Can We Condemn All Acts of Terrorism?

Published on Sep 14, 2025, filed under misc, advocacy. (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)

In general, we don’t want to choose and tolerate any kind of violence. As terrorism is violence, this includes all forms of terrorism.

But imagine this scenario.

Your nation is being colonialized, your people systematically segregated, oppressed, killed. However, your nation has no army, you’re being prevented from forming one, and you have no way to defend yourself. The colonializing power oppresses you and your people further. You cannot fight back and when you do, which is by nature terroristic, your people are being punished multiple times over. One day, the occupying power uses one of your attacks as a pretext to switch to full annexation and genocide mode, to wipe out your entire people.

What do you do?

The international community has no consistent and just response to any of this.

They may side with the occupier, especially if these are white and your nation is not. One example seems to be Israel.

They may also side with you, which is also more probable if you are white. One example seems to be Ukraine.

They may be entirely indifferent to segregation, occupation, and genocide. The United Nations may or may not condemn some actions, but there’s unlikely to be enforcement. One example seems to be Palestine.

There is no consistent and just response, at all.

But that’s not the only injustice. The next one is that, as we see with Palestine, even when a country does not have an army, we tend to overwhelmingly condemn their violence over violence committed by a country with an army.

So if a country like Palestine defends (or attacks) with paramilitary or even civilian fighters, we react shocked and demand punishment. As we don’t reflect at all how strong the belligerents are and what violence by paramilitaries or civilians means, we’ve acquired some automatic reflex to side with the militarily stronger party.

This has led to a double-standard, as we cry no foul over countries that defend or attack with a professional army, inevitably killing many more people in their attacks. One example seems to be Israel.

Now terrorism seems scary, perhaps because it’s unannounced and unexpected. But if you look at modern conflicts, especially how Israel fights, just as unannounced and unexpected and in violation of probably any law that exists on this planet, then there isn’t only injustice to this double-standard, but wickedness. In cases like this, what we’re effectively saying is that one country may not defend themselves at all. One example seems to be the entire history of Palestine.

Perhaps this explains how we need to grant every people a right to defend themselves—no matter how. If their last option is terrorism, then it’s not on us to condemn or punish it—but to grudgingly grant an oppressed people the perhaps only way to protect themselves. Especially when the international community is failing them. Denying them this right, to fight with whatever means they have, is not representing a high standard of rejecting terrorism—but the low bar of picking the cruelest form of siding with oppressors.

PS.
If you need more, look at what the U.S. and Israel have cultivated over the decades—the remote-controlled assassination of alleged or suspected terrorists, of military officers, of politicians, of scientists. We accept it, some even celebrate it, but it’s exactly what I mean by us ending up siding with the stronger party. This killing from afar is itself a form of terrorism, and one that should be condemned and punished. If these militaries are so advanced, then they should extract the suspects and get them a proper trial in The Hague. Still wild, but far less terroristic.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve been working as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you’ve never heard of and companies you use every day, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)