Suicide attack
Violent attack in which the attacker accepts their own death From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A suicide attack is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are often associated with terrorism or military conflicts and are considered a form of murder–suicide. Suicide attacks involving explosives are commonly referred to as suicide bombings. In the context of terrorism, they are also commonly referred to as an act of suicide terrorism.[1] While generally not inherently regulated under international law, suicide attacks in their execution often violate international laws of war, such as prohibitions against perfidy and targeting civilians.[2]
Suicide attacks have occurred in various contexts, ranging from military campaigns—such as the Japanese kamikaze pilots during World War II (1944–1945)—to more contemporary Islamic terrorist campaigns—including the September 11 attacks in 2001. Initially, these attacks primarily targeted military, police, and public officials. This approach continued with groups like al-Qaeda, which combined mass civilian targets with political leadership.[1] While only a few suicide attacks occurred between 1945 and 1980,[3] between 1981 and September 2015 a total of 4,814 suicide attacks were carried out in over 40 countries,[4] resulting in over 45,000 deaths. The global frequency of these attacks increased from an average of three per year in the 1980s to roughly one per month in the 1990s, almost one per week from 2001 to 2003,[5] and roughly one per day from 2003 to 2015.[4] In 2019, there were 149 suicide bombings in 24 countries, carried out by 236 individuals. These attacks resulted in 1,850 deaths and 3,660 injuries.[6]
Suicide attacks distinguish themselves from other terror attacks due to their heightened lethality and destructiveness.[7][1] Perpetrators benefit from the ability to conceal weapons, make last-minute adjustments, and the lack of need for escape plans, rescue teams, efforts to conceal their identities or evade capture afterwards. In the case of suicide bombings, they do not require remote or delayed detonation.[7] Although they accounted for only 4% of all terrorist attacks between 1981 and 2006, they resulted in 32% of terrorism-related deaths at 14,599 deaths. 90% of these attacks occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.[8] By mid-2015, approximately three-quarters of all suicide attacks occurred in just three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.[9]
William Hutchinson describes suicide attacks as a weapon of psychological warfare[10] aimed at instilling fear in the target population,[11] undermining areas where the public feels secure, and eroding the "fabric of trust that holds societies together." This weapon is further used to demonstrate the lengths perpetrators will go to achieve their goals.[7] Motivations for suicide attackers vary. Kamikaze pilots acted under military orders, while other attacks have been driven by religious or nationalist purposes. According to analyst Robert Pape, prior to 2003, most attacks targeted occupying forces.[12] From 2000 to 2004, the ideology of Islamist martyrdom played a predominant role in motivating the majority of bombers, as noted by anthropologist Scott Atran.[13]
Terminology
Summarize
Perspective
The usage of the term "suicide attack" has a long history,[citation needed] but "suicide bombing" dates back to at least 1940 when a New York Times article mentioned the term in relation to German tactics.[14][non-primary source needed] Less than two years later, the New York Times referred to a Japanese kamikaze attempt on an American carrier as a "suicide bombing".[15] In 1945, The Times of London referred to a kamikaze plane as a "suicide-bomb".[16] Two years later, it referred to a new British pilot-less, radio-controlled rocket missile as originally designed "as a counter-measure to the Japanese 'suicide-bomber'".[17]
Suicide attacks include both "suicide terrorism" and attacks targeting combatants. "Terrorism" is often defined as any action "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants" for the purpose of intimidation.[18] An alternative definition provided by Jason Burke, a journalist who has lived among Islamic militants, suggests that most define terrorism as "the use or threat of serious violence" to advance some kind of "cause", stressing that terrorism is a tactic.[19] Academic Fred Halliday has written that assigning the descriptor of "terrorist" or "terrorism" to the actions of a group is a tactic used by states to deny "legitimacy" and "rights to protest and rebel".[20]
