Comments on: Who is a terrorist?

By: ALEXBMN

ALEXBMN — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 21:05:18 +0000

i think a good response to the “all israeli civilians are soldiers” is “well all Pals are potential suicide bombers.”And since their culture glorifies it, the potential is high.

By: Tom Morrissey

Tom Morrissey — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:17:23 +0000

Why define terrorists in terms of their targets, rather than what motivates them, or who supports or sends them?

Maybe Himmler was just a terrorist, for whom the German government was not responsible.

By: themiddle

themiddle — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 16:57:28 +0000

Purim Hero, this is a classic Hamas propaganda line. You need to revisit the issue in the class because only about 70% of all males in Israel serve in the military at some point. If your apologetic professor considers this little detail, in effect it means that she and the class concede that all terror attacks in Israel are illegitimate if they involve citizens.

By: Puirm Hero

Puirm Hero — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 16:24:07 +0000

Ah, the big question of Who and What is a Terrorist? I’m in an Arab-Israeli Conflict class right now in University (betcha can’t guess what side of the story the teacher is teaching… oh ok, your right, she’s Jewish, so she supports the Palestinian cause and makes a lot of appologies…)

Anyway, in the class the other day we decided to define terrorist, and the question of civilian attacts came up. Don’t worry though, there was a brilliant responce given using logic a Talmudist would be proud of. “Terrorism requires attacks on civilians, attacks on soldiers do not count, but in Israel, where everyone has either been a soldier, is an active soldier, or will be a soldier because of their draft laws, it can be argued that ther are no civilians in Israel and that everyone is a military target.”

Everyone’s a military target, gee that makes it much easier to kill indescriminatly and get away with it.

By: Tom Morrissey

Tom Morrissey — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:10:16 +0000

Livni’s correct. Middle, this is one of the salutary effects of the Hamas victory. What may have been written off in the past as the work or ‘militias’ or ‘factions’ or ‘terrorists’ must now be ascribed to the Palestinian leadership.

This is part of democratic accountability, and accountability within the international system. When the French engaged in terrorist-style attacks in Algeria, such attacks were imputed to France.

There’s no hiding for Hamas anymore. This is a good thing. A very good thing.

By: ALEXBMN

ALEXBMN — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:55:53 +0000

good post,however Israel already treats captured terrorists like enemy combatants.They are held in good conditions and can defend themselves in a trial.

By: Rami

Rami — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:05:38 +0000

The thing which Ms. Levine fails to realize is that each terror attack is not an isolated incident. If this is a war (which is the only time attacks on soldiers can be on some level legitimate) than each attack is a battle on the same front in the same war. It doesn’t matter that some attacks target soldiers and others target civilians, the Jihadists view both in the same light, attacks against the enimy. As long as they target both civillians and soldiers, then all attacks are illegitimate. If they only attack soldiers, it would be a different story. To say nothing of the fact that they same terrorists who target solidiers still use their own civilian population as a shield,if only by launching their attacks from civilian areas or by seeking refuge among then, thus involving cevilians nonetheless.

By: Manou

Manou — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 10:58:45 +0000

Lets just remember that to a good muslim (or potential terrorist) all jew is a good target (por all non-muslim)… But then, they know they need some support from all thoes peace loving left wing people in occident, so they give 2 very different speeches. One that clearly says kill for us, and the other that says they are just trying to survive in this oh so unfair situation. What shocks me is to see an israelie tries to justify this. Terroriste have no respect for life whatesoever, not even for the poeple on their side. Palestinian kids have been denied the right to a childhood, and are only taught hatred. Peace isnt on the way -at least for a while.