WATCH: War with Hamas is about theology

IDF Sgt. Major Chaim Malespin explores how the conflict between Israel and Hamas is fundamentally driven by Islamic theology, rather than just political or territorial disputes as is often portrayed.

Join the discussion by watching the video above or reading the lightly edited transcript below.

What if I were to tell you that the war with Hamas and Islamic Jihad – this war, even with Hezbollah – is a war about theology?

I know that might sound weird to you.

But after all, we hear that time and time again.

We keep hearing it's about land. It's about nationality.

People say it's about many other things, but the truth is, Hamas and their supporters do an interesting double talk, right? Hypocritical talk.

When they speak to Western audiences, they talk about freedom for Palestinians, a Palestinian state, maybe.

They know that people in the West are susceptible to this kind of talk. And they put on a show.

We call it Pallywood, right?

And they talk about how they're suffering so much and they don't live in nice houses, many of them, and drive fancy cars, many of them.

But, look at what they actually say in Arabic. Take a little bit of a deeper look, if you will, to see what the real subjects are that they bring up in Arabic with their people.

If you actually get a chance to listen to what Hamas says in Arabic, for example, their manifesto, you understand that they're talking about something totally different.

It's about jihad. It's a holy war as they see it.

Sadly, unfortunately, the mainstream belief among Muslims is that the entire world belongs to Islam.

The flag of Islam must fly over the whole world. Everywhere. Over London, over everywhere. No Christianity left. They either submit or die, be killed – have their heads chopped off.

The only peace in Dar al-Islam is just Islam. Everything's Islamic.

That's what they call peace.

Nothing else exists outside of an only-Islamic globe.

So you might ask why certain Muslims are willing to sign some kind of peace agreements with Israel sometimes, like Anwar Sadat, for example.

Why did they agree to that if all the world has to be Islamic?

Well, you have to look at a different subject, and I talked about this before, in their theology called hudna.

Hudna is a temporary break in the jihad. It's a temporary rest and regroup. Only when a Muslim cannot feed his enemy right now, he has to wait until he can regroup.

Just the minute he's got enough strength – this is radical jihadist...'must continue the jihad.'

He can't give up in face of the infidel. He can't live under the infidel.

And so it's taken from Muhammad in the Quran, when he was strong enough to conquer Mecca, he said, I won't fight Mecca and Medina. But when he was strong enough, he built up forces.

First, he signed a hudna. He signed a treaty with the Quraysh tribe, was it for 10 years?

And then broke it after two years, when he was strong enough to know he had enough forces to beat them.

And he did so for too long.

Israel, even the West, has tried to overlook this aspect of theology and thought, hey, when they say 'we will conquer all of the world,' you know, they say...well, maybe they're saying they need more Starbucks.

Maybe they need more job opportunities.

That's not what they're saying. They're saying we will defeat first the Saturday people, then the Sunday people, first the Jews, then the Christians. The whole Judeo-Christian faith, they say, is going down and they will be 'uqbah' – the greatest, you know.

So, the thing is the very same concept of a hudna, if you understand it correctly, it can also be a key to a practical solution.

If Muslim theology says that avoiding war when Muslims are weaker is unfortunately the only solution for Israel right now – make sure that they're too weak to complete this radical jihad, which is what they want to do, and then we can have a temporary peace.

But we got to know it's temporary. It's not real. It's not long-lasting. It's not really friendship. You live next to me and I live next to you. We have to get that with where their mind space is. Weaken them, to the point, okay?

Another solution we have – it's an even better one: Pray for the Muslims to understand that Issa, Yeshua, the Jewish Galilean, Messiah, that he actually came for all, to bring true peace and togetherness and one family for all who will follow him.

Share with them this fact.

Share with them this truth.

You've heard of the 'man in white.'

You've heard of these stories of this figure appearing in all kinds of places. I'm not talking just about in Gaza, but in Gaza, too.

Also in Iraq, also in Iran, also in...all over the place, Syria, and saying, 'Hey, I am the true Messiah.'

And the only way to really help the Gazans, the only way to help these radical groups that are all over the place is actually to have a change of heart, a change of mind, otherwise the same scenario would repeat itself.

Why don't we start by praying together?

Let's pray that these Muslims will receive a lasting peace that only the God of Israel can offer.

And may you be blessed in doing so.

IDF Sgt. Major Chaim Malespin has been serving on the front lines of the fight in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7. He is also the director of the Aliyah Return Center in Israel, a non-profit organization that helps Jews immigrate to Israel.