The motives of terrorism — ideology and hatred

It is widely recognized that there is no consensus among scholars of terrorism regarding a single, agreed-upon definition of the phenomenon of terrorism. I use the following definition: “Terrorism is the deliberate use of violence aimed against civilians in order to achieve political, ideological, or religious goals.”^[1]

According to this definition, as well as many others, terrorism is motivated by extremist political and ideological goals. Indeed, throughout history, terrorist attacks have been carried out by people fueled by various radical worldviews, such as communism, fascism, anarchism, and Islamism. These and other ideologies have been the force that has driven terrorists to commit the most severe, barbaric, and violent crimes, justifying their actions to themselves and others with narratives like: “They (the political/ideological opponent) started it,” “We are the oppressed and the persecuted,” “We are waging a just or defensive struggle aimed at protecting our rights” (generally referring to the rights of ethnic minorities, immigrants, indigenous people, etc.). In other cases, such as right-wing terrorist attacks, the justification shifts to the purported need to defend the rights of the majority against what is seen as the encroachment of minorities or immigrants. In these instances, the perpetrators reason: “We are fighting in the name of morality and justice,” “It is our right to restore the status quo ante,” and the like.

Thus, incitement to carry out terrorist attacks has often been fueled by ethnic and religious divisions, as well as political interests and rivalries. The attacks themselves have been the result of processes of religious, ideological, or political extremism, along with concerted efforts to intensify feelings of hatred towards the other, the different, the opponent, the enemy. Hatred not only blinds the terrorists and neutralizes any humanistic considerations, it has also motivated individuals and groups to commit brutal acts of terror, and even crimes against humanity. In many cases, the intensehatred toward the enemy, initially the product of extremist ideology, evolves into an ideology of its own. Over time, hatred itself becomes the driving force, replacing the original ideological rationale and serving as sufficient justification for carrying out terrorist attacks.

Motives behind different types of terrorist attacks

I distinguish between different types of terrorist attacks based on the characteristics of their perpetrators.^[2] Within this framework, attacks can be classified into three groups: 

1. “Self-initiated” attacks: This category includes attacks carried out by individual terrorists acting on their own initiative, without operational ties to a terrorist organization. These terrorists are usually influenced by incitement on social media or through their peer group. They undergo a process of radicalization that ultimately leads them to the decision to carry out a terrorist attack (whether as a momentary, opportunistic, and spontaneous decision, or as a result of detailed and extensive planning). Self-initiated attacks are typically executed using cold weapons (knives, axes, or other sharp objects) or through vehicular ramming attacks (VRA). Some lone terrorists make various preparations before the attack, which sometimes involve procuring  firearms and undergoing training to use them effectively.

• “Local network” attacks: This category comprises terrorist attacks carried out by a group of two or moreperpetrators located in a specific local arena, constituting what is in effect a local terrorist network. The members of these networks are usually family members and/or friends who have often undergone the radicalization process together and decide to collaborate in executing the terrorist attack. Local terrorist networks can be sub-classified into “independent local networks” and “affiliated local networks.” Independent local networks are not part of a terrorist organization, nor are they operationally subordinate to any organization (although their members may identify with a particular group and view themselves as its proxy). The formation process of an independent network and the preparations its members undertake before carrying out an attack occur without any operational, or other, connection to a terrorist organization. In contrast, attacks carried out by affiliated terrorist networks involve a terrorist organization at one or more stages — whether in initiating, planning, preparing, or executing the attack.

• “Organized” attacks: This category refers to attacks initiated and carried out under the guidance, direction, training, and support of a terrorist organization or a state sponsor of terrorism. The perpetrators are operatives of a terrorist organization, with some attacks executed by state-sponsored proxies. In some cases, the terrorist organization or state enlist local criminal groups to carry out the attack in exchange for financial compensation or incentives such as drug shipments. Organized terrorist attacks often employ more sophisticated attack methods — such as hostage-taking, the use of explosives, and suicide bombings — resulting in a higher casualty rate compared to self-initiated attacks.

