THE NEW TERRORISM
According to terrorism expert Ehud Sprinzak, the common factor in all types of terrorism is an observable process of “de-legitimization” of the target by the terrorist or the terrorist group.1 Moreover, he maintains that there are universal criteria by which the de-legitimization process can be observed and measured. First, there is the “crisis of confidence,” which may be the product of anger and which leads to extra-parliamentary action, but does not yet amount to total rejection of the target’s legitimacy. Second, there is the “conflict of legitimacy itself,” which is similar to the foregoing; here the opponent’s legitimacy is rejected although there may still be a gap between the intention and the capability of the “embryonic” terrorist. Finally, there is the “action,” which is a consequence of closing the gap between the words (or protests) and the action.