultures and civilizations and casting their populations into slavery and dhimmitude – and continues to do so to this very day. [FOOTNOTE]