Can Terrorism be Justified?

Can Terrorism be Justified?
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Can Terrorism be Justified?
When you think about terrorist acts like 9/11 and the 2016 Berlin truck attack that left many people dead, an immediate thought that comes to mind is that these acts can never be justified. These events were huge and led to massive loss of lives and therefore, it would be unthinkable to say they are justified. However, when we take into account the consequentialist approach, it is arguable that there may be situations where acts of terrorism are justified. As noted by Primoratz (2013), given that consequentialists judge an action based on consequences, terrorism can be justified when the expected consequences are good on balance. From this view, a deliberate attack on civilians during a war can be justified if the intended consequences are greater. Smilansky (n.d.) provides examples of situations where terrorism can be justified. According to the author, in situations where there is a clear danger to the existence of a group or mass extermination of civilians, terrorism may be justified (Smilansky, n.d.). In this case, in places where genocides have occurred in such as Rwanda, Biafra, and Cambodia, if terrorism would have stopped their occurrences, then i...