Events happening in Israel between Palestinians and Jewish settlers might herald the nucleus of a new type of social warfare that will spread to the wider world. Relations between the two sides have broken down completely and the Palestinian have declared an "Intifada "- a form of insurrection where ordinary citizens are urged to use any weapon they can find and randomly attack Israeli citizens in the streets.
In the races diaspora that is Israel this has resulted in knife attacks on crowded streets, sometimes leading to the death or serious injury of innocent people. Alert counter insurgency police have shot and killed many of these attackers but the psychology involved means that nobody can feel safe. The attacks are completely random and can involve men, women or even small children.
That is exactly what Islamic State is trying to create in western countries. The call is for Islam to recruit radicalized young men to serve as it's warriors in attacking what they term as "the distant enemy " in their drive to force a caliphate on the world. They have been very successful in using social media for this purpose.
The Police Association of New South Wales are certainly taking it seriously. There are plans to fortify police stations in western Sydney, where there is a high Muslim content in the general population and this is likely to run to tens of millions of dollars. Bullet proof screens will pose a barrier between police and the public and all forms of access will be hardened to guard against a surprise attack.
PANSW is also sharpening the rules on how police do their jobs. Police walking the beat alone will become a thing of the past and patrols will certainly be linked to pairs so that one officer can watch the others back when dealing with the public.
We have already had this form of warfare apply when a fifteen year old radicalized boy was persuaded to launch an attack on Parramatta police headquarters. He waited until someone walked out of the building, walked up behind him and shot him in the head. That victim was a civilian accountant, but from the IS point of view all and every person who is not a Muslim who obeys their twisted version of Islam - is the enemy !
One of the aims of an Intifada is to spread public fear. This Parramatta killing involved a gun and the method being used in Israel is usually a knife. From IS point of view, that is something openly available to most people and it is so easy to deliver a sharp thrust in the back within a crowd - and then melt away in the confusion. Every attack ensures wide publicity - to keep the public on edge.
The Christian world has had it's fair share of this sort of insanity. Most people remember the "trouble " years in Ireland when Protestants and Catholics carried out a vicious war of extermination, with pub bombings and public assassinations. Fortunately, reason seems to have finally prevailed and this religious war has been settled peacefully.
The main impetus in this IS war is the divide that occurred centuries earlier between the Sunni and the ShÃ'a faces of Islam. There is natural animosity which is being stoked by IS preaching an extremist view which has appeal to restless young men. Fortunately, older and wiser followers of both branches are content to practice their religion peacefully - and reject this form of extremism.
That Parramatta killing probably was decisive within the broad ranks of those who worship Islam in Australia. What little sympathy many may have had for IS evaporated with that senseless act.
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