Most of the time, when people think of terrorism they think of religious extremists. This is the most talked about form of terrorism; it started modern terrorism and is prevalent, continuing to this day.

If you want to understand where modern terrorism was invented, then you need look no further than Israel. Not Israel as it is known as today, but really before it existed; the land that would later become the state terrorism created, and a land whose borders are yet to be settled.

Zionist Jews, in particular a group known as the Irgun would go to extreme methods to remove the British from the land then known as Palestine. They had the core goal of creating a Jewish state and while most of it was accomplished through diplomatic means, a good portion was achieved through the first use of “modern” terrorism.

Terrorism has been around since as far back as 2000 years ago. It is defined by violence against civilians which uses fear to progress a political, social, or religious agenda. Many credit the birth of modern terrorism to the bombing of the Kind David hotel, carried out by Irgun. This attack has inspired countless others after the group detonated bombs in the hotel and killed 91 people, a good portion being non combatants. Their aim was to drive the British out through violence and this was a prime example of what would become one of the basic methods of modern terror groups.

Its in the modern day where we see the same tactics used by Irgun carried out against Israel by Palestinian groups like Hamas. They want to claim back the land that was taken from them by the creation of Israel and our willing to use terror to do so.a

In the lack of real estate that is the ‘Middle East’ it would seem that terror is a violent cycle used by extremists against one another for centuries. There are no real winners, but there are many losers: the civilian population targeted by these attacks.