The primary motive behind organized attacks and those carried out by affiliated networks is typically ideological, whether political or religious. In contrast, attacks carried out by lone terrorists and independent networks are often motivated by vehement emotions of hatred, anger, and a desire for revenge, which are intensified by prolonged exposure to incitement.

Antisemitism, hatred, and terrorism

Hatred is therefore a central driver of terrorism, first and foremost in self-initiated attacks, but it is also the result of extremist ideology and deliberate incitement, and as such constitutes an important component of organized attacks. Many terrorist attacks throughout the world have been rooted in various forms of hatred, including fervent religious hatred directed against “infidels” — members of other faiths (Jews, Muslims, Christians and others) — and sometimes also against members of the same religion who do not share the same extreme and distorted interpretation of their faith as the attackers. In other cases, attacks have been carried out by terrorists driven by hatred who commit barbaric crimes rooted in nationalist ideologies. These radicals have targeted immigrants or people of different nationalities with whom they are in a territorial or separatist conflict, as well as those perceived as being part of an occupier-occupied dynamic. Other attacks have stemmed from hatred arising from ethnic conflicts, either between minority groups within a country or between the majority population and an ethnic minority. Additionally, some terrorist attacks are racially motivated, with certain racial groups (most notably white supremacists) defining themselves as superior and sowing hatred toward other races deemed as “inferior.”

Terrorist attacks have also been driven by gender-based hatred — hatred of women and/or members of the LGBTQ community — as well as hatred toward other cultures, socioeconomic classes, or political ideologies. In each case, such hatred stemmed from an adherence to an extremist ideology, be it religious, social, nationalistic, cultural, racist, ethnic, political, or gender-based. These beliefs were usually intensified by exposure to continuous indoctrination, propaganda, incitement, and brainwashing.

However, it would appear that hatred of Jews is the oldest, most pervasive and deeply ingrained hatred in human history. The phenomenon of Jew-hatred — or its modern term, antisemitism, coined in the 19th century — on religious, ethnic, or racial grounds has taken on different forms at different times. Throughout history, antisemitism has fueled majoroutbreaks of violence that have included excommunications, expulsions, pogroms, and the Holocaust. Among other things, hatred of Jews was the consequence of the repeated exile of the Jewish people from their homeland in the land of Israel by various ruling empires.^[3] In exile, the Jews suffered persecution, deportations, and exiles from various cities and countries.^[4] The Jews became the scapegoat for nearly all the suffering, adversities, and disasters that befell societies around the world, and were accused of conspiring to dominate global finance and governance at the expense of the working class. Antisemitism became a “super-hatred” — a common denominator and unifying thread linking a wide range of hatreds stemming from various radical ideologies. Extremists and terrorists from the far right to the far left, from radical Islam to the Christian Inquisition, have found common ground in their hatred toward Jews. A graphic illustrationof this phenomenon can be seen in a cartoon published by the American Nazi Party, depicting a giant, multi-armed spider — symbolizing Jewish control — orchestrating several other hated groups, including women, African-Americans, LGBTQ individuals, progressives, and communists.

The phenomenon of antisemitism in the present era can be categorized into three distinct but often interconnected groups: the classical antisemites, the modern antisemites, and the ignorant “useful idiots.”

Classical antisemitism has its roots in interreligious conflicts and rivalries that were based on blood libels, religious edicts, traditions, and interpretations that call for the persecution of Jews. This form of Jew-hatred emerged from the struggles of the founders of the monotheistic religions — Christianity (Jesus) and Islam (Muhammad) — as they positioned themselves against Judaism, the more ancient and competing monotheistic faith. Classical antisemites are thosewho have been raised from birth to harbor deep-seated hatred toward Jews, a prejudice passed down through generations. Often, these are individuals who have never encountered a Jew in their lifetime, but were raised and educated on a foundation of blood libels and tales of horror passed down through their parents and teachers. These include the infamous claim that Jews murder Christian children for ritual purposes — such as using their blood to make Passover matzah —the accusation that Jews poisoned wells to spread plagues like the Black Death in 14th-century Europe, and the charge that Jews were responsible for the murder of Jesus, as well as for harming and humiliating Christians throughout history. Jews were accused of orchestrating a global conspiracy to control the economy, politics, media, and more — claims popularized by the notorious forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.^[5] These libels have surfaced repeatedly throughout history in various regions,^[6] and have resulted in the persecution of Jews through harassment, pogroms, expulsions, and mass murder in various countries. They have also played a significant role in establishing negative stereotypes of Jews and providing a foundation for antisemitic justifications.