The definition of "suicide" in this context is also a matter of debate. Suicide terrorism itself has been defined by Ami Pedahzur, a professor of government, as "violent actions perpetrated by people who are aware that the odds they will return alive are close to zero".[21] Other sources exclude from their work "suicidal" or high risk attacks, such as the Lod Airport massacre or a "reckless charge in battle".[22][23] Instead, focusing only on true "suicide attacks", where the odds of survival are not "close to zero" but required to be zero, because "the perpetrator's ensured death is a precondition for the success of his mission".[22]
Also excluded from the[who?] definition are "proxy bombings", which may have political goals and be designed to look like a suicide bombing. The difference is that the "proxy" is forced to carry a bomb under threat, or the proxy isn't fully aware that they are delivering a bomb that will kill them. The definition also generally excludes mass shootings in which the perpetrators commit suicide, as the shooter committing suicide is a separate act from shooting their victims. Further distinction is how many of such shootings are driven by personal and psychological reasons, rather than political, social or religious motives, such as the Columbine High School massacre, the Virginia Tech shooting or Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in the U.S.[24][better source needed]
It may not always be clear to investigators which type of killing is which as suicide attack campaigns sometimes use proxy bombers, as alleged in Iraq,[25] or manipulate the vulnerable to become bombers.[23][26] At least one researcher, Adam Lankford, argues that the motivation to kill and be killed connects some suicide attackers more closely to "suicidal rampage" murderers than is commonly thought.[24]
Religious terminology
Some Arabic speaking militant groups and their supporters call suicide attacks "martyrdom operations" (Arabic: للعمليات الاستشهادية, romanized: aleamaliaat alistishhadia).[27] This is a reference to the concept of Martyrdom in Islam (Arabic: استشهاد, romanized: istishhad). They call the suicide attacker shahid (pl. shuhada; witness or martyr).[citation needed] The idea being that the attacker died to testify his faith in God, such as while waging jihad bis saif (jihad by the sword).[citation needed] The term "suicide" is avoided because Islam forbids taking one's own life in most circumstances. The concept of martyrdom is broad including people who died in plagues and women who died in childbirth, as well as fallen combatants who did not intend to die.[28] The term istishhad[citation needed] has been used by the Palestinian Authority as well as by Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah and other Palestinian factions.[29]
Among Muslims, secular Arabs, and related cultures, the term martyr or shaheed has a broad meaning and can refer to leaders who have been assassinated or executed, civilian casualties of war, and combatants who did not intend to die.[30] This includes the victims of suicide terrorism, such as Benazir Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's Party, who was assassinated in 2007 by a teenage Islamic extremist.[31][32] Many things in Pakistan, mostly related to education, were named or renamed in her honour, referring to her by the title "shaheed" (martyr).[a]
Redefining as homicide or genocide
"Genocide bombing" was coined in 2002 by Irwin Cotler, a member of the Canadian parliament, in an effort to focus attention on the alleged intention of Genocide by militant Palestinians in their calls to "wipe Israel off the map".[33][34]
Some efforts have been made to replace the term "suicide bombing" with "homicide bombing", based on the assertion that "homicide" is a more apt adjective than "suicide" since the primary purpose of such a bombing is to kill other people. The only major media outlets to use it were the Fox News Channel and the New York Post, both of which are owned by News Corporation and have since mostly abandoned the term.[35][36] Robert Goldney, a professor emeritus at the University of Adelaide, has argued in favor of the term "homicide bomber". Goldney argued that studies show that there is little in common between people who blow themselves up intending to kill as many people as possible in the process and actual suicide victims.[37] Fox News producer Dennis Murray argued that a suicidal act should be reserved for a person who does something to kill only themselves. CNN producer Christa Robinson argued that the term "homicide bomber" was not specific enough, stating that "A homicide bomber could refer to someone planting a bomb in a trash can".[29][38][39]
In German-speaking areas the term "sacrifice bombing" (German: Opferanschlag) was proposed in 2012 by German scholar Arata Takeda.[40]
Other military and militant uses of suicide
Avoiding capture
