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By Reuven Koret September
12, 2001
We in Israel are humbled by the enormity
of the terrorist crimes against the United States. Far from feeling any
sense of "we told you so," Israelis are as one stunned by the
scale of America's first domestic experience of suicide bombings. Plane-bombs
are geometrically more lethal than the car-bombs or human-bombs we routinely
experience, and America's shocking losses in one morning overwhelm even
those of us who have lived for years and decades in a war with Arab terror.
Since the attacks, I have received many unsolicited
messages from readers, many of whom express heartfelt empathy with us:
"Now we know how Israelis feel" or even "The whole world
has become Israeli." So, for our American friends and others ready
to listen, I humbly offer some "lessons" that we Israelis have
learned in our own front-line fight against terrorism.
1. Tightened security is not that bad
You will get used to security guards in parking lots, at mall entrances,
at school entrances. You will get familiar with the sight of sappers checking
suspicious objects and defusing explosive devices. You will appreciate
being asked to open your purse or briefcase. You will welcome a five-minute
interview at the airport by someone who isn't just going through the motions.
You may not like it, but you will learn to live with it.
2. Think mathematically, and positively
Terrorism is designed to paralyze. Terrorists try to frighten and stop
you from living a normal life. They cause you to think twice about where
you go, when you go, which chair you sit in. They cause you to worry about
your loved ones, your parents and children. You need to discipline your
mind with reason, to think in terms of the overwhelming probability that
you won't be killed by a terror act. You must harness your fear, and live
as fully and happily as you can. Shield your young children from the visual
horrors of terrorism -- let them enjoy their innocence as long as possible.
Living well, courageously and joyfully is your best defense, and your
best personal revenge against terror.
3. Appeasement doesn't work
It is not enough to say, as UN chief Kofi Annan did yesterday, that no
just cause is advanced by terrorism. The support of a cause for terrorism
is a clear indicator that the cause is not as just as it pretends to be.
Terrorism is a crime against humanity, and intentional attacks on civilians
are not a phenomenon that can be tolerated by civilized people. Period.
We Israelis are all too familiar with Arab spokespeople who mumble condemnation
of attacks against innocents, but then in the next breath say: "we
don't approve, but you need to understand" or "the poor terrorists
don't have jobs, they are desperate, they have no other way to express
themselves." Then there is the argument that "if only"
(if only America would be more even-handed, sensitive to Arab suffering,
etc.). The goal of the terrorist is to make you think that you can stop
terror "if only" you did something. But once you accept this
argument, they have you beat; they have you under their control, because
you can never do enough to satisfy their demands. The more you give in,
the more the terrorist will want. Terrorism is insatiable.
4. Arafat remains a terrorist, and his Authority
a terror nest
Even liberal Israelis have learned that Arafat is and always has been
committed to the armed struggle to liberate Palestine, occasionally by
dialogue, but mostly by armed struggle. In the territories that Israel
has handed over to the Palestinian Authority after it promised to give
up terrorism and violence, Arafat created an infrastructure that serves
as a staging ground and a safe haven for terror attacks. He has released
the worst terrorists and terrorism planners. Arafat has used his Authority
to educate a generation to hatred, and violence, and anti-Jewish racism.
He is an enemy not just of Israel, but also of the free world. He tried
to use terror to take over Jordan and was kicked out in 1970 by Hussein.
He tried to use terror to take over Lebanon and was kicked out in 1982
by Israel. Now he thinks he has his best chance yet and is building a
terror army next to our home. Israel will, sooner or later, kick him out
of power. That is our job. The West can learn from us how to do it with
minimal loss of innocent life.
5. Radical Islam opposes democracy, not just
Israel
Radical Islam sees itself as at war with the West, with democracy, with
freedom. Democratic ideas and civil rights threaten its authoritarian
power structure and theology. Israel is a lighting rod because of our
proximity and because the repeated military victories and economic successes
of the Jewish State is seen as a humiliation to Islam. But Israel is always
portrayed as Little Satan. The Great Satan is the United States and the
other western defenders of Judeo-Christian morality and civilization.