Modern antisemitism developed during the 19th and 20th centuries and intensified following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. In contrast to classical antisemites, most modern antisemites are Arabs and Muslims (some of whom are second- and third-generation immigrants in Western countries) who oppose Zionism as the national movementfor the Jewish Diaspora’s return to their ancestral homeland and the existence of a sovereign Jewish state in Israel. The intense hatred harbored by modern antisemites against Israel and Zionism soon evolved into a broader hatred of Jews, adopting the blood libels, tropes, and conspiracy theories of classical antisemitism. Modern antisemites also introducednew anti-Jewish narratives, such as Holocaust denial and comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany. These messages are disseminated not only through religious rhetoric and decrees, but also via literature, the media, antisemitic television series across the Arab world, political cartoons, educational curricula, and textbooks. Modern antisemitism is characterized by calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and the eradication of the Jewish people.

Ignorant antisemitism, or the phenomenon of “useful idiots,”^[7] represents the third and largest category of antisemitism. Those who fall into this group are often outspoken people with progressive worldviews, who champion the causes of those they perceive as vulnerable, exploited, or oppressed. The problem is that many among them lack an understanding of the overarching agenda they unwittingly serve and remain unaware of the manipulation influencing their beliefs and actions. Many of the ignorant antisemites (especially on American campuses) suffer from “white-guilt” syndrome, characterized by a collective sense of culpability among white people for the human suffering of various population groups all over the world due to the alleged “racist behavior and colonialist policies of the white race.” This ambiguous ideological framework has provided fertile ground for antisemitic narratives to thrive, promoting the notion that Zionism is racism and that the State of Israel embodies colonialist ideals that were employed by the Jews to purportedly rob the native inhabitants — the Palestinians — of their land. This perspective, of course, disregards historical context, both ancient and modern, and ignores the continued physical presence of the Jewish people in the land of Israel throughout the ages, their repeated expulsion from their homeland, and their indigenous right to return to it.

The ignorance of useful idiots who align themselves with both modern and classical antisemites and the animosity toward Israel and the Zionist idea has transcended into a widespread hatred of Jews, and has become “de rigueur” among progressive circles, particularly in the United States and other parts of the western world. Demographic shifts in various Western countries, along with the rapid growth of Muslim immigrant populations, have strengthened both the modern and the ignorant antisemitic groups, amplifying their political influence and shaping voting patterns. These demographic trends have also deepened the political divide between the radical left and the extreme right in these countries. Ironically, these opposing ends of the political spectrum increasingly appear to converge on one common ground — their hatred of Jews.

The impact of the “Swords of Iron” War on the global wave of antisemitism 

Recently, antisemitism appears to have reached unprecedented levels worldwide. The catalyst for this surge is ostensibly the outbreak of the “Swords of Iron” war, which was forced upon Israel following the murderous massacre committed on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian terrorist organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The attack claimed the lives of hundreds and hundreds of Israeli civilians. On that day, Shabbat and the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, approximately 3,000 Palestinian terrorists took advantage of the lapse in vigilance on the part of the IDF and the Israeli intelligence services, infiltrating Israel through roughly 15 breaches of the border with the Gaza Strip. After seizing control of IDF bases near the border, they swiftly advanced into several Israeli communities, storming residents’ homes in the early morning hours. They dragged babies, children, women, and men — young and old — from their beds and murdered them in their own homes. The terrorists inflicted unimaginable brutality upon their victims — abusing, torturing, and mutilating them, sexually assaulting women, men and children, burning people alive, and abducting approximately 250 Israelis into Hamas tunnels in Gaza.

