The Islamic extremist group ISIS is undoubtedly puppeted and utilised by the modern state of Israel in order to destabilise the Middle East, provide legitimacy for actions against Middle Eastern nations (such as Syria and Lebanon currently), and destroy various groups of Christians and Muslims alike, in order to help Israel obtain its two end goals: creating a ‘Greater Israel’ (physical) and rebuilding The temple of Jerusalem (spiritual).
The modern state of Israel, through constant warmongering and political interference across the globe, has constantly been promoting extremist/militant groups in Middle Eastern/North African(MENA) nations in order to legitimise invading them to expand their land and territorial power. An example of this, besides ISIS, is Israel’s funding of Hamas, admitted to by Yitzhak Segev, a previous Israeli general, and promoting Ahmed Yassin, who controlled Islamic schools and mosques in order to weaken the secular PLO’s influence and increase the power of their own enemy (Shipler, 2015, #), Hamas, in Palestine. After Hamas first attacked in 1989, Israel was quick to invade and expand its territory.
Fast forward to today, and most of Palestine has been taken by Israel through direct military action and creation of illegal settlements in order to create established homes and towns, justifying permanent occupation. The Gaza Strip has been turned into rubble, and all of the ancient churches in the region have been destroyed. Prior to the establishment of Israel, Christians composed ~7.9% of Palestine's population (REPORT BY HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND TO THE COUNCIL OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF PALESTINE AND TRANS-JORDAN FOR THE YEAR 1937., n.d., #), now it is ~2 %(IMEU, 2012). Israel targets Christians, and that is undoubtable, shown through the lack of action on Jewish citizens' treatments of Christians which includes pepper spraying, punching, and other actions (Rossing Centre, 2024.) and the disruption of Christian traditions/celebrations with the closure of Christian sites such as the Holy Sepulchre (“Al Jazeera,” 2026) among other actions. In many more cases which will be provided in this article, Israel and its puppet, ISIS, have genocided Christians across the Middle East. It is important to note that our Muslim Abrahamic brothers are also a part of this struggle against Israel and ISIS, and we must all work together in order to stop them, as much as Israel uses its propaganda to paint Muslims and Christians as diametrically opposed and enemies of each other.
In the case of ISIS, most of its leaders (+ all 9 members of ISIS’ top command) and initial growth came from US detention centres in Iraq, the most prolific of which was Camp Bucca, which processed more than 100,000 inmates. It provided a place for many Muslims who had seen the West destabilise their nations and commit atrocities on their people to be radicalised with this extreme Islamist and anti-western policy. The Islamic State emerged from this prison, among others (“Isis: The Inside Story | Islamic State,” 2014). From this, in the best case, the US/Israel led to the creation of ISIS through destabilisation of nations and negligence, but at the worst, they trained and facilitated those men, like Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (the leader of ISIS until he was killed in 2019), to create the Islamic state, which has been done similarly before with Hamas.
Even if the US/Israel didn’t directly facilitate the creation of ISIS, Israel has continued to foster its growth and has aided it through arming it, medical aid, allowing operation in Gaza, among other places, and more.
According to Syria’s state-run media group SANA, troops found “an Israeli-made artillery piece, 800 mortar shells, a machine gun with 10,000 bullets, in addition, an amount of bullets of 17 mm., 14,5 mm. and 30 mm. machine-guns and an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade], three RPG launchers and a number of telecommunication devices.” (SANA, 2019) Benjamin Netanyahu has also stated that Israel was arming the Popular Forces, a group based in the city, Rafah, in the Gaza Strip (“Aljazeera, 2025). Many leading members of the popular forces have been previous ISIS members who fought in the Sinai Insurgency (Middle Eastern Eye, 2025).
Iran has also called out Israel for providing medical attention to ISIS. As well as this, Israel has supported ISIS-affiliated groups and allowed ISIS to operate within the Gaza Strip in order to weaken the Palestinian resistance to Israel (Fox News, 2019).
The insurmountable evidence for Israel supporting and puppeting ISIS also works with Israel’s use to destabilise the Middle East, provide legitimacy for actions against Middle Eastern nations (such as Syria and Lebanon currently), and destroy various groups of Christians Muslims(who defy the Islamic states extremism) alike.
The destabilisation of the Middle East, coupled with legitimacy for its actions against Middle Eastern nations, has allowed Israel to continue its expansion. In Syria, for example, Israel illegally occupies the Golan Heights for ‘protection’ against the very threats it creates. It has moved further than the Golan Heights since (UN, 1982). This is all a part of the push to create a ‘Greater Israel’, with boundaries spreading across the middle east, based on various definitions given in the old testament, and evident in the expansionist Israeli foreign policy (The New Arab, 2024) and the economic/educational Israeli elites support for such a state. Israel’s aggressive territorial expansion in the Middle East reflects this belief.
