Customer Reviews

Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic and International Terrorists

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1 star:		(4)

 

 

As a former Naval Counter-terrorism analyst, I look for books that provide factual material without a sugarcoating of political ideology. Prime Minister Netanyahu has well accomplished this feat within this book. By using both personal experience and historical perspective, PM Netanyahu provides a step by step program for the isolation and eventual defeat of terrorist organizations. He provides heretofore unknown facts that gives an insight into the mindset of the terrorists and those that fight them. This book is a 'must read' for any student of International Politics, Terrorism, those wishing to learn the truth of international terrorism

This work is an exceptionally honest perspective on the nature of and driving forces behind the use of terrorism as a political weapon. Netanyahu, like few others, refuses to mince words and relinquish the moral ground when chronicling the "deliberate and systematic assault on civilians to inspire political ends."

Voltaire wrote that there are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts. Unlike those who brandish obfuscation and appeasement as political weaponry (q.v., Bill Clinton and Colin Powell), Netanyahu convincingly dismantles the "cause" of terrorism at its most vulnerable place: its philosophy. He brings a clarity of vision-coupled with a compelling and well researched historical record-to bear on what, in the light of day, cannot be called a just cause.

Accordingly, while the bulk of his work appropriately focuses on the Middle East (the birthplace of modern terrorism), he elucidates many of the causes behind terrorism on both a domestic and an international scale-from the Oklahoma and New York Trade Tower bombings (the book was written in 1995) to the rise of the PLO and other European terrorist organizations as puppets for a corrupt Soviet regime. Netanyahu's principled argument and clear writing style are only made more stark by the compelling historical record that leads him to his final conclusion.

The history of terrorism is not light reading, but it is crucial to known thine enemy. Netanyahu details the mentality behind this enemy by showing that "[i]t is not only that the ends of the terrorists do not succeed in justifying the means they choose; their choice of means indicates what their true ends are."

The overall purpose of the book is to demonstrate that a philosophical response (Netanyahu calls it a moral response) is the only means of defeating terrorism. To be more precise, terrorists can be defeated, but only if decent people uproot it properly, once and for all, without moral compunctions of any kind.

The book is replete with historical fact not reported in any of today's ludicrously biased media, and it concludes with specific remedies not dreamed of by liberal appeasers who wish to grant murderers an equal voice at the international bargaining table. (Many of these rememdies finally are being enacted after September 11.) This is a remarkably well written book; I just pray that our leaders digest its message in time.

This brisk volume by Benjamin Netanyahu is a useful guide to combatting terrorism, and although it doesn't mention Osama bin Laden's name, its lessons are relevant to the struggle of today.

Netanyahu compellingly shows why refusing to give in to terrorist demands is not just the least worst option -- it is really the only good option for fighting terrorism. During the 1985 TWA hijacking, our refusal to even consider terrorist demands led to the terrorists' backing down. Netanyahu says we sent a very different signal during the Iran-Contra affair, when our willingness to negotiate with terrorists spawned even more kidnappings.

Netanyahu also urges us not to underestimate the extent to which terrorism is centrally funded and organized. The West's failure to recognize that 1970s terrorism was NOT a series of disconnected plots by local dissidents, but was instead instigated by the Soviet Union set the battle against terrorism back years. We should not forget this today.

Those interested in the PLO-Israeli "peace process" should also read this book: its' account of the extent to which terrorism is condoned at the highest levels in the Palestinean leadership, and why Palestineans will never accept the existence of a Jewish state is quite sobering.

In "Fighting Terrorism" Benjamin Netanyahu provides us with a clear and concise history of terrorism, and a universal action plan for eradicating it. In his typical engaging and creative use of the English language, the former Prime Minister of Israel sounds a clarion call to the free societies of the world; while terrorism has advanced far beyond anyone's worst imaginings, it is still very much containable, provided that the free world wakes up, remembers history, and musters its resources and armaments to eradicate the growing scourge. The section on the specter of nuclear terrorism is chilling, particularly with the recent announcement by North Korea of its own nuclear capabilities. Many areas mentioned in the book are worthy of further study: After flipping the last page, I immediately began reading "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes to fill in my understanding of how the most brilliant minds in the world, many of them peace-loving, contributed to our most horrific invention, one which looms large in the future of our fight against terrorism. Please read this book and realize that the 12th hour is upon us!

Unfortunately, I had to read this book at sort of funny intervals because right when I was finishing it up I was also dealing with starting school, so if anything I write is moronic, forgive me.

My parents saw Mr. Netanyahu speak in Indianapolis a couple years ago around the time that 9/11 happened, but I am not sure if it was before or after the tragedy. My Dad got this book for Christmas and he read it, and passed it on to me since I have developed a strong interest in the Middle East. This book in itself is very short, but the pages are chock full of information that every American needs to know now that it has been proven that terrorist orginazations are capable of carrying out large scale attacks on American soil.

