A little terrorising on terrorism, from a self-confessed terrrorist, who now makes a living as a terrorism expert :
He warned a 700-strong audience in Melbourne last week that Australia is woefully under-prepared for a terrorist attack.
"I'm in the loop, I'm seeing a lot of information, and I can tell you that Australia was always far away, the dark side of the moon," he later tells the Herald.
We spend hundreds of millions of dollars "preparing" for terrorist attacks where we, until only recently, once spent a few dozen million, if not much less.
"You were isolated, you were in a bubble, and you were secure. That bubble has burst."
Why do self-claimed terrorism experts so often sound like terrorists themselves as they ramp up their warnings?
"Australia today is exactly where America was before 9/11 - gullible, believing you are secure because you are an island."
So who is this prophet of bombageddon?
Juval Aviv has an incredible claim to fame. He led a deadly team of five assassins set loose to avenge the 1972 massacre of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes.
Aviv says he was a bodyguard and anti-terrorism adviser to Israel's so-called "Iron Lady", Golda Meir, prime minister from 1969-74, and a major in Israeli army intelligence when Meir unleashed the secret revenge mission.
Well, maybe. Mossad says Aviv is full of crap, and he was never anything more than a security guard.
Ahh, says Aviv, that's all part of the "official secrecy" and the need for "deniability."
None of that matters much, apparently, because...
This much is clear: Aviv is a fascinating storyteller with strong views on the present day terrorist threat.
Aviv says Australia's troop deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan make the country a bigger terrorist target, lifting it to rank alongside the United States, Israel and Britain.
...he also fears official complacency has compounded the threat.
"You have done a lot, but you are light years away in Australia from really being ready for an attack," he says.
"A lot of people really don't believe it is going to happen."
He's here to help Australians re-align their reality to include a more vivid fear of terror exploding its way into their lives. Tough battle, we're all far too obsessed with fearing climate change right now.
Aviv on the assassinations of the suspected Munich terrorists, which included exploding bombs that killed and injured civilians :
Justice = Execution."We found those 11 terrorists, and one by one, we bought them to justice - which we only know how to do in Israel, as I always say."
When pressed, he admits this refers to executions.
Aviv has also made similar startling claims of mass terrorism that will lay waste to cities, this time in the United States, in his regular appearances on Fox News. An example :
Suicide bombers running, or driving, into American casinos and theme parks and malls. Aviv made these It Could Happen predictions back in 2005.
Aviv sure sounds like someone who's selling something. What's he selling?
Fear of Terrorism.
It's a unique, cash spouting spin-off from the War On Terror.
A war to stop terrorism creates more terrorism, actually increases the likelihood of terrorism, and this in turn gives rise to a multi-billion dollar new industry that "prepares" businesses and governments far away from the warzones to deal with the terrorism that may (or maybe not, whatever, it doesn't matter) perhaps result from the war to stop it.
It's brilliant, really.
Australians Fear Terrorism Less Now They're Not Being Bombarded By Ads Telling Them To Fear Terrorism
