On Feb. 17, one day after the attack on a bus of tourists from South Korea, just across from the Hilton Taba Resort in Sinai, the terrorist organization that claimed responsibility for the attack — Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis — issued a statement calling on all foreign tourists in the Sinai Peninsula to leave within four days. Those who did not, the statement read, might get hurt. Founded in 2011, this organization pledges allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of al-Qaeda who succeeded Osama bin Laden.

A war is going on in Sinai. It won’t be decided in a day, or in a matter of weeks or months. It will be decided only when Egypt makes up its mind and shows resolve by allocating the necessary resources and manpower needed to accomplish this objective. Presently, Egypt has more pressing issues to attend to than Sinai. Having tendered his resignation from the Egyptian army, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to announce shortly that he is vying for the presidency. Barring a dramatic change (caveat: the Middle East is the bedrock of dramatic and unpredictable changes), Sisi will become Egypt’s next president. Seeing himself neither as the successor of ousted President Mohammad Morsi nor, certainly, as the successor of President Hosni Mubarak, Sisi will try to be the new Gamal Abdel Nasser — namely the father of proud Egyptian nationalism, which has its eyes fixed on pan-Arabism and which seeks to reinstate Egypt to its "natural standing" as the leader of the Arab world and a stable regional power.

Top brass in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are both hopeful and concerned. Keeping a low profile and trying to give as little public advice as possible, Israel also stays out of the limelight, where sympathizers from both sides are huddled (rooting for the Egyptians are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Moscow, Europe and the United States to a lesser degree). Any linkage between Israel and Egypt’s anti-terrorist struggle would be counterproductive to the latter’s interests, playing into the hands of those claiming that this is a joint anti-Islam scheme by Egypt, Israel and the West.

This is a true war of civilizations. Pitted on one side are the proponents of (relative) democracy, Arab nationalism and patriotism. On the other side is radical Islam, which sees the entire Middle East as Waqf territory, aspiring to set up one Islamic state; a caliphate that will be based on Sharia, thus doing away with the need for artificial national frameworks that were dictated by colonialist powers. And seizing the opportunity, it also wants to “throw Israel to the sea.” Jews have no business here.