"The Myth Of The Lone Terrorist"

Are the terrorist attack this week in Jerusalem and the massacre in Yeshivat HaRav Kook independent spontaneous attacks, and is there nothing that can be done?

First, what can be done--here is a 2-minute video from Yechiel Leiter, Senior Policy Analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs:



Just how independent these 2 acts are is debatable. Abe Greenwald writes that The Wilderness Sounds a Lot Like Israel, referring to a piece by Amir Taheri in The New York Post who quotes al Qaeda “chief theoretician” Sheik Abu-Bakar Naji:

The Islamist movement must aim to turn the world into a series of “wildernesses” where only those under jihadi rule enjoy security.”

...In a notable departure from past al Qaeda strategy, Naji recommends “countless small operations” that render daily life unbearable, rather than a few spectacular attacks such as 9/11: The “infidel,” leaving his home every morning, should be unsure whether he’ll return in the evening.

Greenwald notes:

It’s that last bit about unspectacular “countless small operations” on an everyday basis that leapt out at me when I read about this morning’s bulldozer attack in East Jerusalem.

...When one thinks about it, plan B has been in effect in Israel for a long time. The bus explosions, café bombings, and school shootings seem to fit the “wilderness” model to a T. We’ve seen limited examples of it in the U.S., as well - although too rare and seemingly isolated to fall officially under the label of Islamic terrorism, (the July 4 2002 El Al shooting at LAX comes to mind.)

The fact is that "lone terrorist" attacks have taken place in the US as well. In an op-ed in The Washington Post back in June 2005 about "lone terrorists" in the US, former FBI agent Mike German writes:

The fact that these individuals, after being exposed to extremist ideology, each committed violent acts might lead a reasonable person to suspect the existence of a wider conspiracy. Imagine a very smart leader of an extremist movement, one who understands the First Amendment and criminal conspiracy laws, telling his followers not to depend on specific instructions.

He might tell them to divorce themselves from the group before they commit a violent act; to act individually or in small groups so that others in the movement could avoid criminal liability. This methodology creates a win-win situation for the extremist leader -- the violent goals of the group are met without the legal consequences.

Actually, there's no need to imagine this. Extremist group leaders produce a tremendous amount of literature, including training manuals on "leaderless resistance" and lone wolf terrorism techniques. These manuals have been around for years and now they're even available online.

"Lone extremism" is not a phenomenon; it's a technique, a ruse designed to subvert the criminal justice system. McVeigh did act as a lone extremist, as the FBI says. He was trained to do it this way. But his act of lone extremism was part of an ongoing conspiracy that continues to inspire violent attacks to this day, and to close our eyes to this conspiracy is to deny reality. It's a matter of connecting the dots.

"Extremist groups"..."literature"..."wolf terrorism techniques"--the comparisons to what Israel has to deal with from Palestinian Arab terrorists is obvious. It is not a matter of conspiracy theories and outlandish comparisons, but of examining patterns.

Dr. Joel Fishman of The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs writes about the current thinking that the terrorist attack by Husam Dwayat was an isolated spontaneous attack and in his article "The Myth of the Lone Terrorist" contrasts it with Palestinian terrorist strategy:

After an Arab from East Jerusalem used a bulldozer as a weapon for murdering innocent civilians on Jaffa Road on Wednesday, the police announced to the press that the terrorist had acted on his own. Such a statement has a certain finality which tends to stifle further discussion. It implies that the crime was what the French call, un acte gratuit, something done "without logic, motivation, and/or incitement." If one considers that the terrorist from Jabel Mukaber, East Jerusalem, who murdered eight students at the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva on 11 March 2008, also acted on his own (according to the police), it becomes clear that we are confronted with multiple acts of individual terror. Here is a problem which cannot be brushed off as something beyond our comprehension – like an earthquake or a tsunami.

...Eyad Kishawi, an activist living in San Francisco, published a treatise in January 2006 dealing with the strategy of political warfare. He wrote that it is better that the efforts of anti-Israel activists be de-centralized. What is important, however, is that they should convey the same coherent message. Kishawi emphasized the need for decentralization and individual initiative as a means to avoid the reach of the American law enforcement agencies and "Israeli extra-judicial and illegal activities." It is not a big step to adapt this principle to terrorist warfare.

Dr. Fishman brings us full circle back to the issue of punishment, as addressed by Yechiel Leiter above:

This refinement of method represents a danger to the public. The state must counter this type of incitement by establishing heavy penalties both for those who incite to violence and those who are moved to action. Indeed, it is necessary to neutralize an environment which incites individuals to perform crimes of hatred.

It has been noted that the Israelis who killed each terrorist are related to each other. Since the size of their family is not infinite, it behooves the Israeli government to take their own steps to deal with this developing terrorist strategy.

Crossposted at Soccer Dad

Technorati Tag: Israel and Jabel Mukaber and Husam Dwayat.