Following the fall of Mosul in 2014, ISIS issued ultimatums to Assyrian Christians demanding they convert to Islam, pay a religious tax, or face execution, effectively ending 1,800 years of continuous Christian presence in the city. By August 2014, ISIS had captured predominantly Assyrian towns, including Qaraqosh, Tel Keppe, Bartella, and Karamlish, displacing over 100,000 Christians who were forced to abandon their homes and all their possessions, while religious buildings, including the Mar Behnam Monastery, were seized and demolished(BBC, 2014). In Syria, ISIS abducted hundreds of Assyrian Christians from villages along the Khabur River in early 2015, holding 202 of them for ransoms of $100,000 per person, while in Libya that same year, 21 Egyptian Coptic migrant workers were kidnapped and murdered. Attacks continued into 2018 in Egypt, where ISIS gunmen killed at least seven Coptic Christian pilgrims and wounded sixteen others (DABIQ, 2015). Altogether, these campaigns of terror, displacement, and murder drove an estimated two-thirds of Iraq's Assyrian Christian population from their homeland, constituting a deliberate and organised effort to eradicate Christianity from the region.
This eradication is deeply troubling, and the lack of awareness of the incredible hardships faced by Middle Eastern Christians helps contribute to their attempted destruction by Israel and its puppet, ISIS.
Due to the fact that theologically, Christianity is the natural progression from Judaism, brought forth by humanity's saviour, Jesus Christ, the Israeli elites' power is threatened. Many of the actions committed by Israel are justified through a theological lens, including the current expanding state itself. Another reason for Israel’s actions one might note is the intergenerational trauma from the holocaust, which has likely desensitised many, and created a society with an ‘Us vs them’ mentality. For example, a study found that holocaust exposure ‘primes increased support for aggressive policies against a current adversary and decreased support for political compromise via an amplified sense of identification with Zionist ideology.’ (Canetti et al, 2017,) The more power and strength Israel has, so does its elite. Christianity conflicts with these theological and spiritual goals.
For example, although contemporary thinking among many in Israel is that they must rebuild the temple of Solomon by demolishing the Al-Aqsa mosque to fulfil the prophecies and summon their saviour, he has already risen, Jesus, who was already born after the reconstruction of Solomon's temple under Roman rule.
Due to this conflict, it is in Israel’s interest to eradicate Christians, whose beliefs undermine many of the state's goals. It is important to not forget that the first Christian converts were Jewish, and many of those Christian Palestinians are descendants of them.
Everything laid out in this article points to one clear conclusion. The weapons found in Syrian territory, the medical treatment given to ISIS fighters, and the ancient Christian communities wiped from the map – none of this is coincidence. The destabilisation of the Middle East, the destruction of Christian and Muslim communities alike, and Israel's continued territorial expansion are not separate issues. They are all part of the same agenda.
The case of Hamas should never be forgotten here. If Israel were willing to build up Hamas to destroy the PLO, then there is no reason to believe they would not do the same with ISIS on a far larger scale.
But beyond all of the politics and strategy, we must remember what this has actually meant for real people. Eighteen hundred years of Christian life in Mosul, gone in a single summer. Over one hundred thousand Assyrian Christians were forced from their homes with nothing. This isn't speculation, these are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and their suffering demands that we pay attention.
Israel is not the friend of Christians nor of Muslims. The sooner we recognise that and stand together against the forces responsible for this bloodshed, the better chance we have of ensuring that what remains of these ancient communities survives.
Al Jazeera. (2026, April 5). Under Israeli restrictions, Palestinian Christians mark quiet Holy Week. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/4/5/under-israeli-restrictions-palestinian-christians-mark-quiet-holy-week
Canetti, D. (2017, 01). Collective Trauma From the Lab to the Real World: The Effects of the Holocaust on Contemporary Israeli Political Cognitions. 10.1111/pops.12384
DABIQ. (2015, 3 30). From Hypocrisy to Apostasy: The Extinction of the Grayzone.
Fox News. (2019, 9 25). Chris Wallace sits down with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. https://www.foxnews.com/video/6089152837001
IMEU. (2012, 12 17). Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land | ALL RESOURCES | Resources.The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU). Retrieved April 25, 2026, from https://imeu.org/resources/resources/palestinian-christians-in-the-holy-land/156
Iraqi Christians flee after Isis issue Mosul ultimatum. (2014, July 18). BBC. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28381455
Isis: the inside story | Islamic State. (2014, December 11). The Guardian. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/11/-sp-isis-the-inside-story
Middle Eastern Eye. (2025, 6 12). ‘Popular Forces’: Who are the Gaza gangsters being armed by Israel? https://www.middleeasteye.net/explainers/popular-forces-who-are-gangsters-being-armed-israel
Netanyahu admits Israel backing 'criminal' groups, rivals of Hamas, in Gaza. (2025, June 5). Al Jazeera. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/5/netanyahu-admits-israel-backed-armed-rivals-of-hamas-in-gaza
The New Arab. (2024, October 10). Smotrich calls for 'bit by bit' Israeli expansion to Damascus. The New Arab. https://www.newarab.com/news/smotrich-calls-bit-bit-israeli-expansion-damascus
REPORT BY HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND TO THE COUNCIL OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF PALESTINE AND TRANS-JORDAN FOR THE YEAR 1937. (n.d.). https://web.archive.org/web/20130923061547/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/7BDD2C11C15B54C2052565D10057251E
Rossing Centre. (2024). ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS IN ISRAEL AND EAST JERUSALEM. https://rossingcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Web-Harrasment-christians-in-jlem-report-ENG-2024.pdf
SANA. (2019, 9 25). Weapons and ammo, some of which US and Israeli-made, left behind by terrorists found in southern region. https://archive.sana.sy/en/?p=174201
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