AboutDon Radlauer Expertise I`m originally from the United States, and now make my home in Israel - after living for some years in Hong Kong and England.
In addition to handling general questions about Israeli life and history, I can field questions relating to strategic aspects of terrorism and counter-terrorism, as well as some tactical aspects. As an Associate of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), I can draw on ICT`s accumulated expertise in this area. As the Lead Researcher for ICT`s "al-Aqsa Intifada" Database Project (and author of "An Engineered Tragedy", ICT`s report on the findings of this project), I have become the world`s leading expert (indeed, as far as I know, the world`s only expert) on the demographics of the victims of the phase of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that began in September 2000.
Going beyond terrorism per se, I can answer questions regarding pretty much all aspects of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Experience
Experience in the area I've lived in Israel for over eight years. For more than five years, I have been associated with the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel. My own role there is, to a degree, that of "expert in everything else" - that is, I'm less of a security expert than many of the other researchers there, but I have a broader background in other areas, including banking and finance, general scientific subjects, and so on. I also can draw upon the knowledge of other ICT staff.
Publications ICT website, http://www.ict.org.il
My blog, "On the Contrary: Don's Mideast Musings" is at http://radlauer.blogspot.com .
Question I AM A CITIZEN JOURNALIST IN CANADA AND SEEING SOME DISTURBING HEADLINES ATTACKING ANYONE WHO IS SAYING ANYTHING POSITIVE ABOUT THE ISRAELIS. THERE IS ONE SUCH PERSON THAT DENIES THAT THE ULIMATE GOAL IS TO CRUSH NOT ONLY ISRAELIS BUT ALL JEWS WORLDWIDE (as if they could) I NEED SOME BACKUP. COULD YOU PROVIDE ME WITH ANY STATEMENTS THAT CAN BE VERIFIED WHERE THREATS HAVE BEEN MADE BY MUSLIM EXTREMISTS TO DESTROY THE ISRAELIS? THANKYOU.
Answer Dear Marian -
I'm not entirely certain precisely whose "ultimate goal" you're referring to; and while there is no question that Hamas, among other groups, seeks the complete destruction of the State of Israel as a political entity, it is not at all clear that their goal is in fact genocidal - especially outside of Israel/Palestine. Given what the Koran has to say about "People of the Book", it would be difficult if not impossible to justify actual genocide as an expression of Islamic piety. (I'm assuming here that by "crush" you mean "kill" - if you're talking about subjugation rather than genocide, then you've got an easier, albeit less dramatic, case to prove.)
All this does not mean, of course, that there isn't an extremely high level of very vicious anti-Semitism in most or all of the Arab/Islamic world. That much should be pretty easy to document; I'd suggest going to web sites like Palestine Media Watch (www.pmw.org.il) and Honest Reporting (www.honestreporting.com), which should have plenty of documentation of nasty statements made by various Palestinian groups and individuals. (The Hamas Charter is obviously relevant here - and it's a pretty nasty piece of work.)
Of course, if you're dealing with really hard-core Israel bashers, you'll likely find that any documentation you produce will be dismissed out of hand as emanating from "biased pro-Israeli/Jewish sources". I'm afraid I can't offer much help in dealing with such people; as far as I'm aware, there is no peaceful way of convincing them of anything they don't already want to believe. My best advice with these types is to give up and move on.
