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The Exceptional Courage of Israeli Society in the Face of Jihadist Terrorism
(Israel Hayom) Amb. Freddy Eytan - Israelis have given the international community an extraordinary lesson in bravery and exemplary solidarity. These heroic reflexes have been demonstrated during wars, terrorist attacks, and most recently during a jihadist terrorist's attempt to cause a mass crash on a Flydubai flight. Jihadist organizations view Western culture and the liberal world as the complete antithesis of their religion and way of life. They despise democratic values, secularism, the modern world, and above all, human rights. For Islamists, the terrorist will always become a martyr and a national hero, and his family will receive a prize and financial aid for his barbaric act. Resilience and exemplary courage have been a constant characteristic of our people since the rebirth of the State of Israel. Unlike our enemies and detractors who propagate the cult of hatred, terror, and death, Israelis cultivate hope, happiness, and the joy of life. Faced with daily threats from our enemies, our collective and individual reflexes are now dictated by the instinct for survival. It took ten years for the Americans to eliminate Osama bin Laden, despite all the military resources and the abundant and sophisticated capabilities of American intelligence. The objective of Arab terror has not changed for more than a hundred years. Its aim is to sow fear among the Jewish civilian population and to expel them from their land. Palestinian Arab terror, like jihadist terrorism, targets indiscriminately women, the elderly, and children. The writer, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, is a former Foreign Ministry senior adviser who was Israel's first ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.