Tag: terrorism

Concluded in mid-September, the sixth annual International Conference on Global Terrorism in Herzliya, Israel, underscored the growing threat of mega-terror. To a large extent, this existential threat to Israel is made worse by the always-deliberate insertion of terrorist personnel and assets in the midst of civilian populations.

Now we have passed the five-year anniversary of September 11, 2006 - with all of the horrifying memories, with all of the recurrent pain. We know today, that all pertinent government agencies are working 24/7 to keep us safe in the future. We know, as well, that even greater preparedness can never make us truly safe. We know, above all, that we must continue with our daily lives, personal and collective, and that we must not submit to the unprecedented blackmail of Islamic terrorism ("Convert or die!").

Beautify The Shrines    This is the time of year when we, the Jewish people, visit our holy places in Israel. Having just visited Kever...

The roots of 9/11 lie deeply embedded in civilizational hostility - in its distinctly partial - but nonetheless - primal Islamic hatred for western modernity. This fixed and growing hatred extends to other major religions, especially Judaism, but also to certain elements of Christianity. And although it is true that the greatest portion of Muslims rejects terror violence as a means of fulfilling presumed Islamic expectations, the remaining portion is not statistically insignificant. This group numbers (at least) in the tens-of-millions.

There is some confusion these days over who is really in favor of peace, who is still clueless, who is a defeatist, and who has failed to learn anything at all about the Middle East conflict over the past 20 years.

Humanitarian international law continues to correctly require that every use of force by an army or insurgent force meet the test of "proportionality." Going back to the basic legal principle that "the means that can be used to injure an enemy are not unlimited," proportionality stipulates (among other things) that every exercise of armed force be limited to the minimum application needed for operational success. More specifically, this ancient principle of customary international law applies to all judgments of military advantage and to all planned reprisals.

Israel now faces existential destruction from two main sources: The Islamic Republic of Iran and the aspiring Islamic republic of "Palestine." One source is an established state with an expanding near-term potential to inflict nuclear harms. The other is a Hamas-led configuration of terror groups that seeks to become a state for the immediate purpose of annihilating an existing state. Neither Iran nor Hamas is particularly subtle or circumspect about what it hopes to inflict upon Israel. On the contrary, both are entirely explicit about their unrelenting intent to commit genocide.

Peace For Nothing Thank you for the wonderful job you are doing in keeping your readers informed about what's really going on in the...

The April 17 suicide bombing in Tel Aviv included the usual breakdown of casualties - the steadily rising number of dead and of those casually described as "merely wounded." But what, exactly, does it mean to be in the second category? Consider just a few of the carefully documented medical answers.

Science begins with the discovery of regularities. A regular feature of all Islamic "suicide" terrorists is a declared love of death. For us in the West, such declared affections must seem intuitively suspect. After all, they are contrary to everything we normally believe about self-preservation, reason and human behavior.

The Memorial Wall at Yad Vashem - the Wall of Holocaust and Heroism - has four sections, ranging from the Shoah to Rebirth. Magnificently designed by Naftali Bezem, it takes us movingly from an inferno in which the Holy is utterly profaned to the divine sanctuary of new Jewish generations. But these generations, symbolized by the countenance of a lion, must still shed endless tears.

A Speech Presented to Purdue University's Homeland Security Institute Published Exclusively In The Jewish Press (Part One)

Neither President Bush nor Senator Kerry addressed an absolutely key issue of current American foreign policy in the opening debate.

Televised images of Israel's recent defensive operation in Gaza suggest cruelty and indiscriminacy. In fact, exactly the opposite is true. By deliberately placing young Arab children in the front lines of armed mobs that march with lethal intent upon Israeli soldiers, it is Palestinian leaders who openly commit violations of the law of war.

Now that Israel has eliminated Hamas terrorist masterminds Sheik Ahmed Yassin and pediatrician child killer Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, Prime Minister Sharon may soon strike at certain other lead murderers who relentlessly plot suicide-bombings against Israelis.

