Speak plainly - Israelis also carry out terrorism

  The Israel/Palestine conflict

Speak plainly - Israelis also carry out terrorism

Terrorist researchers: Swedish media and politicians should be consistent

This is a debate article. It is the writer who stands for the opinions presented in the text, not Aftonbladet.

Updated 09.57 | Published at 06:00

The media and politicians have no problem defining Hamas's attacks against Israelis as "acts of terrorism", but the settlers' attacks against Palestinians are usually just "settler violence". A better way is to choose a definition of terrorism, for example politically motivated violence against civilians, and then use it consistently, writes terrorism researcher Marco Nilsson. The picture shows a destroyed Palestinian home after an attack by settlers in the West Bank last June.

The media and politicians have no problem defining Hamas's attacks against Israelis as "acts of terrorism", but the settlers' attacks against Palestinians are usually just "settler violence". A better way is to choose a definition of terrorism, for example politically motivated violence against civilians, and then use it consistently, writes terrorism researcher Marco Nilsson. The picture shows a destroyed Palestinian home after an attack by settlers in the West Bank last June.

Photo: TT

 

DEBATE. As a terrorism researcher, you are often surprised when you read Swedish newspapers, listen to D the radio or watch TV.

I mean that the media are not infrequently inconsistent when they call certain violent attacks terrorism while other reasonably similar attacks are called something else. A good example is the Palestine-Israel conflict.

After the Hamas attack on October 7, the media has increasingly reported on how Israeli settlers, living on illegally occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, attack Palestinians.

Such attacks have been going on for years but the intensity has increased recently, perhaps because the war in Gaza initially created a media shadow over events in the West Bank.

But just because the media today report more often on the settlers' acts of violence does not create reason to believe that they have always succeeded in balanced reporting.

There is no problem with defining Hamas's attacks against Israelis as "acts of terrorism", but the settlers' attacks against Palestinians are often simply "settler violence". Swedish ministers also use this language.

It is not easy to report on violent conflicts, but what can be done to create more balanced reporting? If the media tried to call Hamas attacks only "refugee violence", something that could be equated with "settler violence", it would be journalistic suicide.

A better path would be to instead choose a definition of terrorism, such as politically motivated violence against civilians, and then use it consistently.

The media often use the term "terrorist" in order not to have to take a stand themselves. But not all terrorists are members of an organization that is on, for example, the EU's list of terrorist organizations.

This should not deter the Swedish media and make them in practice mainly follow how Israel views the matter.

Even the country that has given Israel the most unreserved support has begun to tire of this inconsistent use of definitions. And when a Palestinian was shot dead and several others injured by Israeli settlers, the US called the incident a "terrorist attack".

This naturally led to protests from mainly right-wing Israeli ministers and party leaders who openly air ideas of occupying even larger Palestinian territories.

Perhaps people in Sweden are afraid of being exposed to criticism from the Israeli government, which often uses the anti-Semitism card to protect its political interests. But such criticism must be met with scientific arguments and with support in the Swedish value base, which is based on everyone's equal value.

As long as many Swedish media and even government ministers call the violence of the extreme settlers just "violence" and not "terrorism", you contribute to diminishing the far-reaching political aims of the violence and also indirectly legitimize extended illegal occupation.

Therefore, the Swedish media should be more consistent in their reporting on political violence in the world, regardless of where it occurs and who the perpetrator is.

The aim of the violent settlers is to take possession of someone else's property by threat, terror and sometimes with lethal force to realize their political or religious goals.

If this is not terrorism while Hamas attacks are, we are living with Alice in Wonderland, where no meaning or logic can be found beyond power:

"When I use a word," said Klumpedumpe in a rather snotty voice, "it means just what I want it to mean—no more, no less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean different things." "The question is," said Klumpedumpe, "who decides. That is the whole point”.

Marco Nilsson, docent in political science and terrorism researcher, Jönköping University

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