If you study history long enough, you begin to notice a pattern. Rulers often learn to speak the language of the people they rule, not because they believe it, but because it keeps them in power.
Take the Mongols. When they conquered the Middle East, they didn’t convert to Islam out of sudden faith. They did it to survive politically, to stabilize their rule, and to fit in. Versions of that move have repeated ever since. Governments throughout history, from empires to modern democracies, have sought religious or ideological approval to maintain legitimacy. It is happening again today, even as movements like the Muslim Brotherhood spread division and violence wherever they find a foothold.
Throughout history, leaders have had to deal with the beliefs and traditions of the people they ruled, sometimes even embracing them just to survive. And whenever belief and power mix, the results shape entire civilizations.
Armies Build Doors; What Walks Through Is Up to Us
Power has always started with strength. The Mongols had their fearless horsemen. The Romans relied on their vast armies. The Dutch built an empire on the strength of their ships. The United States reshaped the world with the atomic bomb. And today, Israel’s IDF stands out for its mix of intelligence, advanced technology, and a highly educated public.
But no army holds power forever. Military superiority opens the door, but it does not decide who walks through it. Ideas, economics, and identity do that work.
When Ideas Outlast Empires
From Hellenism to Buddhism, from Judaism to Islam, from modern ideologies like communism and socialism to secular atheism, systems of belief have shaped entire civilizations. They are not random philosophies; they’re guides that help people make sense of how to live together.
Even now, the clash of ideas shapes what we hear in the news and how our governments respond. Islam and Judaism clash visibly in global politics. Democrats and Republicans battle over democracy’s meaning. Russia still defines itself in opposition to Western capitalism, while China and Iran both seek global dominance for their own strategic and ideological ends.
That tension surfaced recently on CBC’s The Current, which featured Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the “Palestinian Resistance Movement,” before turning to analyst Shira Efron. The exchange highlighted how Western media often frames Israeli debate as division rather than strength, a dynamic that dates back to Menachem Begin’s 1977 election, when Israelis first began openly wrestling with questions of faith, democracy, and survival [1].
Two days later, another CBC program, Just Asking, featured respected academics Ian Lustick and Omar Dajani. Both spoke authoritatively about Gaza but sidestepped the elephant in the room: Hamas’s vast tunnel system built under schools and hospitals to wage war on Israel’s civilians [2]. That omission is not small. It reflects how stories people believe, not facts, often drive the conversations we have today.
Francisco Gil-White, scholar and author of the Management of Reality Substack, recently tested such narratives using logical analysis and even ChatGPT, exposing how casually the term “genocide” is applied to Israel’s defensive war against Hamas [3].
Economics: The Quiet Engine of Power
Behind every conquest is an economic story. Mohammed’s followers may have expanded their reach through battle, but what kept their empire together was smart governance by taxation and allowing local communities to run their own affairs. Once conquered, groups agreed to pay tribute and could keep their customs. This system, known as dhimmitude, worked for centuries across North Africa, Spain, and Persia.
That way of thinking still echoes in parts of the modern world. Islam’s expansion today, many argue, no longer relies on armies but on ideology, migration, and demographics. As Lebanese-born scholar Gad Saad explains, the conquest now happens through the “womb,” through “Hijra” (immigration), and through “using our freedoms against us” [4].
Saad’s warning is uncomfortable but worth engaging. “Cultures have values,” he says, “and not all values are equal.” His argument is not about religion itself, but about whether open societies can survive if they refuse to defend their own foundational principles.
The Erosion of Faith and the Consequence of Forgetting
British commentator Melanie Phillips takes that idea further in The Builder’s Stone, arguing that Western civilization grew out of Jewish and Christian values and that as faith in those biblical roots fades, so does the West’s moral direction [5].
Her book describes a new cultural virus she calls Israel Derangement Syndrome, an almost automatic hostility toward Israel and Judeo-Christian values she sees spreading through universities, media, and politics. She argues it isn’t driven by conspiracy, but by spiritual fatigue: a fading belief in truth, responsibility, and a shared sense of history.
Phillips writes, “Antisemitism is deeply rooted in Islamic theology. The Islamists aim to destroy the Jews as a way to destroy the West” [5]. Some call her an alarmist, while others say she’s simply voicing what many are afraid to admit. Either way, her findings are hard to ignore. A 2024 survey by the Henry Jackson Society found that 72% of UK Muslims believe “Israel is a racist endeavour,” a view that falls under the international definition of antisemitism.
Lessons From History and the Present Moment
As we approach the anniversary of the October 7 massacre, which coincides this year with Simhat Torah, Israel is celebrating the return of its hostages even as Hamas fighters resurface in Gaza under the new label “Gaza Security Forces.” The name may be different, but the mission hasn’t changed. Their goal is to make the world believe Hamas has disappeared while quietly preparing for the next war.
As Yoseph Haddad recently noted, “It is the same terror group in disguise. Their goal is to fool the world while keeping control, weapons, and soon billions of dollars meant for Gaza’s reconstruction.”
This moment, then, is not just about geopolitics. It is about what kind of civilization we want to be. The Mongols, the Romans, the Communists, and the Caliphs all tried to blend power with belief, using faith to justify conquest and ideology to hold it together. The same dance continues, only with different costumes and technologies. Human nature hasn’t changed much. What has changed are the stories we tell ourselves about it.
History keeps reminding us that survival depends not just on strength, but on the stories we choose to believe.
References
[1] CBC – The Current (Oct. 14, 2025). Interview with Mustafa Barghouti and Shira Efron discussing Trump’s Middle East peace deal. Listen here
[2] CBC – Just Asking (Oct. 12, 2025). Panel with Ian Lustick, Omar Dajani, and Rachel Fink on the Gaza ceasefire and its implications. Listen here
[3] Francisco Gil-White, “The ‘Genocide’ Accusation (Against Israel),” Management of Reality Substack, June 12, 2025. Read article
[4] Gad Saad, interview on cultural strategy and demographics, YouTube (timestamp 5:41). Watch here
[5] Melanie Phillips, The Builder’s Stone: How Jews and Christians Built the West – And Why Only They Can Save It, reviewed by Oxford House Research Ltd, June 27, 2025. Read review