First of all nothing is simple. The issue is complicated are there are many reasons but Rabbi Yechiel Weitzman explains the core of problem in his book The Ishamealite Exile;
To this day, no solution has been found to prevent suicide attacks. There is no army or force in the world able to contend successfully with the terror of suicide bombers. All mankind stands impotent before these madmen. The military aircraft, tanks and rockets on whose strength nations relied until the recent past are utterly useless. There is nowhere to turn --almost nowhere, that is. For we still can turn to our Creator, and only to Him, to save us from the sons of Ishmael.
Hence, Ishmael is the means by which the world will regain it's lost faith. This is the nature of the Ishmaelite exile.
Yet make no mistake about it: Ishmael is not consciously G-d's messenger in this mission. He commits murder of his own volition, using his own free will. And he will come to his downfall at the End of Days because of it. But Divine providence makes use of a wagon already running along the course of its own choosing to bring the world under the dominion of the kingdom of G-d, so that all may recognize Him and believe in Him. This is where free will and Divine decree meet.
This plan, whereby Ishmael serves as a physician of sorts to heal us of our lack of faith, appears in our ancient sources. Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrkanos, Rabbi Akiva's teacher wrote (Pirkei deRebbi Eliezer, ch.31):
There were six individuals who were named before they were born.... Why was Ishmael [which means, "G-d will hear"] called by that name? Because the Holy One, blessed is He, will hear the moaning of the people as a result of what the children of Ishmael are destined to do to them in the Land [of Israel] at the End of Days. This is why he was named Ishmael.
Rabbi Eliezer, then, pinpointed both the place and the time: the Land of Israel at the End of Days. This astonishing forecast was recorded at least nineteen hundred years ago, before the birth of Islam and the existence of Arab culture. What lies beneath Rabbi Eliezer's question, "Why was Ishmael called by that name?" Wasn't the answer given explicitly in the Torah? Didn't the angel tell Hagar to name him Ishmael "because G-d has heard your affliction"? (Bereishis 16:11).
The answer is that if the name's full meaning was that conveyed by the angel, the name should have been Shamael ("G-d has heard"), for the angel referred to the prayer Hagar had already offered due to her suffering. But the angel specified a name that refers to the future, "G-d will hear." Rabbi Eliezer saw in this an allusion to future events.
Ishmael, through his persecution of the Jews, will bring the Jewish people to recognize that their own strength will be insufficient to solve the problem of suicide bombers. Only when they return to their faith and cry out to G-d in prayer will they be rescued.
The ideas discussed in all the preceding chapters regarding the Ishmaelite exile and the End of Days are encapsulated in a single verse of the Torah, where Moshe Rabbeinu informs the Jewish people what will befall them at the End of Days. He describes all the events that unfold today before our very eyes: "they enraged Me with a non-G-d; they angered Me with their nonsense. And I will enrage them with a non-people; with a despicable nation I will anger them" (Devarim 32:21).
How are we to understand why the Creator incites against us "a despicable nation," as stated in the passage referred to above, and why will those termed "a nonpeople" so enrage us?
The answer is hidden in the above verse, which appears near the end of the Torah. G-d tells the Jewish people that in the future, when they distance themselves from Him and provoke Him with a "non-G-d" (belief in other powers), then He will "enrage them with a nonpeople"; that is, He will have them live in proximity to groups who are not defined as a people.
The Ramban in his commentary on this verse explains that a "nonpeople" is a people that cannot develop a society fit to be called a nation, because they are not organized as a nation is. Rashi in his commentary relates a bit differently to the verse's meaning. He says that a "nonpeople" is a people that has no name." Yet the import is virtually identical to the Ramban's understanding: people who are not organized as a nation do not have a name as a nation. They are thus considered "a despicable nation," lowly and disgraceful. In all of our other exiles, we have been under the rule of peoples that had clearly defined national identities. They had a name and all the trappings of nationhood. Moreover, in the mercy of gangs of murderers, not established nations. (The Ishmaelite Exile, Rabbi Yechiel Weitzman)
While suicide bombings are not the current method of terror, the story is the same. The government can't protect us. The army can't protect us. The police can't protect us. So what is the solution?
Rabbi Chaim Vital adds, "We are at a loss as to what to do . We have no hope but to trust in His great name, may He be blessed, that He may save is from their hand." We see clearly that Rabbi Chaim Vital also reveals that persecution at Ishmael's hands will prod the Jewish people to renewed faith in G-d and to prayer. Only then will G-d answer.
Our sages teach us that prayer has the power to renew a person's faith. However, they say that only prayer that is called a "moan" (נאקה) has this ability. What is this moan?
Rescue from Ishmael requires a special kind of prayer. The quotation cited in the previous chapter from Pirkei deRebbi Eliezer explains that Avraham called his son Ishmael ("G-d will hear") because of the prayers that the Jewish people were destined to pray to be redeemed from Ishmael's decrees. With respect to these decrees, it says, "The Holy One, blessed is He, is destined to hear the moan of the people." A "moan" is a cry that bursts forth from the depths of the heart. In response to the awful sufferings that Ishmael will inflict upon Israel, they will cry out from tremendous pain with a moan. They are assured that when that happens, their prayer will be accepted.
There is an added dimension to our sages' choice of the word "moan" rather than "prayer" (תפילה) or "plea" (בקשה). Prayer is a request for something an infividual wants but does not have. But a "cry" (which Rashi uses as a synonym for "moan") is a prayer for life itself. The shahids around us give us the feeling that our very lives are in peril. Redemption will come only when we realize that without faith in G-d, our lives are at risk. Then we will truly cry out to G-d from the depths of our being.
Unfortunately, only the suffering Ishmael brings on us will lead us to this realization.
(The Ishmaelite Exile, Rabbi Yechiel Weitzman)
Unfortunately, only the suffering Ishmael brings on us will lead us to this realization.
(The Ishmaelite Exile, Rabbi Yechiel Weitzman)
We know from the Torah that Ishmael is called a pere adam. This is why Sarah Imeinu, who was a prophetess, saw by his actions what can only come from him, will be evil itself. In truth, today, the IDF could smash them all in one day but they have placed their bitachon in others, i.e., the powers of the nations and have (or never had) emunah in H', our Father in Heaven; thus, this is the way H' is making it that the IDF feeels powerless on their own, because of their lack of faith and their alliance with other nations, sot now the Jews will see they can rely on no one, but HaKodesh Baruch Hu! Let's pray that most (or all) awaken and call out to Hashem, and in an instant He will save every Jewish soul, and undo our enemies.
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