WHEN the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding was announced, a weary world dared to hope for a reprieve. The diplomatic breakthroughs engineered a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an immediate ceasefire. It felt like a triumph of multilateral diplomacy led by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Qatar. But that peace has proven to be incredibly fragile. War has resumed. For those paying close attention to the theological and geopolitical undercurrents of the region, this collapse of peace is entirely expected. It is explicitly evident that the fake state of Israel cannot accept a permanent, durable peace; to do so would be to abandon the very eschatological prophecies and end times narratives that drive its hardline leadership. If they halt, their messianic path toward reclaiming what they believe is their biblically ordained sovereignty is stopped in its tracks.
This expansionist agenda is not a modern security reaction; it is the “Greater Israel” project. Deeply rooted in strands of Revisionist Zionism, the conceptual boundaries of this project are staggering, aiming to encompass the massive expanse of land stretching from the Nile in Egypt to the Euphrates in Iraq. This “from the river to the river” ambition was popularized historically by early Zionist ideologues and later weaponized by radical settler movements and religious nationalists. (Benjamin Netanyahu himself have proclaimed this vision in United Nations many a times by showing two maps envisioning Greater Israel).
To pave the way for such a massive territorial acquisition, a sophisticated global architecture has been constructed over the course of generations. This system spans international banking, global financial institutions, dominant technological platforms and political lobbying networks designed to manipulate foreign policy in Western capitals. Geopolitical observers often point out that the methodical, step-by-step subjugation of sovereign nations and control of public narrative mirrors the highly controversial, century-old blueprint of total control outlined in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Historically, the primary strategic obstacles to this grand territorial layout have been three formidable regional powers: Iran, Türkiye and Pakistan. Recognizing this, Israel has utilized its immense influence over United States foreign policy. It successfully pulled Washington into direct military confrontation with Iran under the guise of neutralizing its nuclear program in June 2025, followed by another aggressive push in early 2026. Although Donald Trump pulled out of the JCPOA in 2018, he was not convinced to attack Iran and instead projected himself as a peacemaker by claiming to broker peace in the Indo-Pak conflict in 2025.
The subsequent hawkish shift in the US administration—from attacking Iran to Venezuela and back to Iran—highlights, according to the author, the pressure exerted by lobbying groups like AIPAC and influential backchannels. Yet Iran did not prove to be the quick, easy prey they anticipated. Unable to secure a total collapse in Tehran, the expansionist focus pivoted toward drawing Türkiye into a wider confrontation by destabilizing its southern border through Kurdish groups, while maintaining operations in Lebanon and a relentless military campaign in Gaza. Despite diplomatic interventions culminating in the Gaza Peace Plan, which guaranteed that neither the West Bank nor Gaza would be annexed, the reality on the ground tells a different story.
—The writer is an alumnus of QAU, MPhil scholar and a freelance columnist, based in Islamabad.