Other than as a way to cause enemy casualties, another situation in which some militaries and related bodies (such as intelligence agencies) encourage their own members to commit suicide is too avoid being captured by the enemy. The concept also often includes the use of intentional friendly fire. Either to avoid disclose of military secrets, avoid the need for a prisoner exchange, or for more intangible ideological motives.[41] Individuals are encouraged by a perception that capture is a fate worse than death, and the likelihood of torture is strongly emphasised in internal propaganda. Sometimes, to the point that even civilians embrace the concept of dying (or killing people on their own side) to avoid capture.[42]
Attacks before World War One
Summarize
Perspective
First Jewish–Roman War
Riaz Hassan said that the first-century AD Jewish Sicarii sect carried out "suicidal missions to kill" Hellenized Jews they considered immoral collaborators.[41][41][additional citation(s) needed]
Hashishiyeen
The Hashishiyeen (Assassins) sect of Ismaili Shi'a Muslims assassinated two Caliphs, as well as many viziers, Sultans and Crusade leaders over 300 years,[43] before being annihilated by Mongol invaders. Hashishiyeen were known for targeting the powerful, using the dagger as a weapon (rather than something safer for the assassin such as a crossbow), and for not attempting to escape after completing their killing.[44]
Switzerland
Arnold von Winkelried was considered a hero in the Swiss struggle for independence for sacrificing himself at the Battle of Sempach in 1386.[citation needed]
India (1780)
In 1780, an Indian woman named Kuyili applied ghee and oil onto her body and set herself ablaze. She then jumped into an armoury of the East India Company, causing it to explode. This suicide attack helped to secure victory for her queen, Velu Nachiyar, in the battle.[45][46][47][48][49]
17th century Dutch
In the late 17th century, Qing official Yu Yonghe recorded that injured Dutch soldiers fighting against Koxinga's forces for control of Taiwan in 1661 would use gunpowder to blow up both themselves and their opponents rather than be taken prisoner.[50] However, Yu may have confused such suicidal tactics with the standard Dutch military practice of undermining and blowing up overrun positions, which almost cost Koxinga his life during the Siege of Fort Zeelandia.[51]
On 5 February 1831, during the Belgian Revolution, a gale blew a Dutch gunboat under the command of Jan van Speyk into the quay of the port of Antwerp. As the ship was stormed by Belgians, van Speyk refused to surrender, instead igniting the ship's gunpowder with either his gun or cigar, blowing up the ship. The explosion killed 28 out of the 31 crewmen and an unknown number of Belgians.[citation needed]
New Zealand (1905)
The earliest known non-military suicide attack occurred in Murchison, New Zealand, on 14 July 1905. When a long-standing dispute between two farmers resulted in a court case, defendant Joseph Sewell arrived with sticks of gelignite strapped to his body. During the court proceedings, Sewell shouted "I'll blow the devil to hell, and I have enough dynamite to do just that." He was then ushered out of the building and when a police officer tried to arrest him on the street, Sewell detonated the charge, killing himself. No one other than Sewell was killed by the attack.[52]
Aceh war (1873–1904)
Muslim Acehnese from the Aceh Sultanate performed suicide attacks known as parang-sabil against Dutch invaders during the Aceh War (1873–1904). It was considered part of personal jihad in Islam. The Dutch called it Atjèh-moord, (lit. Aceh murder).[53][54][55] The Acehnese work of literature the Hikayat Perang Sabil provided the background and reasoning for the Atjèh-moord as Acehnese suicide attacks upon the Dutch.[56][57][58] The Indonesian translations of the Dutch terms are Aceh bodoh, Aceh pungo, Aceh gila, or Aceh mord.[59]
Moro juramentado
Juramentado, in Philippine history, refers to a male Moro swordsman (from the Tausug tribe of Sulu) who attacked and killed targeted occupying and invading police and soldiers. Death was expected, and considered martyrdom, undertaken as a form of jihad.[60][61][62][63][64][verification needed]
Moro people who performed suicide attacks were called mag-sabil, and the suicide attacks were known as parang-sabil.[65] The Spanish called them juramentados. The idea of the juramentado was considered part of jihad in the Moros' Islamic religion. During an attack, a juramentado would throw himself at his targets and kill them with bladed weapons such as barongs and kris until he was killed. The Moros performed juramentado suicide attacks against the Spanish in the Spanish–Moro conflict of the 16th to the 19th centuries, against the Americans in the Moro Rebellion from 1899 to 1913), and against the Japanese in World War II.[66]
The Moro (Spanish: juramentados) launched suicide[verification needed] attacks on the Japanese, Spanish, Americans and Filipinos, but did not attack the non-Muslim Chinese as the Chinese were not considered enemies of the Moro people.[67][68][69][70][71] The Japanese responded to these suicide attacks by massacring all known family members and relatives of the attackers.[72][73]
