Who Decides What Constitutes Terrorism?
TLDR, those with money and power
Last month I wrote about the pager bombing terrorist attack that took place in Lebanon. 2024 has been so dense with news that although this happened so recently, it has already receded into the background of the media coverage of the humanitarian disaster in the Middle East. Now, as Israel fires on UN peacekeepers and kills more civilians on top of the thousands of other innocent journalists, healthcare workers, patients, babies, activists, families, and humanitarian aid workers, I return again to the subject of terrorism.
For the past year, and indeed for many decades, Israel and the West has justified their use of violence against opponents so long as they characterize their targets as terrorists. Terrorist in its simplest form refers to those who commit criminal violence intended to intimidate populations, coerce governments or organizations, or advance their political, religious, or ideological causes. This definition, however, is somewhat nebulous. After September 11, 2001, the UN Security Council passed resolution 1373 (2001), to criminalize terrorist acts in domestic law. However, the Council did not quite define what terrorism was. To this day, the subject remains politically subjective, as the determination is made by governments, international organizations, courts, and intelligences agencies, but their determinations and decisions are not black-and-white.
For instance, the West constantly defends Israel on the basis that they are tracking down terrorists. Yet while Israel engages in the exact same violence as those designated “terrorists”, and kills more civilians than any of them combined, this violence is excused. It is not considered terrorism. Though their actions meet the definition above, their military engages in horrific human rights abuses, and they sow terror all around them, we are not allowed to call them terrorists.
Why? What constitutes a terrorist? Who decides?
The UN does not have a list of terrorist organizations that is universally binding. It does however issue Security Council Resolutions, which impose sanctions or other measures against groups or people designated as terrorists. These resolutions are based on the subjective opinions of national governments, international groups, and various NGOs. The US Treasury Department, for example, can designate groups as terrorists through their Executive Order 13224.
Regional organizations, like the CFR or RAND, can also take stances and make recommendations on entities they believe to be terrorists. The CFR is an “independent think tank,” which is meant to help legislators facing foreign policy choices in the US and abroad. The CFR, however, faces criticism for its elitism. Their membership and influence is limited to a smaller group of policymakers and business leaders, who may skew towards establishment views. CFR’s list of corporate members, for example, include companies like ExxonMobil, JPMorgan Chase, and Google, and their magazine Foreign Affairs has been criticized for reflecting the views of political elites, such as favoring interventionist foreign policies and global capitalism. As for RAND, it is an organization that conducts research on terrorism and related fields. But as well, their opinions may also derive from political elites, as much of its funding comes from government contracts.
Israel and the West consider Hamas, the historic PLO, and Hezbollah to be terrorist organizations due to actions involving suicide bombings, rocket attacks, and kidnappings that have targeted civilians. It is not the violence alone however that is considered when determining their terrorism. They also get this designation as they are considered “non-state actors.” But Hezbollah was actually democratically elected, and Hamas and the PLO come from Palestine, which has so far been deliberately denied the ability to be considered a state through peaceful and legal means. It is not “excusing violence” to say this—it is simply stating a fact that if you deny one’s ability to be considered a state, then it is not really possible for them to represented by state actors.
Israel, on the other hand, engages in the exact same violence and worse as these designated “terrorist groups”. Terrorism after all involves acts intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians, with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or international organization. Israel quite literally backs the killing of and kills civilians themselves all the time. But this is not considered terrorism. While Hamas or Hezbollah murder others, for the IDF, it is just considered “war.” It is not the actual violence and actual loss of civilian lives, apparently, that matters when it comes to terrorism. So Hamas and Hezbollah are considered terrorists, and the IDF soldiers, even if the latter are responsible for more civilian deaths.
But why?
The answer is basically that it’s all just about power and language. It’s about who controls the law, and which words these people and organizations attribute to which people and concepts and organizations. It’s essentially just Orwell’s doublespeak. Words mean whatever those in power want them to mean, and words are assigned as they want to assign them. The West and Israel are in power. Because of this, they don’t censor, they just reduce misinformation. They can’t invade or attack countries, they can only have preemptive ground operations and a right to self defense. They’re not being authoritarian when they force their populations to back their foreign policy choices, they’re just defending democracy. And they cannot engage in terrorism, only war.
It’s a linguistic trick, biased rhetoric backed up by laws with other biased rhetoric. Israel faces no accountability, no punishment, no outrage from Western institutions and the world because Israel is considered a state, so they can have an army and soldiers who commit violence to further their means and Palestine can only have terrorists. Palestine, meanwhile, is forbidden the ability to become a state, also because the world caters to those in power. Palestine is given no money, no weapons, no legal ability to negotiate peacefully, no recognition, no rights to self-determination, no rights to return to their homes. They have suffered under Israeli occupation for over a hundred years. But because they have been denied all this by those in power, their violence is terrorism and Israel’s is not.
Powerful, wealthy, and supported with billions of dollars and weapons from allies that are also powerful and wealthy, Israel is permitted to engage constantly in violations of international law. Their settlement activities are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the destruction of private or state property. Their military actions that lead to significant civilian casualties should be considered state terrorism, as it violates the concept of “proportionality” in legal warfare, enshrined in law by the Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, Article 51(5)(b). Their illegal blockade of Gaza is collective punishment, and Mossad of course engages in extrajudicial killings all the time.
Yet any and every terrorizing act they engage in is excusable because they are from a state and because they are “fighting terrorists” who are not from a state. It does not matter that Palestine can’t have a state. And it doesn’t matter that regardless of the language used, thousands of innocent people are still dying. It doesn’t matter if Israel indiscriminately has been killing civilians for decades with this same excuse of “targeting terrorists.” So it is the people in power who decide which violence is excusable, and which violence is not.
It’s nonstop bullshit. It’s chaos. Israel must be held accountable and the West must withdraw all support. Those that lead my country and those that lead the rest of the West will forever need to hang their heads in shame for allowing this misery to continue for so long and for so many innocents. After over a hundred years there must be some justice.
Thank you for reading. If you like my writing and want to support me, please consider subscribing to my newsletter or sharing my work. Thank you so much and please help free Palestine.
Articles and writers I’ve been reading on Substack:
Give us a new year, as Palestinians, that is whole and unbroken….. by Mohammed Mohisen
Never Let Your Government Tell You Who Your Enemies Are by Caitlin Johnstone
Miller Confronted: ‘You Are Abetting Genocide and Risking Nuclear War’ by Decensored News
What $23 Billion to Israel Could Have Paid For, Instead of Bombs by Katherine Abughazaleh
Blinken Approved Policy to Bomb Aid Trucks, Israeli Cabinet Members Suggest by Yaniv Cogan
Not only must Israel be held accountable, but so must the leaders of the western world who support Israel, and the press that spew propaganda that obfuscates what Israel is doing.
Thanks for posting, Eleanor.