God Bless October 7th
An ode to the single most consequential moment in geo-politics since the destruction of the Twin Towers.
Never say that those martyred in the cause of Allah are dead—in fact, they are alive! But you do not perceive it (Surah Al-Baqarah, 154)
On the eve of Purim, during the 12th night of Ramadan, an American/Israeli joint military operation struck Iran, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ending his thirty six year tenure as the country’s supreme leader.
Now the night sky across the Arab world is illuminated with the fire of rocket powered ballistic missiles—who needs stars? Don’t worry, the number of impacts are piling up. The Iranian military recognizes this as a fight for their very existence; each explosion is an instantaneous mural of the Ayatollah. His image immortalized in flame.
It’s hard to believe the inflection point for a potential new hegemonic war in the Middle East was Operation al-Aqsa Flood led by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades on October 7th, 2023. Though political tensions had been brewing for decades, it took the martyrdom of the Palestinian people to rupture the psychological and epistemological underpinnings of the rules based international order. There is no hyperbole in saying October 7th triumphs as the most consequential event in the modern Arab world, dwarfing even the Arab Spring uprisings of the mid 2010’s.
It was on October 7th that a coordinated joint coordinated operation center of a dozen different Palestinian resistance groups stormed the Gaza envelope, shattering the occupation’s longstanding myth of effectiveness and competence of its intelligence units. Statements made by official authorities and analyses on different platforms indicate Hamas implemented various strategies to mislead the occupation by implying the operation was planned for a later date. Though with little resources at hand, Hamas has seriously improved itself in the field of cyber-intelligence in recent years.
It was on October 7th that the global image of Israel as an eternal victim of Islamic barbarity was shattered. Trying to legitimize the unlawful tactics of the occupation revealed the flimsy transparency of international law. American politicians bent over backwards to legitimize the authorization of billions in aid packages while letting their most vulnerable continue to wallow in the refuse of neoliberal austerity. Public diplomacy for Israel became harder and harder, until the global hasbara industry finally collapsed; for the first time in 24 years, 41% of Americans now say they sympathize more with Palestinians, while 36% sympathize Israelis.
It was on October 7th that the bourgeois political kayfabe of the American Epstein class was thrown into disarray. As part of a secret “autopsy” report into how former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 presidential election to President Donald Trump, the Democratic National Committee concedes that the Biden administration’s singular commitment to backing the Israeli genocide in Gaza was a major contributor. Hamid Bendaas, a spokesperson for the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, described the policy as a “net-negative” in the 2024 election that caused a humiliating defeat and exposed the widening gap between the Democratic Party and their voter base.
On the other side of the aisle, the genocide in Gaza has made evident the hypocrisy of many so-called “anti-War Republicans” who miraculously found the willpower to vote again and again for aid packages to Israel. This dissonance provided enough space for the ascension of one Nick Fuentes, whose decade long crusade to rid the right of Jewish influence finally penetrated the zeitgeist. Now, in the wake of a political civil war waged by pro and anti-Israel figures, the Republican party faces complete disintegration over an irreconcilable position; America or Israel first?
Political accelerationists might see an opportunity amongst the chaos; an opportunity to capitalize off the disenchantment with popular narratives. Increase the pressure, pull the veil back and excise the occupation of your government by Israeli messianic theology. The world has long moved past the need for a political aspirational NGO class who exist to simply wash blood off Israeli hands.
It was on October 7th that the Arab world was forced to reckon with the decadence that had taken root in place of their piety; “The Palestinians, who for many decades thought that they would end the occupation and establish an independent state thanks to the support of the Arab world, realized by the mid-1970s that the Arabs would not take the necessary steps in this regard.” Had it been their druthers, the sultans of the Gulf monarchies would happily settle for a diplomatic massacre of the Palestinian people over a unprofitable confrontation with their Israeli patrons. And now, that neoliberal dream is shattered. Akhi, this is your war now, and your American allies remind you where you stand in the geo-political totem pole, stonewalling your requests to replenish interceptors — Pax Judaica takes precedence. Decades of petro-diplomacy and gold plated statecraft dismantled by the divine mandate of the Ummah; The believers are but one brotherhood, so make peace between your brothers. And be mindful of Allah so you may be shown mercy (Surah Al-Hujurat, 10).
It was on October 7th that revealed the machine god who stretches their left hand to Silicon Valley and their right hand to occupied Palestine. There is no corner of the Earth unseen by the machine god. Were you at a protest? The machine god saw. Did you wear a keffiyeh to school? The machine god saw. Did you post something antisemitic online from an anonymous account? The machine god saw and it didn’t like that. NVIDIA, OpenAI, Google, Palantir — all cults of the machine god sacrificing children in hopes of incurring gold coins to rain from the sky. Not only did October 7th reveal the machine god and its cults, but its patronage network of priests as well, derailing political dreams that have been years in the making.
It was on October 7th that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who died in battle in 2024, , attempted to spur a regional war that would engulf the Arab world in turmoil, a final battle cry for Palestinian survival. Yet it wasn’t until nearly three years later that his plan would see fruition, relying on the unending avarice of the occupation. The occupation was never going to end with the Palestinians, and Sinwar relied on an all-encompassing war to reveal Israel’s regional aspirations to its neighbors. And it seems that war has finally arrived.
So go Ayatollah. Be with Sinwar. Be with Nasrallah. Be with Soleimani. Be with the martyrs of Gaza. Be at peace. The consequences of October 7th will extend far beyond your lifespan, and the children of Palestine might finally see a future in its ripples.