"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.

How Jews Should Vote

The guiding principle...

HOW JEWS SHOULD VOTE

Rabbi Avi Shafran


Yes, Varda, there is a Jewish way to vote – or at least a genuine Jewish perspective to bring to political races like the current one for the American presidency.

Some Jews would assert that “voting Jewish” consists only of analyzing the respective candidates’ positions or pronouncements on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, or any of a number of domestic social issues, or on Iran, Darfur or the environment.

Such analyses are certainly proper. But there is a larger context in which to place them here, an overarching Jewish principle.

A June 6 New York Sun editorial [read here] rejected attempts to link Senator Obama with odious people he has known. The editorialist noted that even American presidents who had espoused repugnant views before their elections, came afterward to act very differently from what their erstwhile views would have led anyone to expect.

Before he ascended to the presidency, for example, Harry Truman expressed deeply negative opinions about blacks, Asians, Italians and Jews; yet, once in office he greatly energized the cause of civil rights and confounded his State and Defense Departments by recognizing Israel within minutes of the Jewish State’s declaration of independence. And – like Richard Nixon, another man with seemingly strong personal feelings of ill will toward Jews – he supported Israel with military supplies at a crucial juncture in the Jewish State’s history.

Thus, when it comes to world leadership, it seems, it is not unreasonable to expect the unexpected. The Sun editorialized its explanation of the phenomenon: “…once a man accedes to the presidency, reality has a way of asserting itself.”

The Jewish take on the unpredictability of world leaders, however, lies less in reality’s self-assertion than in the upshot of a verse in Proverbs: “Like streams of water is the heart of a king in the hand of G-d” (21:1).

The traditional understanding of those words is that while all human beings are gifted with free will, there are times when Divine guidance – even Divine coercion – can play a decisive role in the actions of mortals, and in particular those of national leaders.

That is not, of course, necessarily to say that by virtue of their exalted positions such people are mere automatons, or that they are never responsible for choices they make. “Merits are brought through the meritorious,” says the Talmud, “and iniquity through the iniquitous.”

What it is to say, though, is that some element of Divine intercession can sometimes be at play in a far-reaching royal – or Presidential – decision.

Thus, the Torah tells us, G-d “hardened the heart” of the Egyptian Pharaoh and, centuries later, acted through King Achashverosh to grant Esther’s wishes and rescue ancient Persia’s Jews from Haman’s hand. (The phrase “the king” in the Book of Esther, Jewish sources inform us, on one level actually means “the King,” the ultimate One). There are, similarly, many more recent examples as well of national leaders acting in ways that would never have been predictable before their rise to power. It is almost as if someone (or Someone) had reached into the leader’s heart and fiddled around with its contents.

When such Heavenly interventions take place, Jewish tradition teaches, they are the fruit of Jewish merits – or, sadly, the lack of the same. What matters in the end is not the leaders’ pasts but rather the Jews’ presents – the current state of our dedication to G-d and His will.

Which idea, of course, rather radically alters the attitude we should take, if not the calculus we should make, when we weight candidates for high office. It doesn’t obviate either the need to assess their characters or positions, or the importance itself of voting – a duty that Jewish religious authorities strongly stress. G-d’s intervention in human affairs does not absolve us humans from shouldering our ethical or civil responsibilities.

But from a truly Jewish perspective, the tipping point of how kings and presidents will in the end act regarding issues that matter most is the relationship of the Jewish People to the Creator. Whoever happens to be elected is of considerably less import than the critical factor: our spiritual merits.

So, yes, Varda, while there may not be a clear candidate for the Jewish vote in November, there is a clear perspective for Jewish voters to keep in mind: What matter more than our choices in the voting booth are the ones we make in our homes and our lives.

© 2008 AM ECHAD RESOURCES

[Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America.]

Technorati Tag: Obama and Jews.