But if, heaven forbid, they should even have an
independent Palestinian State with geographical contiguity with Jordan
and through it, Iran and Iraq, the Mediterranean and Europe will be next
on the agenda after Israel is wiped out. This jihad, for them, is not
about borders. It is about the right of anyone who does not submit to
Islam to live. And as we see today, the terrorists will not hesitate to
take thousands of lives to make this point.
6. Force works. More force works better
This is war. The terrorists have always been at war with the rest of the
world. The West preferred to think that disputes could always be settled
with dialogue and mediation and diplomatic resolutions. The World learned
with Japan, and with Hitler, that sometimes you need to fight, and fight
together, to win decisively. Israel has been at war for a long time, at
times feeling quite alone in the fight against terror. But now the terrorists
have declared war on the United States, and there is no substitute now
for a massive international coalition to eradicate terror groups and the
states that support them. The horror of the attacks on New York and Washington,
as terrible as their death toll was, pales in comparison to what could
be, and if nothing is done, will be, once the terrorist lay their hands
on, and exploit, biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. Now is the
time to eradicate those threats before they eradicate us.
7. Pre-emption is preferable to punishment
Israel has long ago learned that it is better to preemptively attack terrorists
and their bases rather than wait to be victimized by them, and then be
compelled to retaliate after being bloodied. Israel pre-empted an impending
attack in 1967, and won decisively in six days. Israel, fearing diplomatic
isolation, preferred in 1973 to let itself be attacked and paid heavily
in human life and risk to the entire nation for that restraint. Israel
has exercised amazing restraint over the past year in response to the
Palestinian violence initiated after Arafat walked away from the negotiating
table at Camp David. But Israeli restraint has given way to an escalating
policy of preemptive elimination of terrorist leaders and tougher military
steps to apply pressure on the supporters and planners of terrorism.
Now Israel, and the West, must initiate massive
and decisive preemption on a scale commensurate with the demonstrated
threat of suicide bombers. Preemption should be paired with deterrence,
including consideration - by Israel and the West - making explicit the
previously implicit threat of non-conventional responses to terrorist
outrages. Moreover, the deterrent threat should speak the language of
the Islamic terrorists. If they attack the symbols of our civilization,
they should know that we will target theirs, including their most sacred
shrines.
8. No one country can do it alone
No country is an island, immune from the terrorist threat. Terrorism is
a global phenomenon, which demands a global response. Intelligence sharing,
defensive measures, and military actions must be planned and executed
in a coordinated fashion by a coalition of the world's nations and its
international organizations. Israel no longer can be asked, as it was
in the Gulf War, to stay on the sidelines while the United States and
its allies do the work for us.
9. Know who your friends are
Israel is not a perfect country, and Israelis have made their share of
mistakes. But we are fundamentally a freedom-loving, peace-seeking, civilized
nation that shares common values with the West. When the people of the
United States suffer, we mourn, and give blood, and send rescue units
-- the latter, unfortunately, the best in the world due to our long and
painful experience. Not all Israelis are good people and not all Moslems
or Arabs or Palestinians are bad. But look at the harsh reality: when
thousands of Americans die an awful death, when the United States is humiliated,
we don't burst into song and dance, shoot guns in the air and pass around
sweets. Leave aside policy questions and nuances of disagreements over
this issue or that. Learn to distinguish friend from enemy.
10. If not now, when?
There is now a narrow window to act before the stakes of terrorism are
raised to unimaginable and intolerable proportions with the introduction
of non-conventional weapons. Israel has always lived with a sense of national
mortality. Unfortunately, America, and maybe the rest of the free world,
today feels that sense of vulnerability. A nation cannot live like this
indefinitely. You, like us, must now act. No one else will do it for us.
And if we are not for ourselves, who will be for us?
Views expressed by the author do not necessarily
reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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