The Informationist

Shalom, Tony & Jack

Israeli FM Silvan Shalom wrote a good piece in today’s Jerusalem Post about Britain’s growing commitment to fighting terrorism.

Key excerpts:

It was depressing, though sadly no longer shocking, to hear the litany of excuses and explanations trotted out in many circles to explain – and, by extension, show understanding for – suicide terrorism.

It was plain to see at Blair’s press conference last Tuesday, where question after question sought his acknowledgement that responsibility for the attacks in London lay with Britain’s alliance with the United States and its actions in Iraq. . .

The impulse to remove from the equation the free choice of terrorists to explode themselves, along with as many innocent victims as possible, is one of the most dangerous trends in the public response to global terror.

In my meetings with Blair and Straw I was impressed by the determination of the British government to stand up to this drivel. . .

We must all remember that terrorists are defined by what they do, not by what they claim they are doing it for. Their excuses and justifications are not the point; it is their actions that are the issue.

At the same time it is important to acknowledge the pan-Islamic inspiration shared by the perpetrators of all the major terror attacks this century.

Without knowing the ideological starting point of these merchants of death – wherever they may live – we cannot know where to direct our efforts and it will always be more difficult to protect ourselves from them. . .

Tony Blair’s unequivocal recent statements on terror should be compulsory reading for all leaders, journalists and anyone who shares our determination to stop the terrorists from taking away our democratic way of life and its hard-won freedoms. They should be applied not only in the British context, but everywhere terrorists lurk.

Posted by Bruce Abramson from on 08/03 at 03:02 PM in Foreign Affairs and the World beyond Our Borders