The terrible disaster in the United States is a dark and gloomy day for Arafat. Arafat has lost his most useful vehicle, since he used terror to try to make the world criticize Israel.

I am almost completely convinced that Osama Bin-Laden is responsible for the terror strike. If that is true, he is a dead man. I believe that there will be acts of war from the United States, but I do not believe that there will be any use of nuclear weapons, since there is no need for this.

I have come to the conclusion that no country, such as Iran, Iraq or Libya, would have dared to commit this act of terror. A strike like this against America would bring about the destruction of the government that committed it. It is in effect a massive declaration of war against the United States. If Saddam Hussein is found responsible for it, Baghdad will not stand intact for long and Hussein will be eliminated. If it is Bin-Laden, he will no longer be able to exist. I will be very surprised if any nation stands behind the attacks. Bin-Laden does not need the infrastructure of any other state.

The force of the attacks is surprising. It is a step up in terror. Instead of a car bomb, airplane bombs are used. The dreadful attack works in our favor in terms of public relations. From the perspective of the Jews, it is the most important public-relations act ever committed in our favor. The pictures are terrible, and they are better than a thousand ambassadors trying to explain how dangerous Islamic terror is.

The writer is an expert on terror and the dean of the Lauder School of Administration in the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.

This artcile ran in Maariv on September 12, 2001

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