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Are Palestinians Committing "Suicide by Soldier"?

(Times of Israel) Simona Weinglass - Ariel Merari, a professor emeritus of psychology at Tel Aviv University, interviewed would-be Palestinian suicide bombers in previous waves of attacks. Regarding the motivations of the current wave of stabbers, he says the first question that has to be asked is not why there are so many attackers, but why there are so few. He notes that there are many good opinion polls of the Palestinian population, and there is no doubt that the overwhelming majority of the Palestinian population hates Israel. "But when it comes down to it, very few are willing to carry out these attacks themselves." "It's pretty similar to what in the United States is called 'suicide by police'." The fact that Islam forbids suicide is key, said Merari. "If someone commits suicide, his family becomes outcasts. If he really wants to die, in the current political climate, it is very convenient to do it this way, to commit suicide by police. Because then the entire society will say, 'How wonderful, he is a shahid, he is a hero.' They will not say he committed a religiously forbidden act."
2016-02-02 00:00:00
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