RT Article
T1 Palestinian social media and lone-wolf attacks: subculture, legitimization, and epidemic
JF Terrorism and political violence
VO 31
IS 6
SP 1284
OP 1306
A1 Chorev-Halewa, Harel
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1838260269
AB This article examines the impact of social media on the wave of Palestinian lone-wolf attacks against Israelis from October 2015 through September 2016. My principal argument is that social media played an important role in shaping the identity, perceptions, and behavioral patterns of dozens of assailants, and was key in creating the dynamic that ultimately characterized both the spreading of the idea of lone-wolf attacks and its execution. Social media reflected reality on the ground while simultaneously nourishing, amplifying, and escalating the situation by providing a platform for the emergence of new sources of authority, including an online subculture with distinct codes and pseudo-ritual patterns to support assailants. Social media also contributed substantially to shaping the contagious character of the attacks, and their capacity to persist without direct organizational guidance, following a typical epidemiological dynamic of spread, containment, and preservation.
NO Gesehen am 06.03.2023
NO Published online: 17 Jul 2017
K1 Social Media
K1 lone wolf
K1 Terror
K1 Subculture
K1 Epidemiology
DO 10.1080/09546553.2017.1341878