This terrorist invasion, one of the most severe in history and the largest and most devastating attack on Israel since its founding, left Israeli citizens in shock and fear. It led to the outbreak of the Swords of Iron War — a war of self-defense aimed at rescuing and returning the hostages and dismantling the terrorist organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

In the course of this war, Israel has been engaged in fighting on seven simultaneous fronts for about a year and a half. On its southern border, it is battling Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. In the north, it faces Hezbollah in Lebanon. Additionally, Israel is confronted with Shiite and Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and Palestinian terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria. Collectively, these forces form Iran’s extensive network of proxies, developed over many years with the aim of attacking Israel and realizing its openly stated objective of destroying the Jewish state. During the Swords of Iron War, Iran opened a direct front with Israel by launching hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at it on two separate occasions.

Along with the challenge of fighting simultaneously on seven fronts, Israel was also forced to contend with the relentless launch of thousands of rockets, missiles, and drones targeting its civilian home front. It also faced heavy barrages of anti-tank fire directed at civilian communities and IDF forces in direct confrontations, as well as a difficult, prolonged military campaign, unprecedented in modern warfare. This combat has taken place within fortified underground networks —constructed over the years with Qatari funding and Iranian expertise — against hybrid terrorist organizations^[8] — Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. This extensive underground network included hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, burrowed deep beneath the ground, under civilian dwellings and infrastructure including hospitals, schools, UNRWA facilities, and mosques. These tunnels, all under densely populated areas, served as hideouts and shelters for the terrorist organizations’ leaders and headquarters, command centers, rocket launch sites, and exit shafts for ambushing IDF soldiers. This grim war that was imposed on Israel has inflicted immense suffering on Israeli, Palestinian, and Lebanese civilians.

Iran and its proxies around the world, along with antisemitic and anti-Israel elements, have widely circulated graphic images throughout the war (many of which are real, and others of which are staged) portraying the suffering in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon — while simultaneously ignoring the suffering of Israeli civilians. (Hundreds of thousands of Israelis had to be evacuated from their homes for months, becoming refugees in their own country due to the relentless bombings targeting their homes near the borders.) These distressing images fueled the antisemitic rhetoric of the three groups mentioned above — the classical, modern, and ignorant antisemites. This has manifested, among other things, in mass protests against Israel on university campuses and city streets across the globe, the imposition of academic and economic boycotts of Israeli universities and companies, antisemitic harassment of Jewish communities, and physical attacks on Israeli and Jewish individuals around the world.

This unprecedented surge in antisemitic incidents quickly escalated into numerous hate crimes against Jews. These acts have included the painting of offensive graffiti on the walls of Jewish community buildings and on Jewish homes and vehicles, the vandalizing of Jewish property, and direct confrontations with Jews using threats and sometimes physical violence. The biased media coverage of the war, the malicious incitement intended to rile up the various antisemitic groups and the general public, and the wave of hatred that these have fueled, could rapidly escalate from sporadic hate crimes and low-level physical violence against Jews to large-scale and mass-casualty terrorist attacks.^[9] Such attacks could potentially be carried out by lone actors, local networks, cells of Palestinian terrorist organizations, or local criminal groups recruited by Iran in exchange for financial compensation or drug shipments.

Summary: Confronting terrorism driven by antisemitic motives

As mentioned, the Swords of Iron War, the longest and most difficult war in the history of the State of Israel, has been accompanied by an unprecedented wave of antisemitism, leading to a surge in hate crimes targeting Jewish sites and individuals around the world. This widespread and dangerous trend poses an immense challenge to decision-makers and law enforcement authorities across various countries, who appear to be struggling to provide an adequate and effective response. Many of these senior officials, like other influential leaders (particularly the heads of universities where antisemitic elements are active), stand helpless in the face of the growing wave of antisemitism. Some of them experience cognitive dissonance between recognizing Israel’s need to defend itself against terrorist organizations and an enemy state that have forced a difficult war on it — one that is being waged under extraordinarily challenging conditions — and the suffering of many civilians who find themselves unwillingly serving as human shields. This dissonance is further exacerbated by the disturbing images circulated in the media (images that are often accompanied by a biased — or even outright false—anti-Israel narrative.) Some of these decision-makers and opinion leaders identify with the inflammatory rhetoric against Israel and the antisemitic slogans that denote support for the destruction of the Jewish state (such as “FreePalestine” and “From the river to the sea”). Others prefer to avoid confronting the antisemitic extremists from the three aforementioned groups and, in the name of freedom of expression and political correctness, choose to allow these agitators to publicly spread antisemitic incitement, and sometimes even commit hate crimes, without fear of consequence.

