Thread by @RBrulin

A review of US counterterrorism policies is under way. We must find a way out of deadly cycle of "terrorism" & "counter-terrorism." Only way we will do so is by ending silence about "our" (US, ISR, France etc) "terrorism" & by realizing that the DISCOURSE on "T" is pure ideology

https://twitter.com/attackerman/status/1363973783372111874

Here is perfect illustration: in Feb 2018 Ronen Bergman published "Rise & Kill First," book on history of Israel's "targeted killings" in its fight v "the terrorists." It COULD have led to intelligent, constructive public discussion about morality or legality of use of force v T

After all, this book contained a STUNNING revelation: in early 1980s, very senior Israeli officials (Sharon, Dagan, Eitan, Ben-Gal) conducted a huge car bombing "terrorist" campaign that killed hundreds of civilians in Lebanon.

https://twitter.com/RBrulin/status/1331610105515798528?s=20

In 1980, 2 Israeli journalists investigated story about this covert operation. Military censor killed it. Since 2018, US media AND "terrorism experts" have remained silent about revelations. As a consequence, the MUCH NEEDED discussion about use force vs "T" NEVER took place

And yet very DIFFICULT questions could have been asked:
If Bergman is right, Sharon/Dagan/Eitan engaged in "terrorist" campaign that killed hundreds of civilians. What does this mean in terms of the rights of Lebanon (or PLO) to use FORCE in self-defense vs these "terrorists"?

Bergman describes how, early on, the bombs used by the FLLF (the fictitious group used by Israel) were built by Dagan & Eitan in an Israeli Kibbutz: does it mean that this kibbutz was a "terrorist bomb making facility" that could legitimately be targeted?

Of course, such uses of force would NOT have been legitimate, would NOT have been moral and would (of course) clearly have been denounced as such by Israel, the US and the rest of the world community.
And this is precisely the point:

If we know, if we can feel in our bones that such uses of force vs Israeli officials, vs an Israeli Kibbutz, WOULD have been IMMORAL & WRONG (even though these officials undeniably DID engage in "terrorism") then how can WE claim right to use force vs those WE call "terrorists"?

If we KNOW, instinctively, that we would CONDEMN a Lebanese official who said "we did kill a few civilians in this Kibbutz, but Israel is to blame: they made their bombs there & used these civilians as shields" then why is that same logic acceptable when "we" use force vs "them"?

I use ex of Israel here because car bombs in marketplaces, in front of restaurants or theaters are clearly, undeniably acts of "terrorism," & because US media's absolute refusal to cover Bergman's revelations is most recent proof that the discourse on "terrorism" is pure ideology

I also use the Israeli example here because, at the time when Sharon, Dagan et al were conducting this "terrorist" bombing campaign, they were ALSO presenting Israel as having the clear moral high ground in its principle fight vs.... "the evil terrorists" (ie the Palestinians)

It is CRUCIAL that we understand that the discourse on "terrorism" as we know it today has a history, that a number of actors (politicians, the media, "experts") constructed "terrorism" over the time, and gave it the (purely ideological) meaning it has today

But of course, the focus on Israel in this specific thread does NOT mean that Israel is the only state to have used the discourse on "terrorism" as a way to justify methods and practices that, all too often, have themselves amounted to "terrorism"

This is, after all, in the name of fighting "terrorism" that Ronald Reagan justified military aid to various Latin American dictatorships and their death squads, that is to say aid to "terrorists" foreignpolicy.com/2012/08/20/ter…

President Biden knows about these practices. As a young Senator in the 1980s, he took part in countless debates where Democrats argued that Reagan's support for the Contras & for death squads AMOUNTED TO TERRORISM. See: salon.com/2010/03/14/bru…

The "war on terrorism" has been an abject failure. It is high time we develop a RADICAL critique of the discourse that has enabled & justified so many criminal, and counter-productive, policies. So that one day, let us hope, the cycle of violence may stop.
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