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Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=19817
How to Reduce Terrorism
(Israel Hayom) Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror - Three areas must be addressed to see major gains in the battle against terrorism in Europe. First, how the legal system views terrorism must change. Administrative arrests, defining intelligence gathering goals based on ethnicity and religion, and the ability to detain for questioning and even punish people who still haven't committed the act, with the understanding that even considering the idea of terrorism is a punishable offense, are three major but necessary changes. Implementing them is conditional on the political echelon telling its citizens the truth, even though it gives up a small part of citizens' personal freedom. The second effort needed is to focus intelligence work on the relevant communities. International cooperation must be improved and more aggressive interrogations must be permitted based on intelligence, before an act is carried out. The third effort centers on causing ordinary citizens to respond quickly and aggressively when any terrorist action takes place. Israel has a clear advantage in this because there are many citizens who are licensed to carry firearms who can take action even before the police and the security forces arrive. None of these methods can completely wipe out terrorism, but they can significantly reduce the number of acts that terrorists manage to commit, as well as the lethality of the attacks that are carried out. The writer is a former Israeli national security advisor and former director of the research division of IDF Military Intelligence.