Has the struggle between the three faiths come to a natural end or is it to remain ongoing? Every day, we wake up with the hope to hear of a Gaza-Israel ceasefire. But every day we find the war morphing into a more complicated labyrinthine that does not seem to be leading to an exit.
In Game Theory, there is the idea of the Infinite Game, wherein the game has no finish line, and it goes on for ever and ever. This is something we experience in real life, in business and in politics — players come and go, and the game goes on. Unlike in usual games, the rules in an Infinite Game are ‘changeable’ and there are no ‘winners or losers’ — only ‘some players ahead and some behind’. Players have the choice to either ‘keep playing’ or simply drop out of the game, because they have either ‘run out of resources’ or of the ‘will to play’.
So, when the Jews were dragged out of the Promised Land in 70CE, did someone think that the game had ended for them? Rather the players just went into a stall because they lacked the resources to carry on. The Jews were indeed a wicked people for killing their prophets and defiling the word of God, but they were also the ones most persecuted outside the Promised Land. Especially, in Europe, that took the Jewish people as a whole, to be responsible for the killing of Jesus, their supposed god. The Jews were forced to live in ghettos outside the cities, where they were regularly subjected to massacres and expulsions. For two millennia, Europe regularly committed genocides and ‘pogroms’ against the Jews; perhaps the reason why Hitler did not realise he was doing something odd with them!
And perhaps this was the reason why the Jews kept dreaming of the return, and the reason why Balfour promised them a land definitely outside Europe, because of the hate. The Infinite Game theory tells us that new players can join and rules of the game can be changed. So, as it happened, the Jewish dream was abducted by the Zionist project, made by people who do not believe in God, but believe in the land promised by God; who may be secular or even atheistic in their lifestyles, but staunch believers in their politics.
On the other hand, the Muslim Arabs, who were known to be hospitable and protective of the Jews throughout history, turned fiercely against them only when the Jews conspired to occupy the land of the Palestinians. So, they battled against the Jews repeatedly, until eventually the Jews were able to pit one Arab against the other. This became possible in 1979 — the year when Khomeini returned to Iran, and Iran suddenly became a much-needed enemy of the West, and the Arabs became wary that the spirit of the Islamic Revolution would sweep away their kingdoms. Suddenly a Shia-Sunni faultline appeared and suddenly the kingdoms felt they needed Western strategic alliance for their protection — hence the Israel’s peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt.
Fast forward to today, following seven decades of apartheid and genocide of malnourished, isolated and unresourceful Gaza, came out a most fierce attack on resourceful Israel. While everyone else may be looking at the war as a humanitarian crisis that needs to be ended immediately, Israel and Gaza seem to be interested in more than just the ceasefire! They are playing the age-long game.
Gaza is playing the game of liberation of the whole of Palestine, and of the Bait al Quds, following the Muslim history written down by Caliph Umar, and stamped by the Prophet’s (PBUH) Mairaaj, wherein the flight to the heavens was taken from Bait al Quds.
And Israel is playing the game of ‘greater Israel’ that comprises not only Palestine but all the land between the Nile and the Euphrates. Surely not the land God promised to Moses but an imperialist lust of the Zionists, who want to swallow Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq!
So, what happened in this forever game on October 7? Why did Hamas call upon its own people, the fury of a largely resourceful, tyrant enemy? Something had changed in a historical sense; the Saudi-Iran rapprochement had happened; the Arabs did not have an existential enemy anymore; focus could be redirected towards Palestine again! And Israel again slipped into an existential threat.
So, what does Israel do, even when the government faces internal strife, protests, desertions and political upheavals; even when Trump presses Netanyahu for a ceasefire; even when Netanyahu’s coalition partners have started to resign in big chunks? Israel still has to act strong, because it’s not a simple game. Too much is at stakes. There is history, the Jewish dream, imperial lust, civilisational clash. And most of all, in the midst of it all is Netanyahu, with all the court cases hanging on his head, a man stuck in his own existential war. The Zionists know they are in a best do-or-die scenario.
So, Israel and Netanyahu, both faced with a now-or-never situation, like injured wolves, behave most unrealistically, most erratically, most aggressively. Knowing well their weak position with Gaza, they spill the war, to Lebanon, to Yemen, to Iran and now to Syria.
It’s like the game is infinite, but at any specific point of time, each player wants the end-game, the conclusion, the final victory! In such a game, there might be a ceasefire, but it will only be a temporary pause, because the game will go on, the ambers will remain, ready to be put on fire by a slightest irritant.