Caterpillar--From Symbol Of Palestinian Victimhood To Palestinian Terrorism

Isabel Kershner, author of Barrier: The Seam of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict also reports for The New York Times. Reporting on yesterday's terrorist attack in Jerusalem, she concludes:

Caterpillar equipment has a special resonance among Palestinians. Human rights activists have lobbied the company to stop selling its heavy vehicles to the Israeli military out of concern that they have been used to demolish Palestinian homes, uproot orchards and construct Jewish settlements in occupied land.

In a post for Pajamas Media, Mike McNally of Monkey Tennis Centre responds

Israel has a policy of destroying the houses of suicide bombers and other terrorists as a deterrent, reasoning that even if a would-be martyr cares nothing for his own life, he might think twice about causing his family to be made homeless. It also uses earthmovers to demolish buildings used by terrorists as firing positions, to destroy booby-traps and to fill in tunnels used for smuggling weapons — although you wouldn’t learn any of that from the New York Times‘ report on yesterday’s attack.

And in response to the Kershner's reference to uprooting orchards:

Ah the orchards! What a masterstroke of evocation. Forget about the sniper nests and the tunnels used by terrorists to smuggle in their rockets and to kidnap and kill Israeli soldiers: think about the orange growers.

More to the point, McNally--like Kershner, notes terrorist Husam Dwayat's weapon of choice:

The front-loader with which Dwayat rammed several cars and buses before he was shot dead was a Caterpillar. Palestinian sympathizers and human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have for several years been waging a campaign against the US construction equipment maker, on the grounds that it builds bulldozers which are used by the Israeli Defense Forces to demolish Palestinian homes.

In particular, McNally recalls that a Caterpillar bulldozer was involved in the death of Rachel Corrie, whom many claim was murdered by Israel while she was trying to protect Palestinian homes, while Israel points out that the driver--who was clearing out the Palestinian terrorist weapon infrastructure--was unable to see her.

The point is that Human Rights Watch and others have been busy since then trying to demonize Caterpillar and sue the company--even while the Palestinian Arabs have had no problem using Caterpillar bulldozers themselves, as McNally proves on his blog.

But the fact that Dwayat has effectively turned the Caterpillar bulldozer into a tool of Palestinian terrorism could pose a problem. McNally concludes:

And now that a Palestinian has used a Caterpillar machine to murder innocent Israelis, maybe someone ought to tell Human Rights Watch and the other organizations that have attempted to demonize the company.

Will they want to continue with their campaign if Caterpillar becomes a symbol of Palestinian terror, rather than of Palestinian victimhood?

Since there are no Palestinian terrorists in the eyes of their apologist, continuing that campaign may not be as difficult as it may seem.

Technorati Tag: Husam Dwayat.

Terrorist's Family Gets Benefits

From Steven Plaut's blog, Zionist Conspiracy:

Batsheva Unterman had to undergo long periods of fertility treatment
before she was able to conceive. But at last she and her husband had a
baby. Five months ago, Baby Efrat was born, a healthy little girl.

Yesterday, Baby Efrat's Mom took her for a checkup in the clinic for
babies in downtown Jerusalem. When they were finished, Mom put Efrat in
her stroller and went out into the street. Mom strapped Baby Efrat down
in her baby seat in the car and hopped into the driver's side. The
injured terrorist inside the bulldozer had stopped the vehicle, but
suddenly started on his rampage again.

Batsheva was murdered by the terrorist, as she was crushed by the
bulldozer, which struck her car. Baby Efrat was rescued by a passerby.
She had never even broken into a cry when the car was struck.

Will the terrorist's family be expelled from Israel? Will their house
in East Jerusalem be destroyed or turned over to Jewish "settlers" as a
place to live?

No, grasshopper. Haim Ramon, Kadima politician, confirmed on TV
yesterday that the terrorist's family will be able to collect survivor
benefits for themselves from Israel's social security administration (the
National Insurance Institute), like any other Israeli who passes away.
Just like families of terrorists with Israeli citizenship who died while
murdering before him.

Even if the bill to revoke citizenship of Israeli Arabs involved in terrorism does become law, I don't know if it will apply retroactively--and even if it does, if it would retroactively affect benefits received.

Technorati Tag: Israel.

