The current war in Gaza may appear to be like any other recent war Israel has fought against its Arab neighbors. Most headlines report with the typical slant: Palestinians good, Israelis evil. The casual observer sees that as normal; people around the world are taking to the streets to protest Israel’s “crimes.” But underneath the mountain of shallow reporting, the true facts show this is not just another Arab-Israeli war.

As of August 2, 63 Israeli soldiers had been killed, along with 1,650 Gazans, making it Israel’s deadliest war since 2008. The Trumpet has reported on the unprecedented levels of anti-Semitism around the world and the violent protests taking place in many nations. It has gotten so bad that leading Jews are fearful that another Holocaust may be starting.

Despite the rising number of deaths in Gaza, and subsequent Western outrage, there is a major difference between this war and previous wars in Israel: the stance many Middle Eastern nations are taking on the war. Unlike previous conflicts where Arab nations quickly condemned Israel, this time very little condemnation has come from the Arab world.

The defamation of Israel has always been a rallying point for the Arab world, but not now. Instead, the “moderate” nations—like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (uae) and especially Egypt—are remaining not only relatively silent, but are actually quietly supportive of Israel.

The reason? “The Arab states’ loathing and fear of political Islam is so strong that it outweighs their allergy to Benjamin Netanyahu,” Aaron David Miller said, a former Middle East negotiator under several presidents. “I have never seen a situation like it, where you have so many Arab states acquiescing in the death and destruction in Gaza and the pummeling of Hamas. The silence is deafening.”

This is a staggering change in Middle East politics. Israel now has potential supporters in the Arab world where it once only had virulent enemies. This does not mean these Arab nations are going to be best friends with Israel any time soon, but as the popular maxim goes, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

A recent story in the New York Times outlined just how active these nations are in assisting Israel in its war against Hamas. Egypt “surprised Hamas by publicly proposing a ceasefire agreement that met most of Israel’s demands and none from the Palestinian group. … [A]s commentators sympathetic to the Palestinians slammed the proposal as a ruse to embarrass Hamas, Egypt’s Arab allies praised it. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt the next day to commend it.”

Egypt has also publicly blamed Hamas for the mounting civilian deaths, rather than Israel. It has closed many of its border crossings into Gaza, denying the transportation of medical supplies into Gaza, though some supplies are now being allowed. The Egyptian Army has continued to destroy tunnels going into Gaza that are used to smuggle food and weapons. Some Egyptian television is so critical of Hamas that Israel has rebroadcast the programs into Gaza for Palestinians viewers to see.

To some Palestinians, the Egyptians are worse than the Jews: “Sisi is worse than Netanyahu, and the Egyptians are conspiring against us more than the Jews,” Salhan al-Hirish, a storekeeper in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, said. “They finished the Brotherhood in Egypt, and now they are going after Hamas.”

This support for Israel by “moderate” Arab states seemed to shift a little on Friday. Saudi King Abdullah broke his silence and openly condemned Israel’s action in Gaza, stating, “We see the blood of our brothers in Palestine being shed in collective massacres that have spared nobody, and in war crimes against humanity.” These comments were “lauded by the uae, which it said came ‘at a delicate juncture while we are witnesses [to] the continuous brutal Israeli aggression against the innocent civilians in Gaza’ and ‘clearly reflects stances of the uae and its people.’”

Once again though, these comments show just how different this war is. As one uae news source pointed out, “Unlike past Gaza wars, including the devastating 2008-2009 offensive, the Saudi monarch did not condemn Israel outright for the conflict. Instead he appeared to suggest that both Israel and Hamas were responsible, saying that the violence in Gaza has led to ‘various forms’ of terrorism whether from groups, organizations or states.”

A bigger enemy in the Middle East now threatens these “moderate” Arab states: radical Islam. Since the 2011 Arab Spring, radical groups have grown in power throughout the Middle East. Egypt was overtaken by the Muslim Brotherhood until the military stamped it out—that is why Egypt is acting so aggressively against Hamas. The civil war in Syria is still raging between radical groups. The Islamic State terrorist group has been incredibly successful in Iraq and Syria, and could threaten Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations if it continues to grow.

The Middle East is quickly becoming a bipolar region. The fact that these Arabs are willing to put aside their differences and work with Israel to stamp out even more extreme factions shows just how serious the situation in the Middle East really is. These are nations that only a few decades ago were actively working to drive the Jews into the sea!

This certainly isn’t just another Arab-Israeli war. It brings to light many key political alliances the Trumpet has long forecast based on Bible prophecy. Arab nations are quickly choosing sides between the “moderates” and the extremists led by Iran.

The war in Gaza also highlights how broken the alliance between Israel and America is, something else the Trumpet has foretold. As Walter Russell Mead wrote in an article at The American Interest, “This strange new band of brothers is Israel’s Plan-B alliance in case the U.S. folds on Iran.” Israel knows America doesn’t support Israel like it used to. Numerous reports have surfaced during the last month of the political fighting between the U.S. and Israel, including Israel’s reportedly tapping Secretary of State John Kerry’s phone while he was trying to broker peace earlier this year. As America continues to actively side with Iran, Israel has no choice but to look elsewhere for allies.

These are astounding new developments in the Middle East, but they are not the kind that will bring peace for Israel. Be sure to read our reprint article “A Mysterious Prophecy” to see just what will result from this new “band of brothers.”