According to historian Stephan Dale, the Moro were not the only culture who carried out suicide attacks "in their fight against Western hegemony and colonial rule". In the 18th century, suicide tactics were used on the Malabar coast of southwestern India, and in Aceh in Northern Sumatra as well.[22][74]
Ignaty Grinevitsky (1881) and others in Russia
A Russian man named Ignaty Grinevitsky is sometimes described as the first known suicide bomber.[75] The invention of dynamite in the 1860s presented revolutionary and terrorist groups in Europe with a weapon nearly 20 times more powerful than gunpowder. However, using dynamite required overcoming the technical challenges of detonating it at the right time. One solution was to use a human trigger, which was the technique used to assassinate Tsar Alexander II of Russia in 1881.[75][76] A would-be suicide bomber killed Russian Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav von Plehve, in St Petersburg in 1904, but survived with major injuries.[77]
20th century personal disputes
1953 in West Virginia
In 1953 a man at a magistrate's Court in West Virginia, "turned himself into a human bomb" with sticks of dynamite strapped to him. He killed himself an injured his ex-wife and her lawyer.[78]
World War One to early Cold War
Chinese suicide squads
During the Xinhai Revolution and the Warlord Era of the Republic of China, "Dare to Die Corps" (traditional Chinese: 敢死隊; simplified Chinese: 敢死队; pinyin: gǎnsǐduì; Wade–Giles: Kan-ssu-tui) or "suicide squads".[79][80] were frequently used by Chinese armies. China deployed these suicide units against the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War.[citation needed]
In the Xinhai Revolution, many Chinese revolutionaries became martyrs in battle. "Dare to Die" student corps were founded for student revolutionaries wanting to fight against Qing dynasty rule. Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing promoted the Dare to Die Corps. Huang said, "We must die, so let us die bravely."[81] Suicide squads were formed by Chinese students going into battle, knowing that they would be killed fighting against overwhelming odds.[82]
The 72 Martyrs of Huanghuagang died in the uprising that began the Wuchang Uprising. They were recognized as heroes and martyrs by the Kuomintang party and the Republic of China.[83] The martyrs in the Dare to Die Corps who died in battle wrote letters to family members before heading off to certain death. The Huanghuakang was built as a monument to the 72 martyrs.[84] The deaths of the revolutionaries helped the establishment of the Republic of China, overthrowing the Qing dynasty.[85] Other Dare to Die student corps in the Xinhai revolution were led by students who later became major military leaders in Republic of China, like Chiang Kai-shek[86] and Huang Shaoxiong with the Muslim Bai Chongxi against Qing dynasty forces.[87][88] Dare to Die troops were used by warlords.[89] The Kuomintang used one to put down an insurrection in Canton.[90] Many women joined them in addition to men to achieve martyrdom against China's opponents.[91][92] They were known as 烈士 (lit-she; martyrs) after accomplishing their mission.[93]
During the January 28 Incident (28 January – 3 March 1932), a Dare to Die squad struck against the Japanese.[citation needed]
Suicide bombing was also used against the Japanese. A Dare to Die Corps was effectively used against Japanese units at the Battle of Taierzhuang. They used swords[94][95] and wore suicide vests made out of grenades.[96][97]
A Chinese soldier detonated a grenade vest and killed 20 Japanese soldiers at Sihang Warehouse. Chinese troops strapped explosives such as grenade packs or dynamite to their bodies and threw themselves under Japanese tanks to blow them up.[98] This tactic was used during the Battle of Shanghai, to stop a Japanese tank column when an attacker exploded himself beneath the lead tank,[99] and at the Battle of Taierzhuang where Chinese troops with dynamite and grenades strapped to themselves rushed Japanese tanks and blew themselves up,[100][101][102][103] in one incident obliterating four Japanese tanks with grenade bundles.[104][105]
During the 1946–1950 Communist Revolution, coolies fighting the Communists formed Dare to Die Corps to fight for their organizations.[106] During the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, protesting students also formed "Dare to Die Corps" to risk their lives defending the protest leaders.[107]
Donkeys in Palestine (1939)
