There seems to be a growing tendency in the world to deal with terrorism by denying it. Saturday night in Minnesota, a man with a knife attacked people at a mall. In at least one case, he asked the victim whether they were Muslim and “referenced Allah during the assault” (according to FoxNews).
Last night in New York City, a bomb exploded and another was found before it could injure more people. Twenty-nine people were injured when the first bomb did explode. Beyond the horror of the attack, is the lessons we learn from them.
An accident means looking for ways to avoid it happening again. Take a different road, slow down near that particular intersection, check to make sure something is held more securely, whatever. A terrorist attack is not an accident and denying its cause hands those who launched the attack a victory. Not only have they successfully delivered their message, they have even scared us so much, we can’t even admit it. All we are admitting in our denial is that we are too defeated to even fight back.
When the first plane slammed into the World Trade Center, I watched as newscasters discussed whether it was an accident. When a truck plowed into dozens of people in Nice, I heard them question how it happened.
Now, the Mayor of New York admits that a bomb exploding and another bomb being planted not far away are “intentional” but not necessarily terrorism. If you don’t have someone screaming “Allahu Akbar” and all you have is a bomb that has exploded, I can understand the very justifiable hesitation in announcing that Islamic terrorism has again targeted the streets of a western city. The motive remains unknown; the act is very clear.
Regardless of who stabbed those people in Minnesota, it was clearly terrorism. Regardless of who set those bombs in New York, it wasn’t a workplace accident, it wasn’t random, and it wasn’t mental illness. It was terrorism.
In Nice, in Paris, in London, in Jerusalem, in Efrat, in Tel Aviv. And yes, even in New York – it was terrorism.
Watch the explosion — this was not an accident. This is terrorism.
