The Qatari prime minister let slip that the Arab League would consider territorial compromises as part of an Israeli-Arab peace deal. As soon as the United States got word of it, Secretary of State John Kerry rallied behind the deal in an attempt to get Israel on board. The comment, made on April 29, was seen by the U.S. as a leap forward in the direction of a peace deal.

It is almost comical that the U.S. could be so moved by the smallest of statements, while at the same time ignoring the threats directed at Israel by many nations in the Middle East, including those that claim to seek peace with Israel. There are numerous instances when Israel has been verbally attacked by surrounding nations, yet the threats have generated almost no response from the U.S.

The Arab League consists of 22 nations, many of which are passively, if not openly, hostile toward Israel. They certainly make known their hatred toward the Jews through their speech.

In Egypt, during a sermon in which a cleric asked God to “destroy the Jews and their supporters and disperse them, rend them asunder,” President Mohamed Morsi said, “Amen.”

In 2010, Mr. Morsi described Zionists as “bloodsuckers” and “the descendents of apes and pigs.”

The Palestinian Authority’s religious leader, the mufti, said, “The killing of Jews is a religious obligation.” When a religious leader calls the destruction of Israel an obligation over the sound of cheering crowds, what hope is there of achieving peace?

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said that Hamas’s goal was the “liberation of the Palestinian territories”—by which he is referring to the entire nation of Israel. Israel gave up the Sinai to Egypt in 1978. Since Egypt has become radicalized in recent years, the Sinai has been used to send weapons and terrorists up to Gaza, from where Hamas has launched rockets into Israeli towns such as Sderot, and threatened cities such as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

To the north of Israel, Syria is in upheaval while the Israel Defense Forces conduct strategic attacks on weapons shipments that are on their way to Lebanon. The terrorist group Hezbollah, which is part of the Lebanese government, openly threatens the lives of the citizens of Israel. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, said he was “against any reconciliation with Israel.” Mr. Nasrallah’s viewpoint is shared by many of his followers and by other Middle Eastern leaders.

Then there are the inflammatory remarks and actions of Iran, which actively pursues Israel’s destruction. While attending a United Nations meeting in New York on Sept. 24, 2012, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel had no roots in the Middle East and would be “eliminated.”

Regardless of how hard the U.S. tries to bring peace, it can’t satisfy the myriad players that affect stability in the region. Peace with Israel would contradict the religious convictions of many Islamist believers in the region. Some Iranian leaders, for example, believe Iran’s weapons will speed the second coming of the Mahdi, their version of the Messiah. It is a guiding principal of their foreign policy.

As Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes, “In the face of such problems—considering the existence of nation-threatening weapons today and the violent hostility bubbling up within whole populations in our world—you would think people would be scrambling to find some kind of a peace plan that would really work! Human civilization faces the very real threat of annihilation! This world desperately needs real peace.

“Herbert W. Armstrong actually showed this world a peace plan that does work: the way of God, and God’s law—the way of give versus the way of get. He taught about that way throughout his life, even taking the message of that way personally to kings and other leaders of nations all over the Earth.”

To understand the peace plan that works, read The Way of Peace Restored Momentarily.