Fighting Terrorism [Paperback]

Voltaire wrote that there are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts. Unlike those who brandish obfuscation and appeasement as political weaponry (q.v., Bill Clinton and Colin Powell), Netanyahu convincingly dismantles the "cause" of terrorism at its most vulnerable place: its philosophy. He brings a clarity of vision-coupled with a compelling and well researched historical record-to bear on what, in the light of day, cannot be called a just cause.

Accordingly, while the bulk of his work appropriately focuses on the Middle East (the birthplace of modern terrorism), he elucidates many of the causes behind terrorism on both a domestic and an international scale-from the Oklahoma and New York Trade Tower bombings (the book was written in 1995) to the rise of the PLO and other European terrorist organizations as puppets for a corrupt Soviet regime. Netanyahu's principled argument and clear writing style are only made more stark by the compelling historical record that leads him to his final conclusion.

The history of terrorism is not light reading, but it is crucial to known thine enemy. Netanyahu details the mentality behind this enemy by showing that "[i]t is not only that the ends of the terrorists do not succeed in justifying the means they choose; their choice of means indicates what their true ends are."

The overall purpose of the book is to demonstrate that a philosophical response (Netanyahu calls it a moral response) is the only means of defeating terrorism. To be more precise, terrorists can be defeated, but only if decent people uproot it properly, once and for all, without moral compunctions of any kind.

The book is replete with historical fact not reported in any of today's ludicrously biased media, and it concludes with specific remedies not dreamed of by liberal appeasers who wish to grant murderers an equal voice at the international bargaining table. (Many of these rememdies finally are being enacted after September 11.) This is a remarkably well written book; I just pray that our leaders digest its message in time.

Netanyahu compellingly shows why refusing to give in to terrorist demands is not just the least worst option -- it is really the only good option for fighting terrorism. During the 1985 TWA hijacking, our refusal to even consider terrorist demands led to the terrorists' backing down. Netanyahu says we sent a very different signal during the Iran-Contra affair, when our willingness to negotiate with terrorists spawned even more kidnappings.

Netanyahu also urges us not to underestimate the extent to which terrorism is centrally funded and organized. The West's failure to recognize that 1970s terrorism was NOT a series of disconnected plots by local dissidents, but was instead instigated by the Soviet Union set the battle against terrorism back years. We should not forget this today.

Those interested in the PLO-Israeli "peace process" should also read this book: its' account of the extent to which terrorism is condoned at the highest levels in the Palestinean leadership, and why Palestineans will never accept the existence of a Jewish state is quite sobering.