Accounts of Hypocritical Use of The Term ‘Terrorist’ by the Western Powers
Slight misuse of the term may cause popular political parties to become outlawed, or, a necessary armed struggle against oppressors to lose popular support.
The term “terrorist” gained importance during the Cold War period when communist insurgencies were frequent. It became a buzzword in international politics after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and played a significant role in shaping the foreign policies of Western countries. But this term is being used selectively by Western powers to secure their interests, and they sometimes refrain from attributing the term to actors if this attribution causes hindrance to gain their interest. ‘Hypocrisy’ is the only suitable word for this behavior.
Accounts of hypocrisy
The U.S. Department of State lists 68 terrorist organizations[1], but the Taliban is not one of them, though Taliban had carried out suicide bombings and killings and had a good relationship with Al-Qaida. Interestingly, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is a branch of the Taliban operating in Pakistan, is one of those 68 terrorist organizations. So, why is the Afghan Taliban not on the list? Because this labeling would make peace talks difficult between the Taliban and the U.S. government[2]. Former U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, James Dobbins, said, “The designation (terrorist), would be accurate enough. The question is whether or not it would serve the U.S. and Afghan governments purposes for that step to be taken”[3].
In 1961, Nelson Mandela became the head of the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC), which later brought an end to the South African apartheid regime. The ANC was also regarded as a terrorist organization by the U.S. because it had a very good relationship with Soviet Russia[4]. As an icon of the ANC, Nelson Mandela was on the terrorist watch list of the U.S. government until 2008[5]. Hypocritically, the USA and other Western countries had friendly relations with Mandela since his release from prison in 1990 until his death in 2013. If Mandela was a terrorist, what was the point of having a good relationship with him?
During the second wave terrorism, known as the ‘anticolonial wave’, Zionist terrorist organizations Irgun and Lehi were very active in Palestine[6]. Along with these groups, there was another organization, Haganah, which also participated in terrorist activities[7] and was later incorporated into the Israel Defense Force (IDF) in 1948. This organization was supplied with weapons and training by British authorities[8]. Because it served British political interests in that region, they never used the term ‘terrorist’ before its name.
Now, let’s talk about Hamas.
Hamas was established in 1987. In the 2006 election, Hamas won the majority of the seats in the Palestinian parliament. Out of 132 seats, Hamas secured 76 seats whereas the Fatah party secured 43 seats[9]. However, the USA and EU didn’t like the result and suspended aid to the Palestinian government[10]. They didn’t stop there. In 2007, the USA mechanized a coup against the Hamas-led government by Mahmud Abbas, leader of the Fatah party, which resulted in the division of the government[11]. As an aftermath of the coup, Gaza came under the control of Hamas and the West Bank under the Fatah party. In response, Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2007 and Gaza remains under land, water, and air blockade to this day.
So, the main point here is, Hamas is not just an ‘organization’ rather it is the ruling political party of the Gaza Strip. It is now maintaining the government affairs and accountable for ensuring the safety of the people against an aggressive and daunting enemy like Israel. Military preparation and resistance against the occupation and brutal blockade of Israel were thus necessary for Hamas. If this necessary military arrangement makes a government terrorist, then we have to rethink the meaning of terrorism. Western governments who call themselves saviors of democracy ousted the elected Hamas government and left no other option for Hamas except violent counterattacks.
About the attack of October 7, the USA, EU, Canada, France, Germany, and other Western countries are condemning Hamas for their atrocities but there is not a single mention of terrorist activities that Israel has been undertaking since its self-declared independence in 1948 to this day. West Bank is under constant occupation since the Six Days War of 1967. Hamas has been nearly absent in the West Bank since 2007. But occupation, killing, and imprisonment didn’t stop there. As of today, 91 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the October 7 attack[12]. Western governments are condemning Hamas as a terrorist organization but uttering nothing about Israeli terrorist attacks on the West Bank where no clear provocation is seen. We have not seen “terrorist” labeling of IDF or Israeli government by any western government; a textbook example of hypocrisy.
As it is evident that the use of the term is not always honest, often motivated by political interest, and hypocritical it is very important to be cautious about its usage. Because slight misuse of the term may cause popular political parties to become outlawed, or, a necessary armed struggle against oppressors to lose popular support.
[1] https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations
[2] https://www.voanews.com/a/afghan-taliban-us-list-foreign-terror-groups/3732453.html
[3] https://www.voanews.com/a/afghan-taliban-us-list-foreign-terror-groups/3732453.html
[4] https://time.com/5338569/nelson-mandela-terror-list
[5] https://time.com/5338569/nelson-mandela-terror-list
[6] Rapoport, David C. “The four waves of modern terrorism.” Washington, DC (2004).
[7] Pappe, Ilan. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Simon and Schuster, 2007.
[8] Ozacky-Lazar, Sarah and Mustafa Kabaha. “The Haganah by Arab and Palestinian Historiography and Media.” Israel Studies, vol. 7 no. 3, 2002, p. 45–60. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/is.2003.0008.
[9] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2006/1/26/hamas-wins-huge-majority
[10] https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/world/middleeast/us-and-europe-halt-aid-to-palestinian-government.html
[11] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/04/usa.israelandthepalestinians
[12] https://apnews.com/article/israel-west-bank-gaza-militants-25b93d7eda4f2972360fe384d381bbff
