Looking at the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, and in the context of the expected global processes, the State of Israel must not rely on erroneous assumptions and mistaken lessons, certainly not after the Hamas assassination attack on October 7, 2023, part of an Iranian plot to integrate jihadist murderous energies into the Middle East.

The discourse in Israel these days is one of anger: about the lawlessness in the around the strip that led to murderous results, about the kidnapping deal that demands concessions from Israel that offset Israel's military achievements in the "Iron Sword" war, and about internal disputes that harm national resilience. The general situation these days is characterized by uncertainty that affects everything possible. 

The results of the last war indicate that Israel was not in the right equilibrium in the last generation – the security concept and the national consciousness created severe weaknesses in Israel's resilience, and Hamas was the first to exploit them. Israel commits to deep national soul-searching, the results of which go far beyond strengthening the Israeli army and Israel's ability to defend itself. This is a significant process that requires a different geopolitical outlook and a different national consciousness that corresponds to reality.

Looking at the Middle East, 100 years after the Sykes-Picot Accords, and almost 80 years since the establishment of Israel, the general situation has not changed significantly. While Israel has grown stronger and stronger, becoming a prosperous economy and a developed country, it is precisely in the last generation, since the 1990s, that Israeli weakness can be identified: irresponsible concessions to the Palestinians, and in a way that has brought Israel to a state of existential danger in the face of particularly violent waves of terror, and a polarized society that has not been able to break out of the circle of extremist political discourse, especially since the Oslo Accords and the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

But it is not only Israel that needs national soul-searching – the Middle East has not changed substantially since the Sykes-Picot Accords – although borders were set and sovereignty was given to the Arab tribes in the region, the general culture alongside the ongoing backwardness in the Arab world has strengthened the negative energies that exploded suddenly in the past decade, in the diabolical configuration of ISIS and its ilk. These energies are not the result of a country that creates evil like Iran – it is another player in this "show." This is a cultural phenomenon based on an extremist ideology of murder and takeover of the peoples of the region. This is the fundamental problem of the Middle East, and it is worth internalizing that these and other agreements are a postponement of the end, not a real solution. Even after the last campaign, which has not yet ended, the Middle East remains violent and unstable, and certainly not a fulcrum for a Jewish and democratic state.

These facts should be internalized – not only in military contexts, but in contexts of consciousness, which obliges current and future leaders to strengthen society, reduce internal conflicts, and address political and social challenges from a constructive perspective. Relying on "walls of security" cannot stand on its own when you are surrounded by endless energies of hatred. Walls are about to fall, and history shows us endless examples of this. It is clear that Israeli society is required to be much more sophisticated and determined than relying on the walls, but it is not the only one.

And this is where we enter the story of the Western world, which at least in recent centuries was supposed to be more enlightened, a temple of life, and an all-out war against murderous ideologies. Since World War II, it seems that the Western world has simply fallen asleep in this context. And when this is combined with a postmodernist and nihilistic outlook, it means an ongoing internal destructive process of a dying culture that is slowly falling into the hands of murderous ideologies such as anti-Semitism. We are witnessing an enormous erosion of the global regulatory mechanisms that were established after World War II and were designed to prevent the murderous phenomena that we have witnessed in the last generation: the United Nations, international tribunals, and the various tribunals have become extremely biased, to the point that they have lost their relevance – a disturbing indicator of a world in decline.

It is worth emphasizing these insights now, with the entry of President Donald Trump into the White House, and the vice that he presents to everyone, centered on a separatist policy and a return to a realistic worldview, in which everything is a zero-sum game, in the view of the deterministic phrase "if you are not with me, you are against me." In the short term, there may be changes to this concept, such as a "reset of the situation", but it is not an orderly change in the long term. The Western world must understand and internalize what is at stake here, which is a rigid, uncompromising, and consistent all-out war against the murderous ideology of nations that have served as the basis for terrorist organizations, and which maintain an endless cycle of backwardness. 

It is also worth understanding that Western culture, in the face of the threat described, is in a state of "an equation that does not converge." Postmodernist phenomena, first and foremost the blurring of the truth and the discovery of "alternative truths," are no less a serious threat. In an era of this kind, there is not a single structure, neither political nor social, that is not in danger of disintegrating. 

It is presumptuous to think that world leaders will gather in a room and make executive decisions that will be launched immediately, and it is also presumptuous to think that a real solution can be found to the chronic problem of radical Islam that manages to generate inexhaustible energies of murder. It is even more presumptuous to think that this or that leader will succeed in leading a deep and fundamental cultural change.  On the other hand, the Western world does not have the luxury of not dealing with this serious problem, and certainly not ignoring it – there have already been those who said: "If you try to escape from the Middle East, it will haunt you and reach your doorstep", and later there were also those who said "culture eats a strategy for breakfast".

The coming years in the contexts discussed are years of testing, and in this context, President Trump has a dramatic role to play – will we be able to see the West set the agenda and lead the world first and foremost in cultural contexts, or alternatively, a "strict" policy that initiates nothing, and only responds to the growing evil?