Every effort has been made to obscure the nature of Israel’s enemy. Some pundits refer to the enemy as “militant Islam,” when in truth Islam, from Mohammad to Osama Bin Laden, has always been militant. To speak of Muslim “moderates” is to speak of a politically insignificant fringe element of Islam—and here it should be borne in mind that Muslims are masters of the art of ingratiation, and that Taqiyya or lying to advance Islam is required of the faithful vis-a-vis “infidels.”

Denial of reality permeates Israel. A three-day conference was just concluded called the “Jerusalem Summit”; its theme, “Peace Based on Truth.” This conference, organized by reputed Israeli conservatives, and attended by Jews, Christians and Muslims, was based not on truth but on obscuring the most crucial truth confronting Israel, namely, the true nature of its enemy. To emphasize peace in this country at this time is to disarm the Jews and aid the enemy!

All efforts to establish peace with Israel’s neighbors is the result of moral cowardice: a refusal to face the truth about Islam—about the “culture of hate” documented in the writings of that gallant woman, Bat Ye’or. All the divergent academic interpretations of the Quran amount to nothing compared to 1,400 years of Islamic history, during which Muslims pillaged, raped, and destroyed countless Christian and Jewish and Zoroastrian communities.

Let us face the truth: Israel and Islam are involved in a clash of civilizations. Those who deny this clash are guilty not merely of ignorance but of moral cowardice. Israel’s enemy is the same as America’s enemy—not “terrorism” but the engine of global terrorism: ISLAM. It is no accident that hatred of Jews and of Americans coincide in a world now witnessing the revenge long simmering in Muslims against Zionists and “Crusaders.”

The mother of all wars is descending upon us. This war is like no other. The enemy, like the countless admirers of Osama Bin Laden, has no state boundaries. Indeed, the enemy can tap 1.3 billion men, women, and children in more than fifty Islamic countries. I am not referring to potential Muslim “terrorists.” I am referring to professionally trained cadres involving hundreds of thousands of Jihadists training millions of more Jihadists in a worldwide insurgency whose primary target is Christian America and the Jewish State of Israel.

The alternative confronting Israel—and this applies to America—is not between war and peace. We cannot avoid the war that has been thrust upon us. This war will grow increasingly savage, depending, in part, upon the policies we pursue. We cannot negotiate our way out of this war. The enemy is committed to this war, and to our destruction. All our talk about peace amounts to lies—manifestations of moral cowardice. While we talk about peace, the enemy arms for war and trains more Jihadists from its enormous, widespread population.

While we talk about peace, the enemy is developing the most horrible weapons of war. Unlike our ruling elites, the enemy sees this war for what it is: a religious war. And because our ruling elites, out of moral cowardice, have failed to define the enemy, the enemy is winning.

Israel, like America, has no choice but to fight. The decision we make is about policy, which will determine the fight’s duration and its cost in human life and treasure. Unless we overcome the moral cowardice of our ruling elites, the darkest of tyrannies will descend upon us.