'One Terrorist Does Not Prove Extremism'

Hussam Duwiyat may have been an anomaly in his town:

Residents of terrorist's hometown say they are shocked that such a man grew in their midst. 'We oppose murder of any civilian, Jewish or Arab; there is no extremism here,' says community leader

Wednesday's report of yet another terror attack carried out by a resident of east Jerusalem had many in Israel's Jewish sector voicing concern it was only the latest in a worrying trend.

The Arab media reiterated however that the recurring theme of terror attacks being carried out by those carrying Israeli IDs are isolated incidents that were categorically not testament to growing extremism.

In Sur Baher, the hometown of 31-year old Hossam Dwayyat who killed three and wounded dozens in central Jerusalem with a bulldozer he had taken from a nearby construction site, most were shocked to hear the terrorist was one of their own.

True, most were shocked, but some--rejoiced:

Dozens of Arabs from Tzur Baher began shouting joyfully when news came of the terror attack by one of their neighbors Wednesday, HNN reported.

The terrorist's family members gathered in his house. One of the women of the family ululated with joy from a balcony, according to Nfc.

The point is not how many terrorists come from Tzur Baher; the point is how many celebrated the murder of innocent Israelis.

Technorati Tag: Israel.

UN Rights Chair Defends UN Watch from Egyptian Interruption

On June 16, 2008, the UN Human Rights Council debated "Human rights situation in Palestine & other occupied Arab territories." When UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer started to refute the arguments by Egypt and Algeria which claimed that asymmetry justified a one-sided mandate that grants impunity to Palestinian terror, the Egyptian representative attempted to interupt him twice. In response, UNHRC President Doru Costea, defended UN Watch's right to speak.

Maybe it's my imagination, but I think the Egyptian representative looks a bit dumbfounded.

Technorati Tag: UNHRC and UN and United Nations and UN Watch.

Great Britain's First Ever Salute To Israel Parade

Apparently, it was a success:

A festive spirit overtook London this week for the UK’s first ever Salute To Israel Parade. An estimated 40,000 Londoners marched alongside some fifty floats, including an open-top double-decker bus and a vintage Rolls Royce bedecked in Israeli flags.

Check out the pictures.

Technorati Tag: Great Britain and Israel.

Reminder: Global Tehillim Today For Gilad Shalit

From an email:

TODAY, Wednesday, July 2 (29 Sivan), the Hebrew calendar date of the second anniversary of the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, we call upon on all Jews throughout the world to recite one chapter of Tehillim (Psalms - chapter 121) to beseech G-d's mercy to have Gilad Shalit released. By reciting this chapter of Tehillim at the same time the power of solidarity and oneness can have a much greater impact on our prayers. Please recite the chapter of Tehillim below (chapter 121) at the following time TODAY:

6:00 PM - Israel Time
5:00 PM - Paris Time
4:00 PM - UK Time
11:00 AM - US East Coast Time
8:00 AM - US West Coast Time

HELP SPREAD THE WORD.
Let your friends and neighbors know so they can take part.

PLEASE ALSO PRAY FOR THE WELFARE OF THOSE THAT WERE HURT DURING TODAY'S TERRORIST ATTACK IN JERUSALEM

Click here to access Perek 121 of Tehillim

Technorati Tag: Israel.

A Republican Who Gives Speeches Like Obama AND Has Accomplishments

From Powerlne--a report from Joel Mowbray:

Striding the podium without a hair follicle anywhere on his smooth face, Josh Mandel certainly didn't inspire high expectations at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley this past Sunday night. The former Marine, who has served two tours in Iraq and currently sits in the Ohio legislature, is tall and lean, but in a suit, he looks as if he's about to pin a corsage on his prom date.

From the moment he began his speech, however, the Republican Jewish Coalition audience hung on his every word.

Read the whole thing.

Technorati Tag: Josh Mandel.

Palestinian Bulldozer Driver Goes on Jerusalem Rampage (Updated 2:33pm)

Israellycool is liveblogging this story.
See also Backspin, who was nearby where the terrorist attack occurred.