I have heard a few people complain that this book is Pro-Israeli. My response to these people is that OF COURSE it is Pro-Israeli, as Nentanyahu was the former PM of Israel and also served in the Israeli military. So anyway, if you are looking for something that is not biased, look somewhere else.

This book is easy to read, and it very well outlines the history of terrorism in the Middle East and what democracies have done to defeat it in the past, and what we must do to defeat it now. Mr. Netanyahu does a fine job of explaining everything, and he writes it in a manner that an average person can understand. The main question that concludes this book is will the United States step up and defeat the terrorists or will we do the foolish thing and go "back to normal." Right now it looks like to me we are taking the wrong path, and the United States MUST step up if we want to remain the dominant power. The book emphasizes the fact we must step up, but remains well rounded by addressing the question of violating civil liberties.

If you are a concerned American and want to learn about the terrorist threat but don't have a lot of time, this is your best bet.This book is good, short, and easy to understand.

I read this book in about 2 days. From the minute I picked it up I found myself taken with Benjamin Netanyahu's scholarly perspective to an issue he himself has been working with all his life.

This book goes over the roots of terrorism, its objectives and its future discussing intelligent ways to fight it while protecting civil liberties for democratic societies. This book, written in 1998, I found it frightenly prophetic predicting a second attempt on the WTC.

Read this book! It is not fiction, it is the way our world now works and will continue to work for years to come.

Benjamin Netanyahu is the best and most active representative of Israeli concerns for concerned Americans. Here, he speaks on terrorism when America most needs a voice of experiance. This book, written after Oklahoma City, was meant to give guidance to Americans asking questions then about the ways that terrorists strike, the reasons they do so, and what a people can do to stop terrorists. An unflinching commentary on the types of terrorism employed by Israel's unfriendly neighbors, even before the current intifada, and also by those who would do America harm.

A great book by former Israeli PM and a leading authority on terrorism. This book is fairly short but contains an abundant amount of information on winning the war against terrorism. This book should be required reading for every American politician.

Fighting Terrorism, is an excellent guide to the world of terrorism and its implications for our future world.

Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking about terrorism long before September 11, long before the world was ready to listen to his warnings of a militant Islam at war with the civilized, liberal, modern world. He spoke about terrorism when it was seen as just an Israeli problem, a problem much of Europe including France and Germany were very happy to exploit to their own advantage, treating Arafat as a statesmen and country builder, instead of one of the crucial links in the world of Islamic terrorism.

A good part of the world watched as militant Islam allied with the far left tried to destroy and undermine Israel, thinking it was a problem for the Jews to solve. Now, as Jihad and its hatred of the West, shows its face in Spain, India, Russia, the Phillipines, the U.S., and many of the Muslim countries, the world will see that Israel was in the forefront of this clash, and that it is a clash of liberal, constitutional Westernized societies versus the dark world of religious authoritarianism.

The Jihad against Israel is not because it is a Jewish state, but because it is the only open, constitutional, Westernized society in the Middle East, and thus threatens the authoritarian Muslim world by its individualism: free press, constitutional rights, rule of law, social and sexual freedoms.

Fundamental Islam and its belief in the subordination and sacrifice of the individual for a higher cause, symbolized in its use of homocide bombers to murder and slaughter innocent civilians, is intent on imposing itself on free liberal societies, and establishing a Taliban-like world where pleasure and self-interest will be crushed and erradicated.

Israel was one of its first victims, but now when France,
Spain, Russia, and Germany see their own buses, trains, and public places being blown up by people recruited, trained, and payed by Islamic terror in the name of reclaiming Islamic glory, I wonder if they will still call Hamas, Hizbullah, and Islamic Jihad, freedom fighters?

This book first came out in the mid-1990s. If only the U.S. government had listened to the Israelis and the author, who increasingly had warned the U.S., or tried to, of the growing jihadist threat, not just around the world, but also inside the U.S (the Israelis had known of Islamic terrorists in places like Oklahoma city, etc. in the 1990s). At one point in this book, the author states that the threat is growing and "it is only a matter of time before they strike the United States, from within". Very true, unfortunately. This book costs less than $ 20, and yet, the CIA could have learned more from it than the billions they spend every year "monitoring" terrorists.

I think the author also does a good job in explaining that it is not Islam per se that is the enemy, but the jihadists (Wahhabis, etc.). He also is able to put himself into the shoes of the Arabs and see how they view the world, which of course is very helpful. He does this from a position not of hatred or conflict, but just from a position of knowledge, and wanting to know.