Terrorism in the Name of Religion
1996; Columbia University; Volume: 50; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0022-197X
Autores Tópico(s)Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies
ResumoIntroduction On 25 February 1994, day of second Muslim sabbath during Islam's holy month of Ramadan, a Zionist settler from orthodox settlement of Qiryat Arba entered crowded Ibrahim (Abraham's) Mosque, located in biblical town of Hebron on West Bank. He emptied three 30-shot magazines with his automatic Glilon assault-rifle into congregation of 800 Palestinian Muslim worshippers, killing 29 and wounding 150, before being beaten to death. A longstanding follower of radical Jewish fundamentalist group, Kach movement,(1) Baruch Goldstein was motivated by a complex mixture of seemingly inseparable political and religious desiderata, fueled by zealotry and a grave sense of betrayal as his prime minister was leading Jewish state out of its God-given patrimony and into mortal danger.(2) Both location and timing of Hebron massacre were heavily infused with religious symbolism. Hebron was site of massacre of 69 Jews in 1929. Also, fact that is occured during Jewish festival of Purim symbolically cast Goldstein in role of Mordechai in Purim story, meting out awesome revenge against enemies of Jews.(3) Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, speaking for great mass of Israelis, expressed revulsion and profound sadness over act committed by a deranged fanatic. However, a large segment of militant and orthodox Jewish settlers in West Bank and Gaza settlements portrayed Goldstein as a righteous man and hailed him as a martyr.(4) During his funeral, these orthodox settlers also voiced religious fervor in uncompromising and militant terms, directed not only against Arabs, but also against Israeli government, which they believed had betrayed Jewish people and Jewish state. Israeli leaders and mainstream Jewish community tried to deny or ignore danger of Jewish extremism by dismissing Goldstein as, at most, belonging to the of a fringe within Israeli society.(5) Sadly, any doubts of mortal dangers of religious zealotry from within were abruptly silenced with assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by a young Jewish student, Yigal Amir, who claimed he had acted on orders of God. He had been influenced by militant rabbis and their halalic rulings, which he interpreted to mean that pursuer's decree was to be applied against Israel's leader.(6) Most Israelis may be astonished by notion of a Jew killing another Jew, but Rabin was ultimately victim of a broader force which has become one of most vibrant, dangerous and pervasive trends in post-Cold War world: religiously motivated terrorism. Far afield from traditionally violent Middle East, where religion and terrorism share a long history,(7) a surge of religious fanaticism has manifested itself in spectacular acts of terrorism across globe. This wave of violence is unprecedented, not only in its scope and selection of targets, but also in its lethality and indiscriminate character. Examples of these incidents abound: in an effort to hasten in new millenium, Japanese religious cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin nerve gas on Tokyo underground in June last year;(8) followers of Sheikh `Abd al-Rahman's al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya, caused mayhem and destruction with bombing of Manhattan's World Trade Center and had further plans to blow up major landmarks in New York City area;(9) and two American white supremacists carried out bombing of a U.S. Federal Building in Oklahoma City.(10) All are united in belief on part of perpetrators that their actions were divinely sanctioned, even mandated, by God. Despite having vastly different origins, doctrines, institutions and practices, these religious extremists are unified in their justification for employing sacred violence, whether in efforts to defend, extend or avenge their own communities, or for millenarian or messianic reasons. …
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