Not long ago, Western leaders eagerly lined up to shake hands with Bashar al-Assad, the once-celebrated dentist-turned-dictator of Syria. The media fawned over his wife, painting a euphoric picture of the couple, as if their polished image could erase the brutality of the regime.
In those days, Abu Mohammad al-Joulani—now conveniently rebranded as Ahmed al-Sharaa—was condemned by those same European governments as a terrorist, linked to ISIS and Al-Qaeda. His name was synonymous with jihadist extremism.
Yet today, the tide has turned. Assad is in exile, and Joulani is being welcomed into the halls of Europe as if he were a legitimate statesman rather than the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group now terrorizing the Alawites and Christians.
European leaders know exactly who he is and where he comes from—the dark heart of Islamist militancy. But that doesn’t seem to matter anymore.
Why? Because the Western liberal mindset increasingly mirrors that of radical Islamists: both believe that simply declaring something to be true makes it so. If they call Joulani a "moderate," perhaps they think his past will be erased.
Israel, however, takes a different approach—one rooted in ancient wisdom. As our sages taught: "Respect him - and suspect him." Respect is earned, not inherited—something Assad learned the hard way. The atrocities of the Alawite regime were abhorrent, and so are the crimes committed under HTS.
This is not a binary choice. They are both enemies of Israel and the West, and they should be treated accordingly—unless Joulani can prove otherwise, not with words, but with actions.
A word of advice to our European friends as they rush to shake Joulani’s hand in Brussels: Wash your hands well afterward. To arrive in Brussels, Joulani has had to crawl over and step on countless bodies.