Blood Sacrifice: Understanding Palestinian Terror Violence Against Israel

by Louis René Beres (June 2015)
Originally published in August 2003

That is no small reward.

For the Palestinians who now regard terrorism as sacrifice, it is a sacred violence that rewards doubly. Killing the despised Jew while simultaneously killing death for the Muslim, Palestinian sacrificial terror represents the altogether optimal fusion of religion and politics. Moreover, such terror also fulfils the timeless function of sacrifice, which is to quell violence within the community, and to prevent intra-communal conflicts from erupting or overflowing.

What lessons can be learned from this for more effective Israeli counterterrorism? One answer emerges from a more general investigation of sacrifice. Looking over several thousand years of history, all sacrificial victims are invariably distinguishable from nonsacrificeable beings by one essential trait: between these victims and the community a crucial social link is missing, so that they can be sacrificed without fear of reprisal. 

The practice of sacred violence via sacrifice is always one that can be undertaken without risk of vengeance. In sacrifice, the victim, who lacks a champion, is struck down with impunity.

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