Blog 8

Blog 8: Political Violence

            A student won’t make it very long in a history without hearing about an occurrence of some sort of political violence. Political violence is the use of force by states or non-state actors to achieve political goals (Samuels). Political violence can be broken into five main subgroups: interstate warfare, civil war, revolution, terrorism and genocide. While the definitions are set for each subgroup, often times it’s difficult to categorize a specific event of political violence into one subgroup. However, on other occasions, it is very easy to label a specific event of political violence into a subgroup. The 1972 killing of members of the Israeli Olympic team is a clear example of terrorism.

            Terrorism is threatened or actual use of violence for political purposes by non-state actors, directed particularly against civilian targets (Samuels). The 1972 killing of members of the Israeli Olympic team fits this definition perfectly. In order to understand this, one must first understand the background of the event.

            On September 6, 1972, nine Israeli Olympic athletes were kidnapped, held hostage, and later murdered by the Palestinian group, Black September. (BBC). While holding the Israeli’s hostage, the terrorists demanded the release of over 200 Arab prisoners (New York Times). Many of these prisoners were being held in Israeli prisons and were put there shortly after King of Jordan declared military rule and that resulted in the imprisonment, expulsion and deaths of many Palestinians from Jordan (New York Times). Israel refused to release the prisoners and after a gunfight with the German police, the terrorist group killed all the hostages (BBC). Some of the terrorists were killed in the gunfight while the rest were caught shortly after.

            In this instance non-state actors, Black September, used violence that was directed against civilian targets. The Black September targeted the members of the Israeli Olympic team in order to accomplish political purposes. They wanted Israel to release the Palestinian prisoners that were being held in Israeli prisons. The terrorist group believed that attacking and holding the Israeli civilians hostage would be more effective than attacking the Israeli government. This act separates this political violence event from being a civil war. In order to be a civil war they would have had to attack the states military. If the Israeli government had released the prisoners, it would have undermined Israel’s government and shown weakness. This is a desired outcome of terrorism. Another outcome of terrorism is that is that it dramatically reshapes the security policies of many countries. After this attack in 1972, Europe established military trained anti-terrorist groups (New York Times).

            The 1972 killing of members of the Israeli Olympic team is an example of terrorism. It fits the definition of using violence for political purposes by a non-state actor and having that violence be directed at civilians.

Sources

Samuels, David J. 2012. Comparative politics. Upper Saddle River, NJ:   Pearson Education.

Kershner, Isabel. From Israel's Archives, Papers on Munich Killings. The New York Times, 7 Sept. 2012. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/08/world/middleeast/israel-releases-papers-on-72-munich-killings-part-of-trove.html?_r=0>.

1972 Olympic Hostages Killed . BBC, n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/6/newsid_2500000/2500769.stm>.