# This Weekends Terror Attacks in Israel: Bin Laden's Phase Two **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 3, 2001, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weekends-terror-attacks-in-israel-bin-ladens-phase-two/96699 "2001-12-03T21:36:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weekends-terror-attacks-in-israel-bin-ladens-phase-two/96699/1 "2001-12-03T21:36:11Z")
So Israel and Palestine are really at it now, and it looks like peace in that part of the world is far away. Could it be that _this_ is Bin Laden’s follow-up to 9/11 and not an attack on the US mainland? It seems to me that the whole effort made by the suicide bombers was directed at getting Israel to declare war on the Palestinians. Not claiming that Arafat was a part of this, mind you, he might have been totally in the dark about it. In any case, this is going to make things difficult for everyone. If the US plans were to go after Iraq next, this might throw a wrench into them, since we’re backing Israel in this matter, and if we go on to Iraq, the nutjobs in the Mid-East will claim that it “proves” the US hates Islam. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weekends-terror-attacks-in-israel-bin-ladens-phase-two/96699/2 "2001-12-03T21:55:33Z")
I thought that this weekends attacks were perpetrated by Hamas rather than Al Queda and that Bin Laden most likely had nothing to do with it. Hamas and Al Queda are two different organizations of ultra-radical nut-jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weekends-terror-attacks-in-israel-bin-ladens-phase-two/96699/3 "2001-12-04T00:49:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beeblebrox \* > \*\*I thought that this weekends attacks were perpetrated by Hamas rather than Al Queda and that Bin Laden most likely had nothing to do with it. Hamas and Al Queda are two different organizations of ultra-radical nut-jobs. \*\* Right, but no one’s said that Hamas doesn’t take orders from Al Qeda occasionally. I find it hard to believe that there would be such a total seperation between the two groups that there’s no communication with one another. Al Queda might just drop a “hint” that this or that would be a good thing to happen now and then. My reason behind the OP is that perhaps we Americans are so egocentric that we think that the _only_ possible targets for Bin Laden and co. are US ones. Remember all the posters asking if the WTC was Bin Laden’s big shot and that he would be incapable for doing anything else? What if the sole purpose of the WTC attacks was to get the US involved in Afghanistan, so that Hamas could begin stepping up its campaign in Israel? Bin Laden and the others would know that the US would back Israel, and their hope would be that this would further divide the Arab world. Saddam tried something similar during the Persian Gulf War, and while it didn’t work because the US could keep Israel calm, this time things are different. We’ve been hit hard by terrorists and are naturally understanding (and supportive) of the Israeli decision to go to war with Hamas over this. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weekends-terror-attacks-in-israel-bin-ladens-phase-two/96699/4 "2001-12-04T00:49:51Z")
I agree with Beeble, but any bombings of Isrealis are sure to make that old weasle Bin Laden happy. I think that the FBI put the kibosh on “wave two”. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weekends-terror-attacks-in-israel-bin-ladens-phase-two/96699/5 "2001-12-04T11:19:26Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by DrDeth_ > \*\*I think that the FBI put the kibosh on “wave two”. \*\* [I hope you’re right](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1690000/1690682.stm) My fingers are crossed for everyone in the US (in addition to those innocents currently in danger in Israel, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.).