One of the most popular causes among Jewish liberals is opposition to capital punishment.

Eye On KerryI appreciate the careful scrutiny of John Kerry that one finds in your editorials and among many of your columnists. This is...

A dreadful precedent was set recently by Spain. Recoiling in understandable horror from the March 11th Islamist terror attacks on commuter trains in Madrid, the voters in that country promptly ousted a courageous prime minister who had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States in Iraq.

Moments after the latest bus bombing in Jerusalem this morning (January 29th), the group claiming responsibility, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, identified its action as an expression of "freedom fighting."

According to Zeev Boim, Israeli Deputy Minister of Defense, Israel plans to target Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder of the deadly Hamas terror group. Boim authoritatively cites numerous acts of barbarism authorized by Yassin, with particular reference to Yassin's recent religious ruling allowing women to become suicide bombers.

Terrorism requires funding. Without actually understanding the complex patterns by which terrorists systematically pay for their nefarious operations and personnel, the War On Terror would fail catastrophically.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Shlomo Ben Ami, Israel's foreign ministerduring the Barak administration.

President Bush wrapped up his White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday by declaring at a Rose Garden news conference, "America is firmly committed to the security of Israel as a Jewish state and we are firmly committed to the safety of the Israeli people.

It happens every time: Let Israel bomb empty office buildings of the Palestinian Authority and the mainstream American media will for the most part restrain from pouncing - and point to that restraint as "proof" of their even-handedness. But let Israel take military action on a fuller scale and the wolves not only pounce, they devour.

It is no small thing that the civilized world is rallying to Israel's side in its vigorous efforts to stamp out the Palestinian attacks. In the face of a no-nonsense President Bush, it seems that Arafat is no longer persuading anyone with his empty promises. And despite the protests of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, it appears that Arafat will finally be compelled to call a halt to the terrorism.

A continuing refrain one hears these days is that Israel should not go too far in its war on terrorism and drive Arafat and the Palestinian Authority from power. Thus, while there is finally acknowledgement around the world ? even by the European Union! ? that Israel's efforts against the Palestinian suicide bombers are of a piece with the U.S.'s and the world's war on Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, fear of what would follow Arafat & Co. has accorded this terrorist entity some redeeming value. But we are not buying.

It is altogether fitting and proper that New York State's Governor George Pataki, New York City's Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Mayor-Elect Michael Bloomberg chose Chanuka for their solidarity visit to Israel. Chanuka symbolizes Divine deliverance and the triumph of good over evil, themes that have particular resonance now that both the United States and Israel are waging war against terrorism. Indeed, the presence of these three politicians in Israel at this time sharply underscores the parallel challenges presented by the events of September 11 and the more than year-long Intifada. Coming as well, in the context of President Bush's no-nonsense support for Israel's anti-terrorist efforts, it is an indication that American appreciation of Israel's plight is not only broad, but deep as well.

More looniness to report this week from our friends on the left, who since Sept. 11 have put to rest the notion that their habitual opposition to virtually any U.S. military action would dissipate the moment the country came under actual attack from a foreign enemy.

There is growing evidence that now that success in Afghanistan is within reach, the President is serious about pursuing the war against terrorism to other venues. One senses an almost palpable effort to prepare the world community for the so-called Phase II. It will be recalled that Mr. Bush declared soon after September 11th that targeting Osama bin Laden and his Taliban protectors would be Phase I, and that neutralizing the terror network around the world would constitute Phase II. And it is fast emerging that Iraq will be the first step.

In the light of the ostensibly single-minded war against terrorism, it is becoming increasingly difficult for defenders of Yasir Arafat to explain away his continuing embrace ? if not worse ? of terrorism emanating from within areas under his control. Further, the various Arab states that are nominally allied with the United States such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan are having a devil of a time justifying their continued support of Arafat despite his recalcitrance, and also their urging pressure on Israel to make concessions to the Palestinian as the price of their participation in the anti-terror coalition.