Nations of the world have, in the past, regarded terrorism as unable to do real damage to their intrests. It was beleived that, although able to redefine intrests and public behavior in the short term, the scope of terrorism damage was greatly limited. 9/11 changed that conception by uncovering the power of state sponsored terrorism (potentially coupled with dangerous weapons easily obtainable by nations) and resulted in a shift in US security doctrine.

The doctrine that could, before 9/11 be summed up as “containment” had transformed into “prevention” as whitnessed in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq. In this sense there is no need to analyse the invasion of Iraq in the context of WMD or a mission to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people, but simply as in agreement of US policy in eliminating state sponsored terrorism.

Continued attacks on European soil and mounting evidence for a “clash of cultures” has since convinced most western nations that a policy of prevention is necessary. This is why we are seeing a much more united front against Iran than Europe’s splitted reaction to the Iraq war.

A perspective change on terrorism in Israel is also taking place, albeit slowly. Whereas it was previously regarded solely as a local conflict it is starting to be put in context of a global problem. Indeed, this view is also reflected in charters and declerations of terrorist groups or nations themselves, these often consider Israel to be a western colonizing power, calling it ‘The Little Satan’ with the United States taking the role of ‘Big Satan’ and Europe grouped together as ‘The Crusaders’.

When considering that Israel’s porous borders (especially between the West Bank and Israel) put it at direct contact with terror sponsoring entities Israel can be said to be at the frontline of the global terrorism problem. This blog aims to analyse current events under this light.