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Terrorism Or Hate Crime? — Why Now?
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Terrorism Or Hate Crime?

The BBC reports on a hate crime in Israel: Gay Israelis rally after shooting

Hundreds of Israelis have joined a rally organised by the gay community after shootings at a gay youth centre.

Two people died and at least 11 were hurt when the gunman opened fire at the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association before fleeing.

The city’s Mayor, Ron Huldai, said the motive was unclear and police declined to comment except to say a Palestinian link was not suspected.

But the protesters condemned the attack as Israel’s worst hate crime.

Actually, other sources are reporting that the police are saying it was a criminal act and not terrorism, but given that the Israelis label anything the Palestinians do as terrorism and anything that civilian Israelis do as crime, saying that there is no link to Palestinians is the equivalent of saying it wasn’t terrorism to the Israeli government. Exactly how some individual in a ninja outfit coming in to a club and indiscriminately shooting people isn’t an act of terrorism, is unclear to me. It looked to me like the point of the attack was to terrorize people.

Of course, if the suspect is identified as a member of one of the ultra-othrodox groups, the charge will be reduced to disturbing the peace. They certainly don’t charge them with assault when they gather in mobs and stone people they feel are violating some rule or another that only they believe in.

Fundamentalists are dangerous, no matter what book they quote from, and they all endorse their own brand of terrorism to impose their views on others.

4 comments

1 Steve Bates { 08.03.09 at 10:07 am }

“Fundamentalists are dangerous, no matter what book they quote from, and they all endorse their own brand of terrorism to impose their views on others.”

True indeed. I’ve borrowed your conclusion as my banner quote for the week… thank you.
.-= last blog ..Death And Taxes… And Absurdities About Healthcare Costs =-.

2 Bryan { 08.03.09 at 12:53 pm }

I appreciate it, Steve. I’m sick to death of the “holier than thou” crowd. They all preach hate and claim to be victims.

3 Kryten42 { 08.03.09 at 1:33 pm }

The fundies are all (with very few exceptions) black/white simplistic people. You will find that most have no real imagination at all, or much real intelligence for that matter. Being *clever* or even educated, is not the same as being intelligent. They become fundies because fundamentalism is the only system that will support and accept their narrow views. That and most of them are narcissistic total-control freaks. 😉

4 Bryan { 08.03.09 at 2:13 pm }

The thing that is really annoying is how they magically “find” their distorted view of reality supported in a book by creatively redefining words and common meaning.

Half of the crap they condemn is the same level of crime as eating ham and cheese sandwiches or shrimp, but what they don’t like gets people killed while they eat the sandwiches and suck down the shrimp.