Normally I would not condone the methods Hamas uses, and would classify someone using those tactics as a terrorist organization. However, I think that in the case of Palestinian groups striking back against Israel, it is justified. Israel was the agressor, and was the first to hit below the belt, as it were. The actions were perpetrated by the government and military of a democratic society, and have been consistently for going on 50 years. At that point, I think it is reasonable to take action against a citizenry which obviously support the actions taken against the Palestinians.
As for the Sept 11 attacks being justified by the same rationale, I'd say they weren't justified. However, I can certainly see the motivations behind the attacks. While the US in recent history hasn't made a habit of militarily dislocating civilians to further US expansion, we (the US govt, and indirectly the US population for continuing to support that govt) provide a lot of support to questionable organizations to further our political agendas. For a quality example, take the Taliban or Saddam's regime in Iraq; both were previously funded, trained, and supplied by the US govt (to fight the USSR and Iran, respectively). A good ongoing example is Israel. So while we aren't directly participating in Israeli abuses of the Palestinians, we are certainly supporting them. And as mentioned in my above post, I disagree with this support.
I think that accepting the practices of a group like Hammas as justified should be done only in the most extreme circumstances, and I wouldn't extend it from attacking Israel, a direct aggressor, to attacking the US, a finacier of the aggressors, but I can see how some might, especially when the person making the decision is someone who lost a mother or a sister or other family in the conflict. |
