Jewish terrorism is terrorism committed by extremists of Judaism.
Terminology
Some researches on ethnic terrorism distinguish between ethnic terrorism and religious terrorism, but admit that the distinction between these forms of terrorism is often blurred in practice. Daniel Bymen, in his study on "The Logic of ethnic terrorism", argues that Jews operate far more as an 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 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 religious terrorist organizations:
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.
Gush Emunim Underground (1979–84): formed by members of the Israeli political movement Gush Emunim.
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 Teitel 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 an American-born Israeli physician, perpetrated the 1994
Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, in which he shot and killed 29 Muslim worshippers inside the
Ibrahimi Mosque (within the
Cave of the Patriarchs), and wounded another 125 victims. Goldstein was lynched and killed in the mosque. In the aftermath of the Goldstein attack and Kach statements praising it, Kach was outlawed in Israel. 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"). 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
Footnotes
References
Juergensmeyer, Mark, Terror in the mind of God: the global rise of religious violence, University of California Press, 2003
Pedahzur, Ami; Perliger, Arie, Jewish terrorism in Israel, Columbia University Press, 2009
Sprinzak, Ehud, Brother against brother: violence and extremism in Israeli politics from Altalena to the Rabin assassination, Simon and Schuster, 1999
Stern, Jessica, Terror in the name of God: why religious militants kill, HarperCollins, 2003
Category:Arab–Israeli conflict
![Jabel Mukaber (Arabic: جبل مكبر Hebrew: ג'בל מוכאבר, also Jabal Mukaber or Jabal Mukkaber) is a predominantly Arab neighborhood located in the southern part of East Jerusalem. It is bordered by the Jewish neighbourhood of Armon Hanatziv[1][2] to the west, the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour to the north and the Arab neighbourhood of Sur Baher to the south. Jabel Mukaber has a population of 14,000.[1] Jabel Mukaber, like other Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem lying outside of the Old City,](http://web.archive.org./web/20110830010929im_/http://cdn6.wn.com/pd/35/ea/56f596e4b755dfbad3d8356c39ba_grande.jpg "Jabel Mukaber (Arabic: جبل مكبر Hebrew: ג'בל מוכאבר, also Jabal Mukaber or Jabal Mukkaber) is a predominantly Arab neighborhood located in the southern part of East Jerusalem. It is bordered by the Jewish neighbourhood of Armon Hanatziv[1][2] to the west, the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour to the north and the Arab neighbourhood of Sur Baher to the south. Jabel Mukaber has a population of 14,000.[1] Jabel Mukaber, like other Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem lying outside of the Old City,")
![Jabel Mukaber (Arabic: جبل مكبر Hebrew: ג'בל מוכאבר, also Jabal Mukaber or Jabal Mukkaber) is a predominantly Arab neighborhood located in the southern part of East Jerusalem. It is bordered by the Jewish neighbourhood of Armon Hanatziv[1][2] to the west, the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour to the north and the Arab neighbourhood of Sur Baher to the south. Jabel Mukaber has a population of 14,000.[1] Jabel Mukaber, like other Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem lying outside of the Old City,](http://web.archive.org./web/20110830010929im_/http://cdn5.wn.com/pd/35/ea/56f596e4b755dfbad3d8356c39ba_thumb.jpg "Jabel Mukaber (Arabic: جبل مكبر Hebrew: ג'בל מוכאבר, also Jabal Mukaber or Jabal Mukkaber) is a predominantly Arab neighborhood located in the southern part of East Jerusalem. It is bordered by the Jewish neighbourhood of Armon Hanatziv[1][2] to the west, the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour to the north and the Arab neighbourhood of Sur Baher to the south. Jabel Mukaber has a population of 14,000.[1] Jabel Mukaber, like other Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem lying outside of the Old City,")
