Is there an unknown threat permeating our society?
In an interview with Dinesh D’Souza, Robert Spencer, the founder of “Jihad Watch,” discussed how the radical ideologies of jihad have dangerously taken hold of our Western society.
Spencer points out that the biggest global jihad issue today is “the jihad against Israel,” which he believes is “very poorly understood” in the West. He emphasizes that “a key and important meaning is warfare against unbelievers in order to subjugate them under… Islamic law,” a violent and expansionist form of jihad ongoing for 1,400 years.
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According to Spencer, the modern resurgence of political Islam can be traced to 1924, when Turkey’s secular government abolished the caliphate — the office seen in Sunni theology as Muhammad’s successor and tasked with waging jihad against non-Muslims. This void inspired movements like the Muslim Brotherhood to restore a legitimate Islamic authority and resume “offensive jihad.” In Shiite Islam, he says, the same impulse helped drive the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
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Spencer debunks the framing of the Israel–Palestinian conflict as a territorial dispute between two national identities. “It is not,” he insists. “This is an Islamic jihad.” Citing Gaza’s transformation into “a massive jihad camp” after Israel’s 2005 withdrawal, he points to Islamic teaching that land once ruled by Islam “belongs by right to Islam forever” and must be reclaimed.
He also warns of a “parallel movement” in the West — immigration “for the sake of Allah” — aimed at establishing Sharia-based enclaves and transforming societies from within. Citing statements from European Muslim leaders and a Muslim Brotherhood document describing their U.S. mission as “a kind of grand jihad… eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within,” Spencer views this as part of the same overarching strategy.
A surprising element, he says, is the alliance between radical Islamists and the cultural left. While ideologically opposed on issues like sexual morality and family structure, they share “the same enemy,” which is the traditional Western civilization.
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In short, the struggle Robert Spencer and Dinesh D’Souza outline is not merely a geopolitical or territorial conflict — it is a profound clash of civilizations. Understanding this reality is critical: the battle is not just for land or politics, but for the preservation of the moral, cultural and spiritual pillars that have long defined Western civilization.
Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