The Irgun militant group in Palestine abused donkeys as suicide bombers in two attacks on Haifa vegetable market in 1939. They used unwitting donkeys loaded with explosives to attack the market, one attack killed 78 people, the other killed 21 people and wounded 24.[108][109] The previous year the Irgun attacked the market with a car bomb, killing 35 Arab civilians and wounding 70.[110] There are no clearly documented cases of the Irgun using car bombs in suicide attacks, but the Irgun – and their more extreme Lehi splinter group – are seen as the key developers of car bombs, that were later used by other groups in numerous suicide attacks.[111] The Irgun were extremely influential.[112]
Japanese kamikaze
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Kamikaze was a ritual[verification needed] act of self-sacrifice carried out by Japanese pilots of explosive-laden aircraft against Allied warships which occurred on a large scale at the end of World War II. About 3000 attacks were made and about 50 ships were sunk.[113]
Later in the war, as Japan became more desperate, this act became formalised and ritualised. Planes were outfitted with explosives specific to the task of a suicide mission.[114] Kamikaze strikes were a weapon of asymmetric war used by the Empire of Japan against United States Navy and Royal Navy aircraft carriers, although the armoured flight deck of the Royal Navy carriers diminished kamikaze effectiveness. Along with fitting existing aircraft with bombs, the Japanese also developed the Ohka, a purpose-built suicide aircraft that was air-launched from a carrying bomber and propelled to the target at high speed using rocket engines. The Japanese Navy also used piloted torpedoes called kaiten (heaven shaker) on suicide missions. Although sometimes called midget submarines, these were modified versions of the unmanned torpedoes of the time and are distinct from the torpedo-firing midget submarines used earlier in the war, which were designed to infiltrate shore defenses and return to a mother ship after firing their torpedoes. Although extremely hazardous, these midget submarine attacks were not technically suicide missions, as the earlier midget submarines had escape hatches. Kaitens, however, provided no means of escape.[115][116]
Aceh in WWII
Atjèh-moord was also used against the Japanese by the Acehnese during the Japanese occupation of Aceh.[117] The Acehnese Ulama (Islamic Scholars) fought against both the Dutch and the Japanese, revolting against the Dutch in February 1942 and against Japan in November 1942. The revolt was led by the All-Aceh Religious Scholars' Association (PUSA). The Japanese suffered 18 dead in the uprising while they slaughtered either up to 100 or over 120 Acehnese.[118][119] The revolt happened in Bayu and was centred around Tjot Plieng village's religious school.[120][121][122][123] During the revolt, the Japanese troops armed with mortars and machine guns were charged by sword wielding Acehnese under Teungku Abduldjalil (Tengku Abdul Djalil) in Buloh Gampong Teungah on 10 November and Tjot Plieng on 13 November.[124][125] In May 1945 the Acehnese rebelled again.[126]
Germans during World War II
During the Battle for Berlin the Luftwaffe flew "self-sacrifice missions" (German: selbstopfereinsätze) against Soviet bridges over the River Oder. These "total missions" were flown by pilots of the Leonidas Squadron. From 17 to 20 April 1945, using any available aircraft, the Luftwaffe claimed the squadron had destroyed 17 bridges. However, military historian Antony Beevor believes this claim was exaggerated and only the railway bridge at Küstrin was definitely destroyed. He comments that "thirty-five pilots and aircraft was a high price to pay for such a limited and temporary success". The missions were called off when the Soviet ground forces reached the vicinity of the squadron's airbase at Jüterbog.[127]
Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff intended to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a suicide bombing in 1943, but was unable to complete the attack.[128]
Insurgency in Palestine (1944–1948)
The Lehi militant group used the Biblical story of Samson's death (Judges 16) in discussions about suicide attacks. Such as when, in a meeting about ways to assassinate General Evelyn Barker, the British Army commander in Mandatory Palestine, a young woman volunteered to do the assassination as a suicide bombing.[129][130][131] They refer to it as a "Let my soul die with the Philistines" proposal (Hebrew: תמות נפשי עם פלשתים) as a reference to the words of Samson in (Judges 16:30), or a "Samson option".[132][129][130][131] On that occasion other members of the group allegedly rejected her offer. She also had a physical disability that might have made her unable to carry out the plan the group had in mind.[129][131][130] The women who offered subsequently died in July 1947 in Jerusalem, the Lehi memorialize her among their martyrs and fallen combatants (Hebrew: הללי לח”י), but her cause of death is not described.[133][130][131]
Original grave stones from the 1940s.
