
Israel Calls a Man a “Terrorist” Until They Realized He Was an Israeli Jew - 3eto
https://theintercept.com/2015/10/22/israel-calls-a-man-its-soldiers-killed-a-terrorist-until-they-realized-he-was-an-israeli-jew/
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NumberSix
This is the definition of "terrorism" from the FBI web site:

[https://www.fbi.gov/about-
us/investigate/terrorism/terrorism...](https://www.fbi.gov/about-
us/investigate/terrorism/terrorism-definition)

Note that whether something is classified as terrorism depends on the intent
or purpose of the act, not the act, the number of people killed, weapons used,
or other measurable characteristics of the act. Thus a mentally ill person who
murders a large number of people as sacrifices to the great god Cthulhu would
not be classified as a terrorist because he lacks the political intent, even
though the actual crime might be identical in all other respects to the
actions of a "terrorist".

Incidentally, Glenn Greenwald is an attorney and surely well aware of the
legal definitions of terrorist.

Definitions of Terrorism in the U.S. Code

18 U.S.C. § 2331 defines "international terrorism" and "domestic terrorism"
for purposes of Chapter 113B of the Code, entitled "Terrorism”:

"International terrorism" means activities with the following three
characteristics:

    
    
        Involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
        Appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
        Occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S., or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum.*
    

"Domestic terrorism" means activities with the following three
characteristics:

    
    
        Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
        Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and
        Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.
    

18 U.S.C. § 2332b defines the term "federal crime of terrorism" as an offense
that:

    
    
        Is calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct; and
        Is a violation of one of several listed statutes, including § 930(c) (relating to killing or attempted killing during an attack on a federal facility with a dangerous weapon); and § 1114 (relating to killing or attempted killing of officers and employees of the U.S.).
    

* FISA defines "international terrorism" in a nearly identical way, replacing "primarily" outside the U.S. with "totally" outside the U.S. 50 U.S.C. § 1801(c).

Some other definitions of terrorism from different sources:

[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/terror...](http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/terrordef.html)

Note again that in nearly all definitions the political intent or purpose of
the act is critical.

