Effects Of Terrorism On Israeli Society

Since its founding in 1948, Israeli society has been suffering from the multiple effects of terrorism. Unfortunately terrorism remains the number one problem of Israeli society. Although the Israelis have put measures in place to fight against terrorism they have not eliminated civilian deaths. Death is not the only problem associated with terrorism, though it is one of the main concerns. The Israeli economy and Israel's relations in the international community are also affected by its war on terrorism. Terrorism is a conscious formation of fear to bring about change. All terrorist acts involve violence or the threat of violence. Terrorism is commonly used to undermine confidence of the government and leadership of the targeted country and its people. The word "terrorist" originated in France during the French Revolution, which lasted from 1789 until 1799 (Hoffman 1). Terrorism is usually associated with acts against governments or political groups. Israel and France are not the !

only countries that suffer the acts and effects of terrorism. The United States of America was recently struck at its heart, shaking our feelings of safety. The US is now making strides to defeat terrorism along with its allies and other members of the United Nations (UN). Terrorist organizations attack civilians because they cannot overcome the Israeli Defense Forces (Tucker 1).

Israel was founded on May 14, 1948 and has faced terrorist enemies such as from groups such as Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Hamas started out as a social welfare organization although it has developed into a group with its goals set high at destroying Israel and promoting Palestine ("Potential Threats" 1). According to the BBC News, Hamas recently formed the Palestinian government in March of 2006 (Patience 1). The Library also defined the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as a group of Palestinian fundamentalists with similar goals as Hamas ("Potential Threats" 1). The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was founded in 1967 by George Habash and has admitted they have been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks ("Potential Threats" 1). These Palestinian groups are so hostile towards Israel because it was declared a state where the Palestinians once resided. A majorit!

y of Israel is Jewish, about 80.8% of the 5,716,000 people in 1996 according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics. The Muslims accounted as 14.6% of the population, a majority of them Sunni. A few other religions such as Druse and Christianity fill in the remaining percentage of the population (Blumberg xxxi). Since September 11, 2001 terrorism has received a tremendous amount of attention around the world. Terrorism in the 21st century is particularly noteworthy in its newest form, known as suicide terrorism. Suicide terrorism is defined as intentionally killing oneself for the purpose of killing others in the service of political or ideological goals by the National Institute of Justice. Suicide bombers are mostly religious extremists although some take up arms for different reasons (Tucker 1). Suicide terrorism has become an ever increasingly popular way to attack. There are many different ways for suicide terrorists to carry out their goal. In the case of the September 11!

th attacks, terrorists hijacked planes. More frequently, s

uicide terrorists strap bombs to their bodies in a horrific display of martyrdom for their cause. Typically, suicide bombers are highly motivated and dedicate their own lives to fulfill a mission. Suicide attacks began in Lebanon in 1981 when a terrorist group called al- Dawa blew up the Iraqi Embassy (Hoffman 2). After the first demonstration of the catastrophic outcomes of suicide terrorism, there have not been shortages in this kind of deadly attack. At first, suicide terrorists were religiously oriented, militant young men from universities or mosques but recently the profile began to change to women and teenage girls (Hoffman 2). As efforts to identify the typical suicide specimen increase, the bombers change their looks and spoil the efforts by shaving their beards, dying their hair or wearing traditional clothing of orthodox Jews. This is making it difficult to prevent this type of terrorism and to even collect data on the people who are more likely to participate in suicid!

e terrorism. It is estimated that Israeli counterterrorism intelligence interdict more than 85% of attempted suicide attacks (Tucker 2). Not all terrorists are suicide terrorists though. Some groups use other methods such as explosives, firearms, chemical weapons and even biological weapons to carry out assassinations, kidnappings and hostage taking (Hoffman 2).

Hatred of Israel is bred in the youth of Palestine; their schoolbooks refer to Jews as "arrogant and sly traitors" ("Incitement, Antisemitism" 1). Education from birth teaches that there is nothing about Israel or Israelis that is positive. The books also emphasize support for jihad, or holy war. In a 6th grade book, there is a picture of a jihad-fighter (appendix figure 1) and a map called "Geography of Palestine" with no marked boarders that belong to Israel (appendix figure 2). Zionism is an international movement for the return of all Jews to Israeli, their homeland. In Palestinian schoolbooks, Zionism is said to be a threat to the Arabs and that they are obligated to fight it ("Incitement, Antisemitism" 3). In every year of education, a new level of hatred is taught about the neighbors of the Palestinians, the Israelis. An addition to the Jewish Virtual Library analyzing schoolbooks, the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (C.M.I.P.), a non-profit and non-political org!

anization founded in 1998, examines the content of the books as well allowing the world insight to what deep hatred is being fed to Palestinian youth. Internet propaganda is also a rising concern. While technology is advancing to counter and prevent terrorism, the terrorists are making similar breakthroughs. The Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) confirms that Second generation Jihads are now able to train possible terrorist members and take actions through the Internet alone (Geiger 1). Although there have been many strides forward in Israel's counterterrorism methods, terrorists are finding new ways to recruit potential members of their groups. Terrorism can be brought about by history, culture, social reasons, economics and/or religion (Hoffman 2). Ultimately, terrorists cannot be predicted based on education levels, poverty and/or living conditions (Krueger). The main reason for terrorism against Israel is religious. Because the Israeli state was founded in the historic la!

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