Religious Violence And Jewish Justification

By Darren Signorino z3294933

The current face of terrorism Acts of terrorism have gone on for almost as long as history can remember. The earliest group to exhibited characteristics of what we would call a terrorist organization dates back as early as the first century: the Zealots of Judea or the Sicarii as they were also known. Centuries later, many acts of terrorism suffered, the organizations responsible come and gone, and terrorism is still, if not more apparent in the modern era. Analysis of modern terrorism shows how it has somewhat developed and progressed over the last two centuries. David Rapoport, UCLA Professor Emeritus of Political Science and an expert in terrorism, describes these successions as the four waves of modern terrorism. With each wave having different focus and aims, strategies, target identities and other defining characteristics. All of the first three waves- Anarchists, Nationalist and New Leftdistinguishing features are in the names. Despite the variations in the dominant features of these waves each has had some aspects of religion to it, however it was usually a secular aim to separate church from state. The fourth wave, the religious wave, is almost a polar opposite: it is religious principles that are sought to be implemented as the corner stone of a state. These dominant religious influences are often used for the justification of violence as 2

well.

Yhudiy Teroriyzm The early example of terrorism spoken of before, Zealots-Sicarii, was conducted by Jews under occupation by the Romans and while there were large religious elements at play it seemed that the main goal was to facilitate an uprising against the Romans- an almost anti-colonial campaign. In more recent times, within this fourth wave of modern terrorism, there are examples of Jewish terrorism with much deeper religious motivations. In 1983, in response to the killing of a Jewish religious school student by Arabs, the Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful) responded by shooting at students of an Islamic college killing three and wounding thirty-three. The same group went on to plan bombings of Arab buses; luckily they were arrested before the plan was put into motion. In these cases the perpetrators had only acted after receiving a rabbinical blessing. After the arrests were made was it uncovered that there was yet another plan, the Temple Mount operation, which was to bomb the Dome of the Rock (3rd holiest shrine of Islam). One of the main objectives of the operation was to allow the reconstruction of a Jewish third temple for the return of

the Messiah. The other was to enrage the Muslim world and eventuate in war between them and the Jewish state. In1994 Dr Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslims who were praying at the Ibrahim Mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs killing 29 and injuring 150. Much like the planned bombing of the Dome of the Rock, Goldstein hoped his act would ensure the coming of the Messiah. Goldstein was a follower of Rabbi Meir Kahane: founder of the Jewish Defence League and the right-wing Kach (Thus) Party. Kahane embraced a messianic vision of Jewish politics calling for things like a state sponsored Jewish terrorist group with the purpose of killing Arabs and driving them out of Israel. Bruce Hoffman, Director of the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service and a specialist in the study of terrorism and counter-insurgency, describes Kahanes preachings as virulent hatred of Arabs that simultaneously extolled the virtues of Jewish aggressiveness and combativeness. In 1995 Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, Amir believed he was fulfilling Gods will, a notion he acquired from extremist rabbis that condemned Rabin to death for betraying the Jewish people.

It is justified or is it? In cases of religiously motivated terrorism the extremists believe

that their actions are part of their divine duty. Many people ask, how can this be, when Judaism, like most other religions, put such a high store on peace? It is at this point where it usually comes down to interpretations of scriptures; where extremist will often interpret sacred instructions from the past with a very literal point of view, while mainstream followers often approach such things with a more figurative outlook. Amir, responsible for the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin, justified his actions with the Halakhic decree of the law of the pursuer- if you see someone about to harm (kill, rape) another person, you may kill the pursuer in order to prevent the crime. By this reasoning Amir justified his killing of Rabin as he was seen to be an enemy which was bringing harm to the Jewish people. It is unlikely that most mainstream Jews would agree that Prime Minister Rabin fits the definition of a pursuer. Many of the extremists involved in the attacks previously described were followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane who justified such violent acts through his religious teachings. One of Kahanes focal points was the idea of catastrophic messianism whereby the Messiah will return during a great conflict in which the Jews are triumphant. Kahane believed that this triumph would be the ultimate Kiddush ha-Shem (sanctification of God or the glorification of the God of Israel). Other interpretations of Kiddush ha-Shem have led to the idea that to die for the sanctification of

God is a martyrs death; an extremist rabbi advocating selfmartyrdom stated Sacrificing oneself for God, a man who volunteers for such an operation will be called a hero and martyr. However, the mainstream understanding of Kiddush ha-Shem is that one should willingly die before committing any of the three specific commandments, one of which is murder. There are two instances that allow war under Jewish Law; obligatory wars where required for defense and permissible wars when it was prudent for the state to do so. The above reasons for a just war were to be determined by a Halakhic state (government ruled by Jewish law) for an obligatory war and by the Sanhedrin (council of elders) or a prophet in the case of a permissible war. In the absence of such powers, as it is today, the conditions can be interpreted by a rabbi. Rabbi Kahane was all too willing to do so, Anything that humiliated the Jews was not only an embarrassment but a retrograde motion in the worlds progress towards salvation. Any act which hinders the attainment of the Promised Land impede the arrival of the Messiah and is therefore a crime justifying obligatory violence.

Failure How to evaluate the success of these terrorist activities? Religious violence is less about sending a message to a wider audience as

was usually the case in previous waves of modern terrorism, religious extremists often have more pious goals for there use of violence. Evidenced above by this determination to hasten the return of the Messiah and the hurrying of the final redemption whether it be through sparking a conflict or purifying the land by means of expelling the Arabs (Kahane). In any perspective though, it would seem that the actions taken by the extremists spoken of have been a failure. No war has been waged, Arabs remain in the Holy Lands and the Messiah has yet to return.

References

Rapoport, David C. The Four Waves of Modern 7

Terrorism in Cronin, Audrey Kurth and James M. Ludes, eds. Attacking Terrorism: Elements of a Grand Strategy. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2004. Chapter Two, pages 46-73 Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism. New York: Columbia

University Press, 1998. Juergensmeyer, Mark. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. Edited by Mark Juergensmeyer. 3rd (Revised and Updated) ed, Comparative Studies in Religion and Society. Berkley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2003. http://www.terrorism-research.com/history/early.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_C._Rapoport http://www.doitinhebrew.com/Translate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Hoffman http://www.theshalomcenter.org/node/1063 http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica