Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”
Israel drew unjustified condemnation for its presence in Syria when it established a buffer zone between Israel and Syria after the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
According to The Media Line, Israel managed to secure control over “the demilitarized buffer zone in Syria that was established as part of a 1974 ceasefire reached between the two hostile countries. In that buffer zone is Mt. Hermon’s highest peak, the highest point on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The territory guarantees strategic control over the whole southern Syrian arena, which generates an immediate threat to Israel…..There is no higher vantage point than the Syrian part of the Golan.” In August, a senior advisor to Qatar’s emir, Azmi Bishara, illustrated the heightened threat when he warned Syria that normalization with Israel was “poison,” and that giving up the Golan reflected weakness.
“Palestinian Islamic Jihad reportedly expands military presence in Syria,” Jerusalem Post, November 26, 2025:
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror organization has started to build a growing military presence in Syria, according to a Wednesday report from Israeli public broadcaster KAN News.
This reportedly occurs with Syria’s full awareness of the PIJ’s efforts and comes as Hamas bolsters its strength in Lebanon through increased cooperation with Hezbollah.
KAN reported that the PIJ has expanded the capabilities of its military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, within Syria in recent weeks, noting a particular uptick in activity in the Palestinian refugee camps near Damascus.
Syria is considered a particularly convenient base for the PIJ due to the United States’ recent informal ban on Israeli airstrikes against Syrian targets.
KAN also reported that the regime of Ahmed al-Shara has even appointed an envoy whose sole task is to facilitate communications between PIJ leadership and the Syrian government….
Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is a worse threat to Israel and to religious minorities in Syria than al-Assad was. He is a seasoned al-Qaeda jihadist who even allied with the late Islamic State caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, until he betrayed him out of loyalty to the late al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Nothing has changed about al-Sharaa aside from his manipulative efforts to appear Westernized. He continues to fool far too many leaders of the West, including, apparently, Donald Trump; he even recently visited the White House.
One hopes that the news of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) proliferating in Syria will work to Israel’s benefit in waking up the willfully blind about the jihad. However, it likely won’t.
Note particularly that PIJ seized the opportunity to establish its base in Syria “due to the United States’ recent informal ban on Israeli airstrikes against Syrian targets.”
PIJ is also expanding in Judea and Samaria as it strengthens its alliance with Hizballah and Hamas. Muslim Brotherhood (MB) state funders such as Qatar and Turkey are likewise menacing Israel. Hamas is an MB offshoot; there is also an alliance between al-Sharaa and PIJ. In addition, Houthi jihadists are also reportedly active in Syria, which appears to be rapidly becoming a jihadist hub.
Tying the hands of Israel only allows the jihad to expand regionally and also globally. Sharia expansion globally is the goal of jihadists (stealth and violent alike) and is their religious duty.
The Jewish state is obligated to its citizens to do everything necessary to protect them and the state from obliteration, as would any country on the face of the earth.