New grave stones c.1980 at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, next to Aliza Begin and Menachem Begin.
The Irgun and Lehi militant groups collaborated on at least one intended suicide attack during their insurgency against the British (before the 1948 Palestine war). However, two of their own militants were the only casualties of their best documented plan.[134] A Lehi militant and an Irgun militant blew themselves up in Jerusalem Central Prison, using improvised grenades that had been constructed by another Lehi prisoner. The explosives were disguised as oranges to hide them from the guards, and smuggled in with the prisoners' food.[135] Both militants had been sentenced to death by hanging. The original plan, which the Lehi called "Operation Samson", was to carry the concealed grenades with them as they were taken to the gallows then use them to carry out a suicide attack against the executioners. But the explosives detonated early, while the two of them were alone together in their cell.[136] Allegedly when the pair learned that Rabbi Goldman would be present at the time of the execution, they changed the plan and committed suicide alone together shortly before they were scheduled to be taken to the gallows.[137] Another version of the story is that the person the militants were unwilling to harm was actually one of the British prison guards.[134]
The Lehi militant, who was 21, was sentenced to death simply for possessing a grenade during a British imposition of martial law.[138] The Irgun militant had been sentenced to death alongside another militant for their role in the bombing of Jerusalem Train Station. There was heated debate about the age of the Irgun suicide militant when he was sentenced. His mother and brother claimed he was 17, too young to be executed according to the law of the British authorities.[138] The court claimed he was 23, the boy has served in the British military during World War Two, and the authorities refused to believe they had recruited a minor who was lying about his age.[138]
Korean War (1950–1953)
North Korean tanks were attacked by South Koreans with suicide tactics during the Korean War.[139][140]
American tanks in Seoul were attacked by North Korean suicide squads, who used satchel charges.[141][142] North Korean soldier Li Su-Bok is considered a hero for destroying an American tank with a suicide bomb.[143]
Israeli and Egyptian wars (1956–1970)
Israelis "dying with the Philistines" in Gaza
Some Israelis romanticize acts of self sacrifice in battle by analogy to the Biblical hero Samson, particularly if they take place in Gaza, where Israelis believe Samson committed suicide and killed thousands of enemy Philistines in the process.[144] In situations where death or severe injury is already difficult to avoid, it is seen as heroic to abandon efforts to save one's self and instead focus on causing as much harm as possible to the enemy, in the process of effectively committing suicide.[145] This includes some anecdotes of events during their wars with Egypt.[144]
Suez Crisis (1956)
According to Egyptian media, an Arab Christian military officer from Syria, Jules Jammal, sunk a French ship with a suicide attack during the Suez Crisis in 1956.[146] However, none of the French ships named by the sources were harmed during the crisis. It is unclear which actual ship he is supposed to have sunk. One source calls the ship at issue the "liner Jean D'Arc"[147] and another the "French warship, Jeanne D'Arc".[148] There was a French cruiser Jeanne d'Arc in service at that time, but it was decommissioned in 1964 rather than sunk. Some sources name the battleship Jean Bart.[149]
"War of Attrition" (1967–1970)
On 21 March 1968, in response to persistent Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) raids against Israeli civilian targets, Israel attacked the town of Karameh, Jordan, the site of a major PLO camp. The goal of the invasion was to destroy the Karameh camp and capture Yasser Arafat in reprisal for the attacks by the PLO against Israeli civilians.[citation needed] The PLO attacks had culminated in an Israeli school bus hitting a mine in the Negev.[150] This engagement marked the first known deployment of suicide bombers by Palestinian forces.[151][verification needed]
