The terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which have been dubbed India’s 9/11, illustrate the severity of…
This article first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, December 5, 2008.
The terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which have been dubbed India’s 9/11, illustrate the severity of the jihad terrorist threat, the cruelty of terrorists who believe they are fulfilling a divine commandment, and the determination of the jihadists to fight to the bitter end against those they consider infidels – whether Buddhists, Christians, Jews or even Muslims who oppose their extreme, violent version of Islam.
This severe attack targeted the very fabric of life in India, resulting in the death and injury of hundreds of innocent civilians, including local Indians and foreigners.
Azam Amir Kasav, the only terrorist captured in the attack, admitted that he and his friends were inspired by 9/11, which they considered to be a prestigious example of an ideal attack. Similar to 9/11, attacks in Mumbai were carried out simultaneously, launched at various locations throughout the city.
The Mumbai terrorists, however, relied on a modus operandia hostage/barricade situation – uncommon to previous global jihad and al Qaeda attacks. It appears that the terrorists attempted to kill two birds with one stone; they wanted both to force the government to negotiate for prisoner release – in the process gaining extensive media coverage – and to execute lethal, indiscriminate attacks aimed at inspiring fear and anxiety among civilians and security personnel.
These attacks should not be considered classic suicide terrorism because their success did not depend on the death of the perpetrators. Yet it is clear that the terrorists were aware of the high likelihood of death and may have wanted to be considered martyrs (shahids) by their friends and families.
The Mumbai attacks not only demonstrate the severity of the jihadi terrorist threat but also highlight the soft belly of open democratic societies: endless potential targets. Modern, developed society cannot function when forced to contend with repeated terrorist campaigns.
To prevent such terrorist attacks, ongoing, precise, timely and reliable intelligence information is crucial. In addition, the Mumbai attacks demonstrate the need for efficient security personnel who can implement effective crisis management policies. It appears that Indian intelligence and security agencies failed in all these respects.
In India, the deadly fusion between local and global jihads was manifested in attacks launched both in the context of a territorial dispute over Kashmir and as part of an ongoing global jihadi campaign against Western tourism and interests.
One concept unites jihadi terrorist attacks around the world: The belief in a divine commandment that justifies jihadists to kill, kidnap, behead, commit arson and extort innocent civilians to express their religious-political grievances.
This is not Islam but a cynical, calculated misuse of Islam. One of the most crucial tasks facing the civilized world lies in understanding the rationale of jihadists: their calculation of costs and benefits. That understanding should serve as the basis of a sophisticated counterterrorism policy that neutralizes the capabilities of jihadist terrorism around the world and limits the motivations that fuel them.
This task will take years, maybe even generations. It will be costly and will demand out-of-the box thinking.
It is also not the responsibility of the United States alone to deal with this global growing threat, but rather the obligation of all of Western society and the civilized world, including – and perhaps primarily – the Muslim world itself, which stands revolted and terrified by the ideas and atrocities perpetrated by the jihadists. It is time for moderate Muslims to save Islam from the jihadists.
Dr. Boaz Ganor is the Koret Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the founder and executive director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism and deputy dean of the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel.
Founder & Executive Director, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), Ronald Lauder Chair for Counter-Terrorism, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel Prof. Boaz Ganor is the Founder and Executive Director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) and the Ronald S. Lauder Chair for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel. He previously served for five years as Dean and ten years as Deputy Dean of the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy & Strategy at the IDC Herzliya. Prof. Ganor serves as the Founding President of the International Academic Counter-Terrorism Community (ICTAC), an international association of academic institutions, experts, and researchers in fields related to the study of terrorism and counter-terrorism. In 2019-2020, Prof. Ganor spent a sabbatical year as a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Australia; as an Adjunct Professor at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Stuart University, Australia; and as the Aaron and Cecile Goldman Visiting Israeli Professor and Israel Institute Fellow at Georgetown University, United States. Prof. Ganor previously held positions at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, the Hoover Institution (Koret Distinguished Visiting Fellow), the Monterey Institute of International Studies, MIPT (The National Memorial for the Prevention of Terrorism), Hebrew University and Bar Ilan University. He was also a member of the International Advisory Team of the Manhattan Institute (CTCT) to the New York Police Department (NYPD). Prof. Ganor is a member of the International Advisory Council of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies (IDSS), Nanyang Technological University, The Republic of Singapore. He is also a co-founder of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence (ICSR), a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania, United States; the Interdisciplinary Center, Israel; King’s College, London; and the Regional Center on Conflict Prevention (RCCP), Jordan. Since 2014, Prof. Ganor has been a Member of the Executive Committee of the Academic Advisory to the Institute for the Study of Global Anti-Semitism and Policy (ISGAP). Prof. Ganor has given briefings and/or testimonies to the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED), the Australian Parliament, the United States Congress, the US Army, the FBI, the US Department of Homeland Security, as well as numerous intelligence, security and police services throughout the world. He has given hundreds of guest lectures at top universities and research centers throughout the world including at Columbia University, Syracuse University, Georgetown University, the Wilson Center, RAND and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. In 2001, Prof. Ganor was appointed as a Member of the Advisory Committee of the Israel National Security Council on Counter-Terrorism, and he has previously served as a Member of the Israeli Delegation to the Trilateral (American-Palestinian-Israeli) Committee for Monitoring Incitement to Violence and Terror. Prof. Ganor also advised the Israeli Delegation for Peace Negotiations with Jordan on Transportation Safety, the Israeli Counter-Terrorism Coordinator at the Prime Minister’s Office and the Israeli Ministry of Defense. In 1995, he was a consultant to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his book “Fighting Terrorism – How democracies can defeat domestic and international terrorism”. Prof. Ganor has published numerous articles on terrorism and counter-terrorism. His book, "The Counter-Terrorism Puzzle – A Guide for Decision Makers" (Transaction Publishers, 2005), is used as a text book in universities worldwide and his book, “Global Alert: The Rationality of Modern Islamist Terrorism and the Challenges to the Liberal Democratic World” was published by Columbia University Press in 2015. He has published several articles in “Studies in Conflict and Terrorism”, “Terrorism and Political Violence”, “Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflicts”, Orbis and the International Law Studies. He is also the editor of "Countering Suicide Terrorism" (2001) and "Post-Modern Terrorism" (2006). He is the co-editor of “ISC 2005 – Security, Terrorism and Privacy in Information Society” (2005), "Trends in International Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism" (2007), "Hypermedia Seduction for Terrorist Recruiting" (2007), "Terrorism Informatics – Knowledge Management and Data Mining for Homeland Security" (2008), and “The Global Impact of Terrorism” (2008). Prof. Ganor is a member of the Editorial Board of Springer Intelligence & Security Informatics (ISI) journal and a member of the Advisory Board of the International Counter-Terrorism Review (ICTR). Prof. Ganor has contributed book chapters for many publications, including to Oxford University Press, Routledge, Springer, and the U.S. Institute for Peace. Prof. Ganor chairs ICT's Annual World Summit on Counter-Terrorism, the world's leading international conference in the field of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism. In addition, he co-directed numerous research projects for NATO and the Ministry of Public Security. Prof. Ganor is a frequent media and television commentator and has appeared on the BBC, CNN, CBS, ABC, the New York Times, the Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz and many other Israeli and international publications.