Why did Satan try to destroy the nation of Israel all through its history?
Satan understood the Abrahamic covenant made Israel the vehicle through which God would bring the promised seed of the woman. Therefore he turned on Israel, attacking it throughout its history, because destroying Israel would cause God's entire redemptive program to fall apart. This explains the persistent satanic desire to destroy the nation.
Les explains that when the Abrahamic covenant was given to Abraham, Satan understood that this was now the vehicle God was going to use to bring about the seed of the woman. So Satan turns on the nation of Israel, and all the way up through Israel's history there is that satanic attack and the apparent desire to destroy the nation of Israel. Because if Satan could destroy Israel, then God's whole program would fall apart. Les also notes the same pattern at the advent of Christianity: Satan does everything in his power to disrupt and destroy it in order to thwart the very program of God.