Bus bombed in 2004 suicide attack
Bus bombed in 2004 suicide attackIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Israel has profiled the “perfect terrorist” as one who is driven by incitement and not by Muslim radicalism, according to the Strategy.com website.

It reported that the United States and Israel have collected data, some of it secret, that profile ”average”  suicide terrorists as those who are usually "persuaded, not forced, to carry out their missions.”

The conclusion is significant because of the Palestinian Authority’s continuing incitement against Israel despite previous commitments, dating back to the Roadmap Plan of 2002, to stop encouraging hatred and violence against Jews.

Israel has interrogated at least 15 would-be suicide bombers as well as their friends and relatives. “The Israelis, like the suicide bomb organizations, came to the same conclusion that certain personality traits make someone very willing to carry out these attacks, and the chief characteristic is usually not fanaticism, but deference to authority and public opinion,” the Strategy site stated.

It explained that the Palestinian Authority’s glamorization of suicide bombers encourages similar attacks. Earlier this month, a Palestinian Authority minister said the mastermind of the Munich Olympic Games massacre of Israeli athletes in 1972 should serve as a role model for Arabs.

Israeli intelligence and military officials also have realized that the "perfect" suicide terrorist does not act alone. He is aided by a driver and a "handler and recruiter, all of whom encourage him to complete his or her mission."

The information and profiling of suicide terrorists also led officials to rely more on the security/separation barrier and checkpoints to stop suicide bombers, who usually are driven from homes in Judea and Samaria by terrorist cell members.

The checkpoints at the barrier and the "profiling” system have enabled authorities to catch several would-be bombers and prevent mass casualty attacks in urban centers, the favorite target of suicide bombers. Human rights organizations often have condemned Israel for “degrading” searches at checkpoints.

One method of discouraging suicide bombers has been destroying their family home as a warning to others to think twice before trying to carry out attacks, which often net relatives up to $30,000 as a “reward.” Destroying homes, which often house generations of Arabs, has served as an influence on families to persuade relatives not to become suicide terrorists.

The preventive measures have led to the near disappearance of successful suicide bombings from Israeli streets the past three years, but the PA incitement program educates children on the benefits of killing Israelis and becoming a “martyr.”