Jewish religious terrorism is a type of religious terrorism committed by extremists within Judaism motivated by religious rather than ethnic or nationalistic beliefs.[1][2]
Some researchers 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. As good examples of Jewish terrorism based on ethnic, not religious grounds, or Zionist political violence, the author cites Jewish underground groups Irgun and Lehi, which operated against British law during the British Mandate of Palestine before the Israeli declaration of independence in 1948.[3][4]
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.[5] They sought to incite the people of Judaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from Israel by force of arms. The term Zealot, in Hebrew kanai, means one who is zealous on behalf of God.[6][7] The most extremist groups of Zealots were called Sicarii.[5] 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 apostates and collaborators.
According to a study by the political scientist Noemi Gal-Or, after the creation of Israel, Jewish terrorism has been assessed in Israel as “far less significant” than Arab terrorism.[8] It lasted a few years during the 1950s and was directed at internal Israeli-Jewish targets, not at the Israeli Arab population.[8] There was then a long intermission until the 1980s, when the Jewish Underground was exposed.[8] However, some argue that in the modern era Jewish religious extremism has been greatly underestimated. The phenomena of price tag attacks began around 2008. These are hate crimes done by extremist Jewish Israelis and usually involve the destruction of property or hateful graffiti, particularly targeting property associated with Arabs, Christians, secular Israelis, and Israeli soldiers. The name was derived from the words “Price tag” which may be scrawled on the site of the attack with the allegation that the attack was a “price” for settlements the government forced them to give up and revenge for Palestinian attacks on settlers.[9] They have been variously called terrorism, particularly when they result in death. Another modern phenomenon is “revenge” attacks, motivated by a desire for “revenge” against Palestinian terrorism. A particularly egregious example of this phenomenon was the Kidnapping and murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, in which a Palestinian teenager was burned to death by a Israeli man and two teenagers. Their declared motive was vengeance for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers by a Hamas-affiliated cell. In July 2015, two attacks suspected to be by religious Israeli Jews occurred a day apart, the first a stabbing attack at a Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade and the second a price-tag arson attack against a Palestinian house in Duma. Shortly after the two terror attacks, one of which killed an Israeli girl and another a Palestinian infant, Israel came under criticism, including from within its government and from the Jewish community in the U.S., for not doing enough to address the threat of terrorism by Jewish extremists. Those saying Israel should be more proactive in addressing Jewish extremism included the ADL and AJC.
It has been suggested[by whom?] that a similarity between Jewish religious terrorists and jihad networks in Western democracies is their alienation and isolation from the values of the majority, mainstream culture, which they view as an existential threat to their own community. Other similarities between these groups are that their ideology is not exclusively religious, as it attempts to achieve political, territorial and nationalistic goals as well, e.g. the disruption of the Camp David accords. However, the newer of these Jewish groups have tended to emphasize religious motives for their actions at the expense of secular ones. In the case of Jewish terrorism most networks consist of religious Zionists and ultra-orthodox Jews living in isolated, homogenous communities.[10]
The following groups have been considered religious terrorist organizations in Israel:
Shin Bet has complained that the Israeli government is too lenient in dealing with religious extremism of Jewish extremists who want the creation of a Jewish land based on halacha, Jewish religious laws. Says Haaretz:”The Shin Bet complained that the courts are too lenient, particularly in enforcement against those who violate restraining orders distancing them from the West Bank or restricting their movement. The Shin Bet supports the position of Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, who has called for limited use of administrative detention against Jewish terrorists.” [47] Israeli agencies keeping tabs on the religious terrorist groups say they are “anarchist” and “anti-Zionist,” motivated to bring down the government of Israel and create a new Israeli “kingdom” that would operate according to halacha (Jewish law).[47] A week after the July 2015 attacks, administrative detention was approved for Jewish terror suspects.[9]
Several violent acts by Jews have been described as terrorism and attributed to religious motivations,.[48]
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Jewish religious terrorism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia