Terrorism anywhere is terrorism everywhere

Terrorism anywhere is terrorism everywhere.

Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  The violent attacks against Israelis are no different, no less unjust than the shootings of innocent civilians in France or anywhere else.

Currently terrorism has been most commonly and systematically employed as a tactic in conflicts. Terrorism is the form of violence against civilians and asymmetric confrontation against a stronger opponent. Terrorism occurs when ideological motivation meets with operational capability. The way in which a terrorist group shapes its radical worldview and disseminates it to audiences worldwide plays an important role in the public interface between the group and its target audience. Using terrorist propaganda, a group can successfully radicalize and indoctrinate public into terrorist sympathizers, mobilize terrorist supporters, and recruit terrorist members.  

Terrorist organizations target the disaffected members of a population by attempting to convince them that there is an alternative way of thinking that will make their lives more meaningful and simpler. If the population has a large number of disaffected individuals susceptible to the ideology, enough of them can be recruited. Once recruited, they soon take part in terrorist actions that validate and strengthen the ideology they share. Thus, the war on terror ought to be called ‘the ideological battle against radical extremists who happen to use terror as a weapon to disrupt the conscience of the free and peaceful world. Terrorist actions conducted on the territory of more than one state or involving citizens of more than one state as victims or perpetrators bring an international element.

An effective and multipronged approach for an ideological response to fight with terrorism should conceptualize counterterrorism, not only as a military or law enforcement problem but as a war of ideas as well. Governments which develop foreign policies that strengthen this network will find themselves with improved security at home. Who have come to the point where terrorism anywhere is terrorism everywhere. If terrorists maintain a network of networks, then governments must do the same. Once equally common, piracy, slavery, and genocide have been systematically diminished through collective efforts overtime. Most importantly, such efforts destroyed the ideologies that legitimated these behaviors. Governments must go after ideologically motivated terrorists with the same kind of collective approach.