Ophir Falk – författare

FIRSTHAND ACCOUNTS AND ANALYSES FROM FRONTLINE PERSONNEL AND EXPERTS IN THE WAR AGAINST TERROR

Based on U.S. and Israeli experiences and detailed interviews with frontline personnel, Suicide Terror enables policymakers, first responders, and students of homeland security to understand and deal with the growing threat of suicide terror. It analyzes recent suicide attacks as well as our current vulnerabilities and high-risk scenarios for future attacks. Following the expert authors'' advice, readers learn possible measures to prevent an attack. Moreover, they learn how to prepare for and implement an effective and quick response to minimize casualties and losses in the event of an attack.

Following an overview and historical review of suicide terror, the book covers:

Using eyewitness accounts, the text re-creates the look and feel of actual terrorism incidents. Detailed case studies help readers get into the minds of suicide terrorists in order to understand how to best prevent and confront these very dangerous threats.

This book is a definitive study of suicide terror, synthesizing the experience of well-known Israeli and American experts who have dealt with it firsthand. Anyone responsible for understanding, preventing, and confronting this devastating threat should read this book and consider its recommendations with all seriousness.

This book examines the permissibility and effectiveness of targeted killing in campaigns against terror.

Targeted killing has become a primary counterterrorism measure used by several countries in their confrontation with lethal threats. The practice has been extensively used by the US in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, and by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza. Several studies have already explored the difficult balance between achieving security while maintaining the liberties and rights of a country’s civilians. This book goes a step further by seeking to examine whether maintaining those liberties by complying with legal standards and minimizing unintended deaths can be more effective for national security.

Using targeted killing applied by Israel, in particular, as well as the United States during the first decade of the twenty-first century as case studies, this book explores that question and ultimately assesses whether compliance with legal standards can strengthen a state in its campaign against terrorism and thus provide stronger security. The book focuses on civilian-related criteria, hypothesizing that minimizing civilian casualties will maximize effectiveness in an asymmetric war setting. The conclusions are not limited to a specific tactic or theater, and if adopted might have far-reaching implications for how asymmetric warfare is strategized.

This book will be of much interest to students of counter-terrorism, law, Middle Eastern studies, and security studies.