Lod airport massacre (1972)
One of the first incidents to be labelled "suicide terrorism" was the mass shooting at the airport in Lod (also known as Lydda), Israel's international airport now known as Ben Gurion Airport.[b] Two of the attackers died during the attack, one of whom deliberately committed suicide using a hand grenade.[152] If was carried out by three foreign fighters from the Japanese Red Army (a communist militant group from Japan) in corroboration with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations division, a rebellious offshoot of the PFLP. Some reports at the time labelled the incident a "Kamikaze" attack,[153] but others have criticized the label, including the surviving attacker's interpreter.[154] The Kamakazi were a unit of suicide bombers in the airforce of imperial Japan in WWII, the Empire of Japan had a very different ideology to the JRA. Researchers from Duke University described the JRA's motives as "rooted in anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-capitalism".[155] In 2010, Ze'ev Sarig, the former manager of Lod Airport, compared the attack to the September 11 attacks in New York, "This attack was for Israelis what the September 11th attacks were for Americans", when trying to sue North Korea for the attack in a United States court in Puerto Rico in 2010.[152]
Nuclear weapons
United States nuclear weapons
On 27 December 2018, the Green Bay Press-Gazette interviewed veteran[clarification needed] Mark Bentley, who had trained for the Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) program to manually place and detonate a modified version of the W54 nuclear bomb. The report stated that he and other soldiers training for the program knew this was a suicide mission because either it would be unrealistic to outrun the timer on the bomb, or that soldiers would be obligated to secure the site before the timer went off. However, in theory the timer could be set long enough to give the team a chance to escape. Bently claimed:[156]
We all knew it was a one-way mission, a suicide mission […] You set your timer, and it would click when it went off, or it went ding or I forget what, but you knew you were toast. Ding! Your toast is ready, and it's you. […] The Army is not going to set a bomb like that and run away and leave it, because they don't know if someone else would get ahold of it. They have to leave troops there to make sure it's not stolen or compromised, and that would just be collateral damage. You didn't go out with the thought that it was anything other than a one-way mission. If you're Bruce Willis, you get away, but I ain't Bruce Willis.
However, employment manuals for atomic demolition munitions specifically describe the firing party and their guard retreating from the emplacement site, at which point the device is protected through a combination of passive security measures including concealment, camouflage and the use of decoys, as well as active security measures including booby-traps, obstacles such as concertina wire and landmines, and long ranged artillery fire.[157] Further, the SADM included a Field Wire Remote Control System (FWRCS). This device enabled the sending of safe/arm and firing signals to the weapon via a wire for safe remote detonation of the weapon.[158]
Mutually assured destruction
Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would result in the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.[159]
Samson Option
Israel's alleged nuclear strategy, the "Samson Option", takes its name from Samson's suicide in Gaza City, the same Biblical story that the Lehi militant group used to describe potential and attempted suicide attacks (see above).[129][130][131] The story is about an Israelite judge named Samson, who kills himself and the Philistines who captured him by pushing apart the pillars of a Dagon temple, bringing down the roof crushing everyone.[160][161]
Historians connected to the Lehi allege that the militant who built the bombs for Operation Samson, the intended suicide attack in Jerusalem Central Prison in 1947, later had a leadership role in the Israeli military's nuclear and biological weapons division.[citation needed]
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