Israel no longer hides its ambition to become the dominant power in the Middle East. It seeks to achieve this not by occupying the region’s capitals or defeating all its armies, but by controlling the balance of power, strategic routes, and political, economic, and security decisions.

What we are witnessing today is not simply a series of unrelated events. It is a historical process whose results are becoming clear. From the peace agreements to the destruction of Iraq, the Assad family’s domination of Syria and its eventual fall, the breakup of Libya, Sudan, and Yemen, and finally the Abraham Accords, the region has steadily lost its centers of power. Meanwhile, Israel’s opportunities to impose its will have grown.

Israel need not have created all these crises. It only needed to exploit them and push their outcomes in a direction that serves its goals. It does not need to occupy the region if it can influence its decisions, weaken its power, and tie its security to Israeli interests.

Strategic routes: The key to dominance

A look at the map of Israeli activity shows that the conflict is no longer limited to Palestine. It now extends to the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandeb, the Gulf of Aden, and the eastern Mediterranean. Israel’s growing relationship with Somaliland, its overlapping interests with Emirati influence in the Horn of Africa, and developments in Yemen and Sudan reveal the importance of ports, islands, and sea routes in Israeli calculations.

Here, Israeli and American interests meet. Control over trade and energy routes provides influence that goes beyond military power. The danger is that Arab countries possessing these strategic locations are now caught in wars and internal divisions, or heavily dependent on outside protection. Arab geography is thus turning from a source of strength for its own people into an open arena for foreign influence.

Saudi Arabia: Between exhaustion and the alliance trap

The situation between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis is a particularly dangerous example. Houthi attacks put Saudi security under constant pressure and threaten the Kingdom’s facilities and economy. Meanwhile, Israel is trying to use this threat to present itself as a security partner capable of helping Saudi Arabia. Israeli reports have spoken of offers to share intelligence with the Kingdom and the possibility of Israeli military intervention against the Houthis.

This raises a question: Could the threat facing Saudi Arabia be used to draw it into a security arrangement that includes Israel, and then toward normalization that sets aside the Palestinian issue?

It is not in Saudi Arabia’s interest to be worn down by the conflict in Yemen. It has asked the Makkah alliance to intervene, and there is a strong possibility that Egypt may enter the war in support of Saudi Arabia. Nor is it in the interest of Arabs or Muslims for Yemen to remain a permanent battlefield.

The strategic choice is to protect the Kingdom’s security, end the war, restore a functioning Yemeni state, and reject attempts to use security threats to impose dependence.

The crisis of political will

The problem lies not only in Israel’s strength but also in the weakness of Arab political will. From the UAE to Morocco, and from Egypt to countries suffering from internal collapse, relations with Israel take different forms. Yet the troubling result is Israel’s growing ability to gain influence within regional interests and alliances.

The Abraham Accords were promoted as a project for peace and prosperity. Today, however, they raise deeper questions about whether normalization is being used to build a regional order that gives Israel a leading security and economic role.

What kind of peace allows occupation, settlement expansion, and aggression to continue? What kind of stability rests on denying Palestinians their rights or encroaching on Syrian territory?

One of the gravest problems facing our nations is that the survival of some governments has become tied to preserving the existing balance of power. Political independence has become a burden whose cost these governments fear.

Israel is losing the moral battle

Within this bleak picture, another change is emerging—one that may have a deeper impact than military alliances. A new generation is forming its understanding of the world through the scenes coming from Gaza. It sees the reality of occupation and recognizes the gap between Western promises of freedom and human rights and Western political positions on Palestine.

The Israeli narrative no longer enjoys the same protection from criticism that it had for decades. Young people have taken to university campuses and streets, in both East and West, rejecting occupation and settlements and demanding justice and accountability.

Here lies the great contradiction: Israel is gaining power, yet it faces a growing challenge over public awareness, moral standing, and legitimacy. The struggle is against occupation, injustice, and domination.

Divine laws

Military power alone does not shape history, and the balance of power does not remain fixed.

God says: “Such days We alternate among the people.” (Qur’an, 3:140) He says: “God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves.” (Qur’an, 13:11)

Among God’s laws is that hardship can awaken awareness, and suffering can produce generations with a stronger understanding of their responsibilities. But victory is not promised to those who merely express anger or wait. It requires faith, knowledge, work, preparation, and patience.

I believe that today’s events may be preparing the ground for a new generation—one that does not inherit the helplessness of its leaders, accept tyranny, or reduce resistance to military confrontation alone. Instead, it would build a broad movement for renewal, bringing together knowledge, organization, and public, political, economic, and legal action.

Such a generation would distinguish between supporting Palestine and destroying Muslim countries; between courage and reckless action; and between meaningful resistance and slogans that ignore their consequences.

The future battle

Israel may be able to impose agreements, expand its influence over ports, and influence governments. But it cannot guarantee the loyalty of future generations.

This is where our responsibility begins: turning growing awareness into educational institutions, research centers, media projects, economic cooperation, and organized human rights and political work—all guided by a clear vision of liberation and rebuilding.

Awareness that does not develop into strong institutions may fade. Anger that does not become a practical project may consume those who carry it.

The greatest challenge to Israel is not simply the emergence of another military power. It is the rise of an Arab and Muslim generation, joined by people around the world, with the knowledge and determination to reject a future shaped by domination and occupation. Israel may be at the height of its power today. But reaching the height of power does not guarantee that it will last. History has never known permanent domination.

God says: “As for the foam, it passes away; but what benefits people remains on the earth.” (Qur’an, 13:17)

If past decades have seen the region reshaped in Israel’s favor, the hope is that the coming decades will see the development of people who reject this domination and have the ability to change it.

Central to resisting and ending the ambitions of the Zionist project is a united leadership, free from internal conflict and sincerely devoted to God. Such leaders would seek neither titles nor positions. They would serve the cause faithfully, seeking God’s approval and placing the interests of Palestine and the wider Muslim community above all other considerations and personal desires.

This is not a wish that can replace action. It is the responsibility of a generation whose preparation we must begin supporting now.