Until political, security, and academic authorities fulfill their responsibilities and use their powers to curb and prevent antisemitic activity — holding accountable inciters and perpetrators who abuse the values of liberal democracy, particularly freedom of expression, in a manner that endangers the safety and lives of Jewish communities, this dangerous wave of antisemitism will not subside. On the contrary, it may even rapidly escalate from hate crimes to indiscriminate terrorism.

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^[1] Ganor, B. (2002). “Defining Terrorism: Is One Man’s Terrorist Another Man’s Freedom Fighter?” Police Practice and Research, 3(4), 287-304.  

^[2] Ganor B. “A Typology of Terrorist Attacks: The 32 Profiles Model,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 2021, DOI:  10.1080/1057610X.2020.1868095

^[3] For example, the Assyrian Exile (722 BCE), the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian Exile (586 BCE), the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans during the suppression of the Great Revolt (70 CE), and the Roman expulsion following the Bar Kokhba Revolt (135 CE), which led to the dispersion of Jews throughout the world for centuries and the renaming of Judea to Palestine in an attempt to erase the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel.

^[4] These include Spain, Portugal, Germany (Bavaria, Cologne, Nuremberg, Frankfurt), France, Italy (Rome, Naples, Milan, Florence, Verona, Pisa, Alessandria), England, Switzerland (Bern), Hungary, Austria, Yemen, Haiti, Russia, America (Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky), Iraq, Algeria, and others.

^[5] A forged document written in 19th-century Russia that claimed Jews were planning to take over the world.

^[6] These blood libels occurred, among other places, in Norwich, England in 1144 (where Jews were falsely accused of murdering a child named William for ritual purposes); Blois, France in 1171 (where a similar accusation blamed Jews for the murder of a Christian child); Trento, Italy in 1475 (where Jews were blamed for the death of a child named Simon); Damascus, Ottoman Empire in 1840 (where Jews were falsely accused of murdering a Christian monk for ritual use of his blood), and Kiev, Tsarist Russia, in 1913 (where Menachem Mendel Beilis was wrongfully charged with the murder of a Christian child). 

^[7] Useful idiots is a term used to refer to naive people susceptible to manipulation, historically associated with communist activists operating in Western countries.

^[8] A hybrid terrorist organization is one that controls territory and a civilian population while using civilians as human shields to protect its leaders and infrastructure.

^[9] Examples of terrorist attacks against Jews (partial list):

• 2019 – Halle synagogue attack, Germany: A neo-Nazi terrorist attempted to carry out an attack at the synagogue on Yom Kippur, but failed to break in and killed two bystanders.
• 1982 – Attack on a synagogue in Brussels: A gunman opened fire on Jewish worshippers, killing four people.
• 1985 – Attack on a synagogue in Copenhagen: A terrorist threw a hand grenade at the synagogue and then shot and killed a Jewish worshipper.
• 1994 – AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires: Hezbollah operatives detonated a car bomb near the AMIA Jewish community center, killing 85 people and injuring hundreds.
• 2008 – Attack on a Chabad house in Mumbai: Terrorists from a Pakistani terrorist organization murdered six Jews in a Chabad house, including Rabbi Gavriel Holzberg and his wife, Rivka.
• 2012 – Attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse, France: An Islamist terrorist murdered a rabbi and three children.
• 2014 – Jewish Museum shooting in Brussels: A terrorist opened fire and killed four people.
• 2018 – Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh: A neo-Nazi terrorist shot and killed 11 Jews during Shabbat prayers at the Tree of Life Synagogue.