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The two men detonated a hand grenade and opened fire with machine guns.
It was Saturday, August 29, 1981. Saturday. In the synagogue, 200 people celebrated the service. Security guards and police managed to repel the attack, which still claimed the lives of two people. The two terrorists were arrested, one of them injured. They belonged to a notorious Palestinian terrorist organization at the time, the Abu Nidal group.
On Monday night, terror returned to the Seitenstettengasse in the heart of Vienna. At the time of this writing, much is not yet clear about the act. A lone perpetrator? An organized terrorist cell? Were the attacks carried out in different parts of the city center coordinated and planned or was it a coincidence that decided where and at whom was shot? Was the synagogue, which was empty of people tonight, intended to be a direct and primary target?
Nor does it matter what ideology the terrorists invoke. Jewish goals are always viable
An answer to the last question It could be that terrorists rarely forget to attack Jewish institutions or facilities when they get the chance. We saw it after the attack on the editorial committee of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015. On the same day, the hostages were taken from a Jewish shop. We also saw it after the attack on the Kruttønden culture house in Copenhagen the same year during a meeting in which the Swedish artist Lars Vilks participated. Late at night, one of the volunteer guards from the Jewish congregation was killed in the Krystalgade synagogue.
Nor does it matter what ideology the terrorists invoke. Jewish goals are always viable. In anti-Semitic hatred, fanatics rally.
An eternal return. But at the same time, the Vienna law illustrates that contemporary terrorism, after all, differs somewhat from its twentieth-century predecessors. Organizations like the IRA and groups like Baader-Meinhof assassinated and detonated bombs according to a kind of perverse political logic: crimes were plotted against specific individuals and institutions that were seen to represent or symbolize a defined enemy: colonial power, state, capitalism , etc. The fact that anyone in the wrong place could be a victim of the “fight” did not stop the desire to kill, but these bystanders were not the main targets.
IS hates everyone. Anyone who is unwilling to join or submit to
IS and its supporters, prospects Y kangaroos see the matter differently. Vienna terrorists / terrorists are said to belong to this grotesque gang. It is evidenced by the focus – an indiscriminate shot on the restaurant and bar guests.
This is what distinguishes ISIS from its predecessors in the fanatics union. The Islamic State doesn’t just hate Jews and satirists. IS hates everyone. Anyone unwilling to join or submit to the strange sect and, it should be said, the deeply blasphemous apocalyptic cult of death (an almighty god who rejoices when he beheads high school teachers … come on!) They don’t just hate the synagogues (and judging by what happened in Nice also in the churches), they also hate taverns and cafes. They hate the world in all its wonderful and varied breadth.
It makes them more dangerous than their predecessors. Unpredictability is difficult to defend. We can, and must, further strengthen security around obvious potential terrorist targets, such as synagogues. But life, the wonderful life, we can only defend it if we continue to live it.
Read more texts by Per Svensson.
