The Prada Intifada

Over two weeks ago, 19-year-old palestinian Fadi Aloon stabbed an Israeli teenager in an act of terror/attempted murder. He was thankfully shot dead before he could succeed in his killing mission.

Besides being a terrorist, Aloon was also quite the aspiring model, and seemingly middle-class or well-off, as photos of him show.

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Jihad me at hello.

Aloon (apt name come to think of it) was not alone in not looking like a poverty-stricken young man driven by desperation.

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This phenomenon has inspired our own Ryan to coin the term #PradaIntifada. I think I prefer #IntiPrada, but you get the idea.

So next time you hear about these terrorists being driven by desperation, remember these photos and realize they were more likely driven by limousine drivers.

16 thoughts on “The Prada Intifada”

  1. Here’s a guess. It sounds like a jerk thing to say, but I’m actually serious, and the matter is very serious.

    I think that he might be gay. Now, imagine being gay in that society. It doesn’t go over well. If it becomes public, you’re liable to an honour killing (avoidable by moving to a primarily Jewish part of Israel, granted, but at a cost of being completely cut off from your community/family – a fate worse than death, for some).

    What can you do to restore your honour? Become a hero. Try to kill a Jew/soldier/whatever. That would probably “override” being gay, which would be forgotten in the background.

    I come to this conclusion from having heard of a woman who once tried to stab a soldier at a West Bank checkpoint, but in a half-hearted way. She eventually said that she was to be on the receiving end of an honour-killing, and preferred to be in an Israeli jail instead (d’oh). Not only that, but her “honour” would probably restored in the process.

    I’m *guessing* that this type of motivation might be behind much of this behaviour, explaining why a seemingly normal person, with a normal job and relationships with Jewish colleagues, turns into a knifing maniac overnight.

    1. in the bus bombing intifada of 2000 this site had bios of the bombers it culled from palestinian sources. It was like hairdressers and the like were the chief source of recruitment.
      Women too, you saw several who were affianced to 75, 80 old relatives in the bomber recruitment.
      Both on the Jewish side and the Palestinian side we are seeing a revival of religiosity. The jewish side se silliness, on the palestinian side we see murder.

          1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

            I had a law partner who said exactly that — my being an observant Jew was silly at best, and annoyed him no end. But he wanted me to become Methodist, not Presbyterian.

            1. Looking from the inside, it looks all normal, Looking from the outside religiosity looks kooky. Especially the straps and such like.
              I am surprised your law partner was that rude about it. What’s your thing is your thing. You do your job is what counts. Outside of that, he has NO place to say anything.

    2. Nonsense. They kill because they are evil. This is the same kind of thing as saying the kill because they are poor. Cold blooded murder of innocent people is driven by evil, period.

    3. It’s possible, but if true, it would be a parallel thing, not a cause. If you were gay in that society, you would not be posting those photos, you would try to pretend to be pious and religious. Usually, like the Tsarnaev brothers, these photos document these guys’ lives prior to them having become radicalised. Going out to murder is a demonstration of their newly found devotion to their cause, but they are not doing it quietly, or behind the scenes, they are getting their “blaze of glory”. Now that “their eyes have been opened”, they want to show their enlightenment dramatically. They believe themselves to be the freedom fighters, the liberators and “the Jews” to have caused all the injustice. They believe that they are sacrificing themselves for this worthy cause. The photos show the “before” them – self centred, money and material things oriented, a person they now see as having some common values with the oppressors, the Jews (modernity, materialism and life affirming values). Their act is a rejection of their former self, a cleansing. Sort of like religious people who became very religious are sometimes a little more demonstrative than people who have always been religious, making up for lost time. It’s also a bit messianic – they are smart, strong, capable and now that they have “seen the light” they see that G-d has chosen them for this act. As opposed to many of the the men of their (now suddenly beloved people), who are weak and poor from oppression and can’t afford for their families to be without them. Israel would do well to profile these guys, confident, well to do, who liked to put their “materialistic values” on display, who suddenly become religious Muslims and decide to put their new “religious values” on display.
      On the other hand, the theory for the women, trying to escape forced marriage or honour killing is spot on.

      1. You have largely convinced me. I think that what you’re saying makes a lot of sense and probably corresponds to most cases like that.

        Thanks!

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