Mitchell Bard, one of the leading authorities on U.S. Middle East policy, warns in his book “Death to the Infidels” that Islamic extremism in the aftermath of the so-called Arab Spring  has reached a fever pitch, making it increasingly unlikely that peace between Israel and the Palestinians can be achieved any time soon.

Bard, who has written or edited 22 previous books including “Will Israel Survive?” and “The Arab Lobby,” will be a featured speaker at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival. His book is a must-read for anyone concerned about Israel’s survival, a sharp increase in virulent anti-Semitism disguised as “criticism of Israel,” and a clear-eyed view on what policies Israel and the United States should follow to serve their security interests and advance the chances for peace.

“Death to the Infidels” painstakingly documents the growth of radical Islam in the Middle East, reaching an early peak with the success of the overthrow of the Shah of Iran by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979. It also tells how this event and those that followed have “transformed a political conflict into a one-sided religious war, pitting radical Muslims against Jews in Israel — and around the world.”

The new paradigm, as delineated by Bard, replaces the previous way of looking at the Middle East by focusing on the Arab-Israel conflict. 

“Political conflicts can be resolved through compromise,” Bard writes. “However, peace has proved elusive because the central element of the conflict is religion. The Iranian Revolution and the subsequent rise of radical Muslim groups, from al-Qaeda and Hamas to Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad (and more recently ISIS) have transformed the nature of the conflict between Israel and its neighbors.  For these Islamists, dividing ‘Palestine’ is not an option because of a refusal to tolerate Jews ruling over Muslims and a rejection of Jewish claims to self-determination on ‘Islamic land.’”

While much of the professional diplomatic establishment continues to operate as if the above fundamental shifts among Muslim movements had not occurred, the reality, according to Bard, is that the “Islamic-Jewish conflict is not simply confined to the Middle East. Muslim terrorist attacks have been directed at Jews all over the world, from Europe to Asia to Latin America and Africa. Jews are the primary target today, but

the radicals believe their faith requires them to subjugate all infidels. 

Hence, the extremists’ admonition: “First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people.”

Indeed the vicious persecution of ancient Christian communities throughout Muslim-dominated regions in the Middle East and North Africa has included the murder of Christian clergy, the burning of their churches, and in the case of ISIS, the wholesale slaughter of entire Christian communities, which had existed peacefully in Iraq since the eighth century.

Adding to Israel’s problems has been ongoing United Nations “anti-Israel activities,” which no longer come as a surprise, Bard says. He quotes former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan as admitting that Israel is often unfairly judged at the United Nations.

“On one side, supporters of Israel feel that it is harshly judged by standards that are not applied to its enemies,” Annan said, adding: “And too often this is true, particularly in some U.N. bodies.”

Bard offers bone-chilling quotes from Arab “diplomats,” which contain venomous anti-Jewish canards, including an outrageous 1984 statement by Saudi Arabian delegate Marouf al-Dawalibi: “The Talmud says that if a Jew does not drink every year the blood of a non-Jewish man, he will be damned for eternity.” 

In 1991, Bard writes, a Syrian ambassador urged delegates to read “The Matzah of Zion,” which insisted that Jews killed Christian children to use their blood to make matzos.” 

Like other observers of the Middle East today, Bard complains that “Westerners refuse to accept the goals and motivations of the terrorists and discount their guiding ideology and theology. ‘Our opinion-shapers will look into every possible angle of a terrorist’s background and history to find some way to explain away, or on occasion sympathize with, the perpetrators’ motives,’ ” observed Yair Shamir, a former Israeli Air Force commander. ‘In reality, our Islamist enemies’ goals are aggressive in nature.’ “

Bard warns that “Israel and Jews around the world will remain in danger in the long run, however, unless the West recognizes it is in a fight to the death with radical Islam. No permanent accommodation can be reached between Islam and Jews because Muslims believe that Allah is the one true God and that his teachings are the final word for all people. Muslims believe they will triumph over the Jews, even if it takes centuries to do it, and they will proceed to restore the caliphate and impose their beliefs on the entire world.”

Bard’s book was already completed when the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) had taken over one-third of Iraq and a major chunk of Syria. Hopefully, if a new edition is published, a new chapter will be devoted to ISIS and the fight to destroy this most extreme of Islamist terrorist groups.

It is difficult to read “Death to the Infidels” because of the harshness of its subject matter. But it should be read as a wake-up call by anyone concerned about the future of Israel, the Jewish people and the security of the United States.

Mitchell Bard