After Paris, a lesson for Israel

Approximately 2,500 Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on Saturday evening to express solidarity with the people of France ISRAEL SUN PHOTO
Approximately 2,500 Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on Saturday evening to express solidarity with the people of France ISRAEL SUN PHOTO

In the days since Paris was attacked by the Islamic State (ISIS), many have sought to compare France’s predicament to that of Israel. No doubt, there are clear connections between the terrorism Israelis face on a near-constant basis and the brutal ideology that fuelled the Nov. 13 multi-site rampage in the City of Light. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the point over the weekend, saying, “In Israel, as in France, terrorism is terrorism, and the force standing behind it is radical Islam and its wish to destroy its victims.” An image going around social media puts it more succinctly: “Paris 11/13; New York 9/11; Israel 24/7.”

Tragic but true. United against terrorism wherever it strikes. #ParisAttacks#PrayForParis

Posted by StandWithUs on Saturday, November 14, 2015

The crisis facing France and other western democracies certainly mirrors the long-standing conflict in Israel, and yet the ramifications are nonetheless different. The radicals who attacked France do not pose an existential threat, at least not in the near term. When French military jets embarked on bombing campaigns against ISIS targets in Syria Sunday night, that point was made clear: for France, the battleground is far away. True, there are issues on the home front – among them, local radicalization and the challenges of immigration – but the real enemy is in Syria and Iraq.

Israel’s enemies, by contrast, are but a stone’s throw – literally – away. The geographical space between Israelis and those directly trying to kill them is minuscule. In many cases, they live in the same cities, they see each other every day. And so it is a very different kind of terror – more immediate and easier to quantify, though that doesn’t mean it can always be detected and defended against.

But even with the significant differences between the threats facing France and Israel, and even if the stakes are dissimilar, the path to defeat the enemy is one and the same. The goal must be to root out fundamentalism in all its forms, to hit radicals in their home bases, to hinder their ability to transmit an ideology of hatred into western nations, block their political and financial supporters, and impress upon civilians, especially those of a younger generation, that there is a better way forward for all.

And in that monumental endeavour, there is a real opportunity for France and Israel – for all western democracies – to work together. Shock and grief are natural in the immediate aftermath of such a bloody spectacle, but in order to defeat the enemy, it is necessary to quickly move forward, to resolve to fight back, to not be cowed into a spiral of fear, which is what ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah and every terrorist organization desperately wants.

Here, the Israeli experience is perhaps most instructive. When terror strikes, as it has so often in recent weeks, Israelis respond in two distinct ways: they fight back by identifying the enemy and rooting him out, and, at the same time, they do their best to move on and get back to normal life, as odd as that sounds. They know the war can’t be won in a single day or battle, but they are resolved to see it through, and to retain their humanity in the process. That’s a lesson the whole world could use right now.