stabbing as a terrorist tactic

In May 2016, Al-Qaeda's Inspire published an article entitled "O Knife Revolution, Head Toward America."{{cite news|title=Latest Issue of Inspire Magazine Encourages Small Scale Attacks|url=https://www.adl.org/blog/latest-issue-of-inspire-magazine-encourages-small-scale-attacks|access-date=4 April 2017|publisher=ADL|date=19 May 2016}} The magazine urged Muslims to kill "the intelligentsia, economic and influential personalities of America," by low-tech methods including stabbing attacks on the grounds, as such assaults are "easy options that do not require huge efforts or man power, but the result is parallel to the big operations or even more."

In October 2016, Rumiyah, the online propaganda and recruitment magazine published by the Islamic State (IS) told followers that holy warriors down through Muslim history have "struck the necks of the kuffar" in the name of Allah, with "swords, severing limbs and piercing the fleshy meat of those who opposed Islam." The magazine advised its readers that knives are easy to obtain, easy to hide, and deadly, and that they make good weapons in places where Muslims might be regarded with suspicion.{{cite magazine|last1=Wright|first1=Robin|title=The Hand of ISIS at Ohio State|url=http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-hand-of-isis-at-ohio-state|access-date=4 April 2017|magazine=The New Yorker|date=26 November 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Bridget|title=ISIS Call for Stabbing Sprees a Nightmare Scenario for Stopping Terror Plots|url=http://observer.com/2016/10/isis-call-for-stabbing-sprees-a-nightmare-scenario-for-stopping-terror-plots/|access-date=4 April 2017|publisher=New York Observer|date=6 October 2016}}

According to security analyst Peter Bergen, stabbing attacks have gained popularity because such attacks are inexpensive and easy to carry out, but very difficult for security services to prevent.{{cite news |last1=Bergen |first1=Peter |date=22 March 2017 |title=London shows the challenge of preventing low-tech terror |url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/22/opinions/low-tech-terror-hard-to-defend-against-bergen/ |access-date=4 April 2017 |publisher=CNN}} According to Juan Romero, this resurgence emerged first with the GIA in the 1990s and later among Palestinian terrorists and Islamic State militants in the 21st century.{{Cite book |last=Romero |first=Juan |title=Terrorism: the Power and Weakness of Fear |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-032-19806-4 |series=Routledge Studies in Modern History |location=Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY |pages=246 |chapter=A comparative evolution of terrorism}}

A wave of lone wolf terrorist stabbing attacks in which Palestinian Arabs attacked Israeli civilians began on 3 October 2015 with the first of the Lions' Gate stabbings.{{cite news|last1=Wedeman|first1=Ben|title=Israeli-Palestinian violence: What you need to know|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/14/middleeast/israel-palestinians-violence-explainer/|access-date=4 April 2017|publisher=CNN|date=15 October 2015}} The ensuing 2015–2016 wave of violence in Israeli-Palestinian conflict is thought to have been driven not by formal organizations but, rather by social media postings inspiring young Palestinians to undertake attacks with knives and with vehicles.{{cite news|last1=Booth|first1=William|title=Israelis are calling attacks a 'new kind of Palestinian terrorism'|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israelis-are-calling-attacks-a-new-kind-of-palestinian-terror/2015/12/24/e162e088-0953-4de5-992e-adb2126f1dcc_story.html|access-date=4 April 2017|newspaper=Washington Post|date=25 December 2015}}{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.682064?v=58C42F8D18D152AEC95BECE2B51B1E03|title=U.S. House Panel Unanimously Votes to Condemn Palestinian Incitement|work=Haaretz.com|date=2015-10-24}}{{cite news|last1=Hatovely|first1=Tzipi|title=Palestinian Incitement: Hate-Speech That Kills|url=http://www.newsweek.com/palestinian-incitement-hate-speech-kills-421424|access-date=4 April 2017|publisher=Newsweek|date=31 January 2016}} In response, Israeli police have revamped their anti-terrorism tactics, increasing monitoring of social media, improving the intercommunication of mobile devices, and giving security agencies the ability to instantly trace phone calls made from such devices.{{cite news|last1=Fox|first1=Robert|title=Israel changes tactics to tackle street terror|publisher=London Evening Standard|date=27 June 2017}}

The series of Palestinian stabbing attacks were followed by the spread of such attacks during the wave of Islamic terrorism in Europe which had seen "at least" 10 stabbing attacks allegedly motivated by Islamic extremism in Europe by the spring of 2017, with a particular concentration of such attacks in France.{{cite news|last1=Jenkins|first1=Nash|title=A Timeline of Recent Terrorist Attacks in Europe|url=https://time.com/4607481/europe-terrorism-timeline-berlin-paris-nice-brussels/|access-date=4 April 2017|publisher=Time|date=19 December 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Rubin|first1=Alissa|title=2 Brussels Police Officers Are Stabbed in 'Potential Terrorist Attack'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/world/europe/police-brussels-knife-terrorism.html|access-date=4 April 2017|work=New York Times|date=5 October 2016}}

• Mass stabbing
• Sicarii – ancient Jewish extremists who used this terrorist tactic
• List of knife attacks by Islamic extremists

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{{Terrorism topics}}

Category:Terrorism tactics

Terrorist tactic