The Evolution of Jewish Terrorism

Abstract

While Jewish violence and terrorism, both early and contemporary, is closely correlated with one particular territory—Palestine or Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel)—the chapter utilizes Rapoport’s four-waves framework in order to show that the evolution of Jewish terrorism was shaped by global dynamics and developments. More specifically, we will argue that whereas Jewish terrorism in Palestine and later in Israel consists of only two periods—the nationalist (1930s–1950s), which corresponds with the anticolonial wave, and its derivative, the nationalist-religious (1970s–present), which overlaps with the religious wave—the two missing waves, both of which were left-wing revolutionary, had a tremendous impact on political and social processes in Israel in general, and on the evolution of Jewish terrorism in particular. We conclude by discussing the implications of the similarities and differences between Jewish religious violence and other types of religious political violence.