The LA Times gave op-ed space to one Allen Zerkin, who compares Al-Qaida to the early Zionist organizations that fought for Israeli independence:
As to whether we should deal with them, there is a legitimate concern, but it’s a Catch-22: If aggrieved parties are ignored by an authoritarian government, they often eventually resort to violence, and then if the government is loath to engage them for fear of legitimizing their tactics, the grievances remain and the violence continues. (Think of the American colonists and George III or the early Zionists and the British.)
The comparison is completely spurious. Groups like the Irgun only attacked a) British targets that were b) not civilian, and c) only in Israel (never in the the British Isles). Al-Qaida is waging a world-wide campaign, including attacks –- to name just a few — against New York’s World Trade Center, the London Underground and Spanish rail system, synagogues in Turkey and Tunisia, resorts in Bali, Kenya, and Taba, even a theater in Qatar. All were civilian targets.
We addressed previous attempts to compare Arab terror to the American Revolution here.
