Tackling domestic terrorism: a Jewish perspective.

In the wake of Eliza Manningham-Buller's (head of MI5) speech this week, the Jewish Press makes some interesting observations on the west's reactions to the threat of Islamic terrorism.

Dame Manningham-Buller’s comments came as some startling statistics about ongoing Muslim terrorism in France seeped into the mainstream media. Reuters reported that in the first six months of 2006, some 21,000 cars were burnt and 2,882 attacks against police, fire and ambulance services were logged. France is under constant attack from segments of its five-million-strong Muslim population. And it continues unabated and largely unchecked.

What is happening in Britain and France cannot be viewed within the prism of traditional law enforcement. Plainly, something new is in play. We need to recognize that conventional notions of civil liberties no longer work. Perhaps Mr. Bush has to reconsider some of what he has urged in the past. But it seems more urgent that his critics take a long, hard look at the situation as it exists in what’s becoming a scarier world by the day.

Tags: Manningham-Buller, MI5, Terrorism, War on Terror