{Original post on author’s website,createconnectprotect}
When the Har Nof attack occurred, I couldn’t write a thing. Though it was a time for shock, surprise and outrage, I was not shocked, surprised or outraged. In the current war, attacks on places of worship are anything but unusual. I assembled the accompanying chart to show some of what has occurred in the past two years. What is shocking isn’t that Jews in prayer have been attacked, but that they haven’t been attacked more often.
What matters now is how we respond.
There is a pattern of opportunity to these attacks. Where security forces are weak and terrorist forces strong, churches and mosques and synagogues are included in the line of fire. With the control of explosives and firearms, and the restriction of those who have do access to these items, you could control these attacks.
But times are changing. Where terrorists once needed a bomb to feel like their attacks achieved something, now they only need a knife or a car. If they can, they’ll kill 85 in Peshawar and 130+ in Kano. But five in Jerusalem is okay too. Or one in Ottawa and another in Quebec.
The bar has been lowered. Not because the attackers value their lives less, but because these sorts of attacks can introduce the chaos necessary for greater goals to be achieved. As our enemies see it, this is our near future. We will see constant small-time attacks leading to greater and greater conflict. Little attacks and their responses can lead to the radicalization of non-violent populations. The attacks can grow and, bit by bit, the society can fall apart. Facing a credible threat of annihilation, the Alawites of Syria (Assad’s people) responded with overwhelming force. Perhaps, our enemies think, we might as well. And then, perhaps, the blight that is Israel can be turned into Syria or Iraq or Nigeria. It is a plan, and it isn’t entirely fanciful. And if it doesn’t work – at least they’ve killed a few Jews.
So how do we respond? Do we further separate ourselves from our Arab neighbors? Consider the extreme… Israel could aligning itself with India, the Philippines, Russia, Nigeria, Kenya and others in building a Great Wall to surround Islam? Would it work? Would it stop the terror? The answer is clearly ‘no.’ We are in an ideological war and ideas cross borders – especially the borders of tolerant societies. Our fence prevents bombings, but the bar has been lowered and there is no line we can push these problems over.
Do we surprise and punish? I don’t think it works. When a man or woman gives their lives to attack a place of prayer, they are doing it for a reason. They want their lives to have meaning. They want to connect to something beyond themselves and their own place and time. Some, like the SS, needed success to provide them with validation. When the war was lost, the true believers who fought bravely for Nazism became far less common. But others don’t need success to keep going. The founding battle of Shia Islam, the battle of Karbala in 680, saw all of Ali’s forces killed. They were about one hundred people facing thousands. They probably knew they would die. Their fight and their honor continue even today. The Jewish people can certainly understand this – our story is one of continual survival and identity despite overwhelming odds and oppression. In fact, in our past battles we have done things eerily similar to those we see today. Shimshon died by bringing a temple filled with 3,000 men and women down on his own head.