16. Terrorists Deliberately Provoking the Authorities Has a Long History
Concealed in crowds, Sicarii would wait for an opportune moment. When it presented itself, they would suddenly charge their target, stab him, and escape in the resultant confusion and panic by blending back into the crowd. They focused their wrath on the pro-Roman Jewish aristocracy, whom they marked down for death. Their prominent victims included a High Priest of the Jewish Temple, after whose killing the Sicarii went on an assassination spree that terrorized Judea’s Jewish and Roman elites. They also burned their targets’ estates, and eventually began to kidnap and take them hostage for ransom. Their victims, particularly imperial officials, were targeted in a deliberate attempt to provoke the Romans. The Romans, who needed little provocation, responded with terrible massacres and collective punishment of the Hebrew population.
