SUCH SIMILARITIES between Russian terrorists and those on Israel’s doorstep are the subject of much of Geifman’s work these days. Since making aliya earlier this year - she plans to divide her time between teaching in Boston and writing in Jerusalem - Geifman has spent extended weekends in Sderot, meeting the people of the bombarded city and trying to raise awareness of their plight. Knowledge of Russian history, she believes, will provide valuable insight on the situation in Gaza City.
“Israelis know all about Hamas,” she says, “but they don’t know anything about the Russian precedent. People have no clue that the origins of the war on terrorism are in Russia.”

“I think we suffer - I think the whole world now suffers - from a collective Stockholm syndrome,” she says. “Our problem is that we so want to believe in the goodness of people that we can’t see how bad some people are. [There are people who] don’t want to call these people terrorists. Well, you can call them pussycats, if you want. But they’re not going to stop killing.” http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1218710396756

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