NCJ Number
123233
Journal
Terrorism Volume: 11 Issue: 5 Dated: (1988) Pages: 369-371
Date Published
1988
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Both Shi'i terrorism propagated by Iran and Jewish terrorism perpetrated by the Gush Emunim underground group are rooted in a belief that the "divine" causes to which they are committed justify their use of violence.
Abstract
Other terrorisms are interested in psychological warfare, influencing political opinion, and winning support for their cause. Religiously based terrorism is interested in dispelling from the earth all elements that corrupt its vision of the world. In the case of Iranian Shi'i Moslems, this means destroying all influences of Western secularism. In the case of the Gush Emunim, this means using violence to prepare the way for the messianic age. Sacred Islamic shrines on the Temple Mount, called The Abomination by the Gush terrorists, are viewed as desecrations of the site of the third temple. This justified their planned destruction of the Dome of the Rock. This plan was halted only when the planners failed to receive Rabbinic approval for it. Such groups are not interested in negotiation or compromise with those not of their faith. They mistrust all but their own and are not responsive to moral or ethical appeals from outside their own religious frame of reference.