Unity is one of our best weapons against terrorism

On Sunday, chaos erupted on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, as two gunmen fired indiscriminately into a crowd celebrating the Jewish Hanukkah festival. In the incident, 16 individuals lost their lives, including a 10-year-old girl, and at least 42 others sustained injuries.

Just a day before a heartbreaking incident took place on Saturday afternoon at the prestigious Brown University in Rhode Island, USA. During final exams, a man dressed in black opened fire indiscriminately in the Engineering Building. Two people were killed, and eight others were seriously injured in the attack. It was the third attack on a major music event in recent years. Last year, 22 people were killed at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, U.K., and in 2015, 89 people died in a suicide attack during a performance by the Eagles of Death Metal at the Bataclan theatre in Paris, France.

Two US soldiers and one US civilian interpreter were killed in an ambush by a lone gunman in central Syria on Saturday, December 13, 2025. The attack, which occurred in the town of Palmyra, also injured three other U.S. service members and two Syrian service personnel. US Central Command (Centcom) attributed the attack to a “lone ISIS gunman,” who was “engaged and killed” by partner forces during the skirmish.

The American personnel were conducting a “key leader engagement” as part of ongoing counter-ISIS operations in the region. US President Donald Trump described it as “an ISIS attack against the US and Syria” and vowed “very serious retaliation.” The identities of those killed have not yet been released, pending notification of their next of kin. This incident marks the first American military combat deaths in Syria since 2019.

These attacks signalled to the free world that ISIS is still a significant threat to the peace and safety of innocent citizens across the free world. In light of these recent attacks, which pose a huge threat to the globe and might spare many from a lifetime of agony and ugliness, it is necessary for us to remain attentive in the face of what is plainly a chronic danger to everyone.

As an immigrant myself, my heart does go out to the Jewish community and the families of innocent people killed in these attacks, who will surely feel the effects of this ongoing terrorism as, at best, victims of suspicion and, at the very worst, victims of outright racism.

I believe that the vast majority of the Jewish community are peaceful and law-abiding people, just as I believe one of the intended outcomes of these terrorist attacks is to be a catalyst for anti-Jewish reactions that will serve to divide communities and perhaps ultimately promote radicalization. I strongly believe the best weapon to fight radicalization around the globe is to fight racism against our Jewish citizens, racism that could isolate this community and create a cohort of disaffected youth who may, as a result, look to more radical elements of the faith.

Also, the Jewish community needs to work closer with our law enforcement agencies as an integral part of the solution to homegrown terrorism, or indeed to fight any act of terrorism here in the USA, Canada, and around the world, or anywhere where terror may strike.  While I remain convinced that this principle is key to early detection of radicalized elements in any community and probably the best hope for preventing terrorists from succeeding in their attacks on the innocent, the greater community has an equally important role to play in putting a stop to racism in all of its forms.

In the 1858 speech that launched his political career, Abraham Lincoln famously said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Along this same line, I believe a nation’s people divided against each other cannot ever live peacefully or prosperously, and racism is one such thing that I believe provides the greatest threat to our peace by dividing us from each other. To date, the major and effective acts of savagery in the name of ISIS have been in the United States and around the globe, in the old-world nations of Europe, and against Western and American targets abroad.

In the past, trucks and cars plowing into people have become new weapons against innocent citizens going about their daily lives. Terror arrives in explosions and fire on public transit systems crowded with commuters. In the face of this senseless violence, we must strengthen the bonds uniting our communities, which is a core principle in national strategies for countering terrorism and violent extremism.

In a nation where violent extremists are being radicalized via online platforms and in isolation, where public figures often encounter threats, where the public increasingly takes pleasure in the misfortunes of their so-called “enemies,” and where new forms of extremism arise beyond conventional ideological boundaries, the fight against terrorism seems significantly altered today compared to the era prior to 9/11.

It emerges in bedrooms and online echo chambers within our homes, intricately interlaced with the fabric of contemporary society, even if recognizing it brings discomfort. It is crucial for all individuals, irrespective of their political views, to recognize the real cost of violence, to reject its use against one another, and to unite in these moments of sadness, contemplation, and mourning.

The Jewish community largely represents values of goodness and decency. They have a profound sense of idealism, immense compassion, and exceptional courage.  There are times when we must motivate each other to rise above minor disputes and concentrate on the bigger picture. We are engaged in an unprecedented experiment in self-governance, fundamentally focused on empowering each individual to flourish according to the standards they have chosen for their own lives. 

In honor of those who have tragically lost their lives to senseless acts of terrorism, seize the chance to truly live your own life.There is no way to entirely “end terrorism.” We can only do our best to defend against terrorist attacks. Humanitarians and pacifists have the deep conviction that if we can get to a point where everyone’s needs are met, both conventional and terrorist wars could end. 

I doubt this because there will always be a subset of people who will always want more power, more wealth, more territory, and more of everything and have no moral constraints about taking what they want from others by violence. Those who engage in war, whether through conventional means or terrorism, or by employing a combination of both strategies, will invariably remain a part of our reality. The writer is a freelance writer and  journalist who lives in Brampton, Canada