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Combating Terror in Israel

(Jerusalem Post) Boaz Ganor - The wave of terror that Israel has been facing in recent months is not, and has never been, an "intifada" - a popular uprising. While Israel is currently facing a severe wave of terrorist attacks, the number of people taking part is small compared with the number of Palestinians who took part in the intifadas. This is not to downplay the severity of the current wave or the challenge it presents. Despite the diversity among the Palestinian terrorists in the current wave, it is still possible to isolate the characteristics unique to this wave. At the base is a deep hatred of Israel; personal and social frustration; despair over the national and economic situation; or a generational crisis. All of these are channeled at a particular moment and under the influence of deliberate and prolonged incitement into an act considered by the terrorists themselves and many members of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim society to be an admirable expression of altruism, patriotism and religious devotion. The terrorists are not necessarily different from young Muslims in the West who undergo a process of radicalization and decide to join a group of foreign fighters in conflict zones or carry out locally initiated terrorist attacks in their own country (such as the couple who carried out the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, in 2015). Prof. Boaz Ganor is dean at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, and founder and executive director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at IDC, Herzliya.
2016-05-02 00:00:00
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