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 Hi, what is jihad? Is it a holy war? If so, what are some examples of jihad that still occur today? For instance, is 9/11 considered jihad? thanks so much.
Answer Dear Jordan -
Jihad is usually understood to mean "holy war", although it can also be understood, in some contexts, to refer to an internal personal struggle for self-improvement. In its more common usage referring to "holy war", jihad can be declared only by a competent Moslem religious authority; a national or organizational leader can't just start a war with someone and declare it a "jihad". Given the modern-day fragmentation of Moslem religious authority, however, the latter rule is largely ignored; so while some of the most eminent Moslem religious authorities will deny that any struggle occurring today is a genuine jihad, the Moslems fighting in various conflicts typically consider themselves "jihadis". Since supporting jihad is a religious obligation for Moslems, there is obviously a strong incentive for any Moslem national or organizational leader to promote his conflict as a jihad.
As far as I'm aware, no conflict occurring today fully qualifies as an "official jihad" - although there are certainly a lot of "unofficial jihads" going on. Among the latter are the conflicts in Afghanistan/Pakistan, Somalia, Israel/Palestine, and of course the "Global Jihad" of al-Qaeda and allied Islamist factions against the West and Western influences in the Moslem world.
9/11 was certainly part of the al-Qaeda "jihad" against the West; although as the term "jihad" is used, we wouldn't normally call the 9/11 attacks "a jihad" on their own. (That is, a jihad is a war, not just a battle or an incident.)
I hope this answer was of some help. Of course, I'll be more than happy to deal with any follow-up questions you may have.
