The Futility of Terrorism in Support of the Palestinian Cause

posted on: Dec 16, 2025

By: Ghassan Rubeiz / Arab America Contributing Writer

It remains unclear what exactly drove an Indian Australian father and son, Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram, to commit a massacre on Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday, December 14 – the first day of Hanukkah – leaving 15 dead and dozens injured, mainly of the Australian Jewish Community.

The attackers may have sought to make the entire Jewish community “pay back” for Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. They may have harbored other motives or hoped to send a message that Israel and the wider Jewish world will never find security until Palestine is reborn.

For decades, I have witnessed how misguided violence – purportedly aimed at “liberating Palestine” – has not helped the Palestinian cause. Such acts against civilians are deeply immoral. They offer Israel’s hawks an excuse to justify oppression and embolden its warlords to advance annexation of occupied land. They make it harder to advocate for Palestine and make friends of Palestinians more vulnerable when joining circles of advocacy for human rights and self-determination. They give courage to Israeli right-wing politicians to blame nations considering support for Palestine and make it easier for Israel and its passionate allies in the US to punish any criticism of Zionism. They allow Israelis to treat any form of resistance as antisemitism and make it easier worldwide to normalize strict policies against millions of refugees and displaced people.

Most Palestinians and the majority of their international supporters understand how profoundly terrorism has delayed the Palestinian march toward a better life and improved political conditions. It is the few among Palestinians and others who still confuse informed resistance with the misguided use of force and warfare.

Despite the ongoing genocide in Gaza and war crimes in the West Bank, Palestinian leaders remain best positioned to launch a media campaign against terrorism committed in their name- especially acts of despair by people who claim a connection to Palestine or inspiration from its people’s struggle.

Ghassan Rubeiz is the former Middle East Secretary of the World Council of Churches. Earlier, he taught psychology and social work in his country of birth, Lebanon, and later in the United States, where he currently lives. He has contributed to political commentary for the past twenty years and has delivered occasional public talks on peace, justice, and interfaith topics. You can reach him at rubeizg@gmail.com

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab America. The reproduction of this article is permissible with proper credit to Arab America and the author.

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