|
|
December 6, 2002/Tevet 1 5763, Vol. 55, No. 15
Kenya attacks herald entry into war on terror
LESLIE SUSSER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Nov. 28, 2002, may go down in history as Israel's Sept. 11.
Despite two years of relentless Palestinian terrorism that has claimed nearly 700 Israeli lives, last week's coordinated attacks on Israeli targets in Kenya are being seen as a watershed: They herald Israel's full-blown entry into the global war against terrorism, according to defense sources.
"Only" three Israelis died in a suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa, and missiles fired at an Israeli passenger plane narrowly missed, causing no casualties.
But the potential for damage - had the missiles hit the plane, which was carrying 261 passengers and crew, or had the car bomb caused the entire hotel to collapse - was enormous.
As Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz noted, "The attacks should be judged by their intention, not their results."
In its planning and daring, the Kenya assault represents just the sort of "mega-terror" attack that Israeli officials long have feared.
Because they came against defenseless tourists in a distant and idyllic corner of the world, the attacks have made Israelis feel no place is safe.
Already hard-pressed to deal with Palestinian attacks in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israelis now face serious questions about how to defend themselves against dispersed terrorists without a clear "return address" - the same sort of questions, in short, that America has been grappling with since Sept. 11.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon put the Mossad in charge of investigating and responding to the attacks.
For some, this was reminiscent of Israel's use of the Mossad to track down and kill the Palestinian terrorists who killed Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The Mossad will devote more resources and play a more active role in gathering intelligence and tracking the architects and proponents of global terror.
Moreover, it will do this alongside American, British and other major intelligence agencies.
This collaboration has important diplomatic implications for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: International terror against Israeli civilians, in the name of Palestinian rights, may well lead the West to identify Israel's fight against Palestinian terrorism with the global war on terror.
From now on, defense sources say, Israeli arguments that Palestinian terrorism is part and parcel of the international jihad against the West may carry more weight.
In an Internet statement whose authenticity has not been confirmed, Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attacks, seemingly confirming Israeli suspicions that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network was behind the attacks.
A "Letter to the American People" defined Israel as the main reason for Al-Qaida's terrorist attacks on America and said that American citizens are fair game.
Leslie Susser is the diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Report.
|
