Jewish extremist terrorism

Jewish religious terrorism is religious terrorism committed by adherents of Judaism, Its motivation is typically rooted in a fanatical interpretation of Judaic dogmas.

Terminology

As in case with other terminologies such as Christian terrorism or Islamic terrorism, the correctness of usage of term "Jewish religious terrorism" is disputed.

In their book "Jewish Terrorism in Israel" Ami Pedahzur and Arie Perlinger, tend not to distinguish between nationalist and religious Jewish terrorism: their term "Jewish terrorism" is defined as anything that (1)involves the use of violence; (2) has a political motivation that activates the violence; (3) has an intention to strike fear among the victims and their communities; and (4) the victims of terrorism are civilians or non-combatants.

Some researches on ethnic terrorism, distinguish between ethnic terrorism and religious terrorism, but admit that the distinction between these forms of terrorism are often blurred in practice. Daniel Bymen, in his study on "The Logic of ethnic terrorism" argues that Jews operate far more as ethnic group than as a community motivated by and organized according to religious doctrine. The author sees Jewish underground groups Irgun and Lehi as good examples of Jewish terrorism based on ethnic grounds.

History

According to Mark Burgess, the 1st century Jewish political and religious movement called Zealotry was one of the first examples of the use of terrorism by Jews. They sought to incite the people of Iudaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy land by force of arms. The term Zealot, in Hebrew kanai, means one who is zealous on behalf of God. The most extremist groups of Zealots were called Sicarii. Sicarii used violent stealth tactics against Romans. Under their cloaks they concealed sicae, or small daggers, from which they received their name. At popular assemblies, particularly during the pilgrimage to the Temple Mount, they stabbed their enemies (Romans or Roman sympathizers, Herodians, lamenting ostentatiously after the deed to blend into the crowd to escape detection. In one account, given in the Talmud, Sicarii destroyed the city's food supply so that the people would be forced to fight against the Roman siege instead of negotiating peace. Sicarii also raided Jewish habitations and killed fellow Jews whom they considered apostate and collaborators.

List of Jewish religious terrorist organisations

The following groups have been considered terrorist organizations:

• The Jewish Defense League (JDL) was founded in 1969 by Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City, with the declared purpose of protecting Jews from harassment and antisemitism. The JDL has carried out a number of bombing attacks against targets they consider threats to the Jewish people. The FBI’s Mary Doran described the JDL in 2004 Congressional testimony as "a proscribed terrorist group". The National Consortium for the Study of Terror and Responses to Terrorism states that, during the JDL's first two decades of activity, it was an "active terrorist organization.".

• Gush Emunim Underground (1979–84;): formed by members of the Israeli political movement Gush Emunim.

• Brit HaKanaim (1950–53;): an organization operating in Israel from 1950 to 1953 with the objective of imposing Jewish religious law in the country and establishing a Halakhic state.

• Kach and Kahane Chai: A political party founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in the early 1970s and based on his concept of Kahanism, outlawed by the Knesset in 1994 under anti-terrorism laws.

• Keshet (Kvutza Shelo Titpasher): (1981–1989) A Tel Aviv anti-Zionist haredi group focused on bombing property without loss of life.

Individuals

• Yaakov Teitel an American-born Israeli, was arrested in the aftermath of the 2009 Tel Aviv gay center shooting for putting up posters that praised the attack. Although Teitel confessed to the gay center shooting, Israeli police have determined he had no part in the attack. In 2009 Tietel was arrested and indicted for several acts of domestic terror, namely a pipe bomb attack against leftist intellectual Zeev Sternhell, the murders of a Palestinian taxi driver and a West Bank shepherd in 1997, and sending a booby-trapped package to the home of a Messianic Jewish family in Ariel. A search of his home revealed a cache of guns and parts used in explosive devices. As of January 2011, the case is still pending trial.

• Eden Natan-Zada killed four Israeli Arab civilians on August 4, 2005. His actions were criticized by then prime minister Ariel Sharon, as "a reprehensible act by a bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist", and author Ami Pedhzer describes his motivations as religious.

• Baruch Goldstein (December 9, 1956 – February 25, 1994), an American-born Israeli physician, perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, in which he shot and killed between 30 and 54 Muslim worshippers inside the Ibrahimi Mosque (within the Cave of the Patriarchs), and wounded another 125 to 150 victims. Goldstein was lynched and killed in the mosque. Goldstein was a supporter of Kach, an Israeli political party founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane that advocated the expulsion of Arabs from Israel and the Palestinian Territories. In the aftermath of the Goldstein attack and Kach statements praising it, Kach was outlawed in Israel. Today, Kach and a breakaway group, Kahane Chai, are considered terrorist organisations by Israel, Canada, the European Union, and the United States. The JDL maintains, on its website, "we are not ashamed to say that Goldstein was a charter member of the Jewish Defense League."

• Yigal Amir's assassination of Yitzhak Rabin on November 4, 1995 has been described as terrorism with a religious motivation. Amir was quoted as saying he had "acted alone and on orders from God." and that "If not for a Halakhic ruling of din rodef, made against Rabin by a few rabbis I knew about, it would have been very difficult for me to murder." A former combat soldier who had studied Jewish law, Amir stated that his decision to kill the prime minister was influenced by the opinions of militant rabbis that such an assassination would be justified by the Halakhic ruling of din rodef ("pursuer's decree"). This concept allows for an immediate execution of a person if it saves Jewish life, although the characterization of Rabin as din rodef was rejected as a perversion of law by most rabbinic authorities. According to Amir, allowing the Palestinian Authority to expand on the West Bank represented such a danger.Amir was associated with the radical Eyal movement, which had been greatly influenced by Kahanism.

See also

• Christian terrorism
• Islamic terrorism
• Judaism and violence
• Religious terrorism
• Religious violence
• Sikh extremism
• Zionist political violence