---

Abe Greenwald quotes from an article about an al Qaeda 'chief theoretician' who recommends a change in strategy:

“countless small operations” that render daily life unbearable, rather than a few spectacular attacks such as 9/11.

Greenwald notes how today's terror attack fits the description of this new strategy.

---

Lisa Goldman has a post on Pajamas Media:

At 2 p.m. Israel time, the chief of the Jerusalem police told reporters, as seen on Channel 10 (Hebrew link), that the man was suspected of being a lone wolf who committed the attack for no apparent reason. He was not suspected of having connections to any terror organization, but special units were nonetheless dispatched to comb his East Jerusalem neighborhood and interview residents.

...the Israeli security services — never known to minimize possible danger when lives are at stake — continued to insist that the Jerusalem incident was not a terror attack.

---

New law proposed in Knesset in reaction to the terrorist attack:

The Knesset approved in a preliminary reading on Wednesday two bills that would enable the government to revoke the citizenship of Israeli Arabs involved in terror activities as well as that of their families.

The vote came hours after a Palestinian man went on a deadly rampage in downtown Jerusalem, ramming a bulldozer into a crowded bus and a string of vehicles, killing at least four people and wounding dozens.

---

From Soccer Dad, in a comment on Contentions:

According to a number of sources it was the (off duty) soldier who killed the terrorist who was related to the man who killed the Mercaz Harav attacker.

The story thus far:

At least three people were killed and about forty others injured - many severely when a Palestinian bulldozer driver went on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem early Wednesday afternoon. VOA's Jim Teeple reports the bulldozer driver was killed by police who are describing the incident as a terrorist attack.

Israeli civilians emerge from a bus that was overturned after being rammed by a bulldozer being driven by a Palestinian on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, 02 Jul 2008
Israeli civilians emerge from a bus that was overturned after being rammed by a bulldozer being driven by a Palestinian on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, 02 Jul 2008
Witnesses reported a scene of chaos and panic as the bulldozer plowed through cars, knocked over a bus and damaged buildings on a busy downtown street near the city's main bus station.

The driver of the bulldozer was shot by police. They say no motive is known in what police are describing as a terrorist attack.

"The employee of a contractor company working on the street here in Jerusalem directed his bulldozer in the direction of civilian vehicles - a bus and cars that are on the street all the time yelling Allah al-akbar, apparent to us based on things we have experienced in the past,' said Daniel Seaman, a spokesman for the Israeli government. "This is undeniably a terrorist attack."

Police say the attacker was a Palestinian who lived in East Jerusalem who held Jerusalem identity papers. Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have access to Jewish West Jerusalem and carry out nearly all construction work in the city.

In March, another Palestinian from East Jerusalem attacked a Jewish seminary not far from where today's incident took place, killing eight students.

David Hazony observes:

Although Israel has done a great deal to thwart attacks from Palestinian organizations operating in the West Bank and Gaza, the problem of East Jerusalem is in some sense tougher — and tougher still if it turns out that he, like the attacker at Merkaz Harav, was working alone. Most East Jerusalem Palestinians have Israeli citizenship, carrying the same blue ID that non-Palestinian Israelis do, and have no restrictions on their travel throughout Israel. Most East Jerusalem Palestinians are just regular people with no interest in, or connection to, terror. And to build a wall through Jerusalem, the way Israel has done between its territory and the West Bank, will be tantamount to re-dividing the city — a prospect that few Israelis today are interested in.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be hearing a lot of rhetoric from some politicians about what to do about terror by Israeli Arabs, especially those in East Jerusalem. Putting restrictions on Israeli Arabs’ travel, as Shas leader Eli Yishai has called for today, sounds like the wrong direction for a country that takes pride in its democratic way of life. But this doesn’t make the problem go away. We should expect to hear from Mr. Olmert in the coming hours.

But what is there left for him to say?

Update: From HonestReporting:

While BBC Online currently covers the story "Bulldozer rampage hits Jerusalem," this was not the original headline. Offering a glimpse into the BBC's warped journalism, the initial headline read "Israel bulldozer driver shot dead".

Read the whole thing.

Technorati Tag: Israel.