Religion, Nationalism, and Terror

Derfner, Rattling the Cage: Terrorism, theirs and ours, Jerusalem Post, March 12, 2008

If there were any reason to believe that deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza would stop the rockets on Sderot and Ashkelon, I’d be in favor of deliberately targeting civilians. If it worked, it would ultimately save both Israeli and Palestinian lives.

I supported Israel’s unstated policy of punishing the civilian population in Lebanon during the war two summers ago because I saw no other way to rein in Hizbullah, no other means of bringing pressure on those fanatics to leave us alone.

But unlike most of the Israelis at all levels who want the IDF to make ordinary Gazans suffer and die, believing that this will force Hamas and Islamic Jihad to stop their terrorism against us, I recognize that such a policy is itself terrorism. Deliberately targeting civilians for a political purpose is textbook terrorism.

It’s not true what the cliche says - that terror is terror is terror. When Israeli fighter jets and cluster bomb launchers act with deliberate disregard for “collateral damage” in Lebanon following a deadly, unprovoked attack by Hizbullah, or when Israel chokes off the delivery of basic supplies to Gaza in response to steady, unprovoked rocketing by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, that’s terrorism. That’s punishing and killing civilians to force the enemy leadership’s hand.