New York (US), June 8: The brutal killing of 26 tourists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in April is being called part of a rising wave of global extremist violence, not an isolated act of terror.
In a powerful opinion piece for Newsweek titled “The Intifada Is Already Globalized. Its Victims Must Unite”, former U.S. official David Cohen and award-winning journalist Avatans Kumar draw alarming parallels between recent attacks in India, the U.S., and beyond. They argue that incidents like the Pahalgam massacre are part of a “globalized intifada”—a shared ideological movement that transcends borders and targets civilians of specific communities.
“In Colorado, a man shouting ‘Free Palestine!’ set Jewish elders on fire. In Washington DC, a couple was shot dead outside a Jewish event. And in Pahalgam, Hindus and a Christian were massacred—asked to recite Islamic prayers before being executed,” they write.
The authors say that while many associate “intifada” with the Israel-Palestine conflict, the underlying ideology targets a broad range of communities including Hindus, Nigerian Christians, Yazidis, Copts, Druze, Sikhs, Baha’is, and Ahmadiyya Muslims.
They also condemned international reactions to the Pahalgam attack, highlighting how some voices—including a former Al Jazeera journalist—framed the violence as resistance against India’s alleged “occupation” and “oppression” in Kashmir. Such rhetoric, the authors argue, mirrors Hamas’s justification for the October 7 attacks in Israel.
“Same ideology, same playbook,” they emphasize.
Drawing a historical link, Cohen and Kumar point to the 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Pandits and gruesome incidents like the rape and murder of Girija Tickoo. They say such acts resonate painfully with Jews remembering the horrors of the Hamas-led massacre on October 7.
They also referenced similar faith-targeted killings by groups like al-Shabaab in Kenya, where victims were executed based on religious identity—exactly as in Pahalgam.
Calling for a united front, the authors urge a “Coalition Against Terror” bringing together historically targeted groups—Jews, Hindus, Christians, and others—into a shared platform of resistance.
“Jews have the world’s attention but not the numbers. The Coalition of the Ignored has the numbers but not the attention,” they write. “It’s time we unite our voices, amplify each other’s stories, and stand against this ideology. Our survival depends on it.”
Their message is clear: this fight is not against a religion, but against an ideology that rationalizes civilian killings. The only way to confront it, they say, is with global solidarity and unwavering resistance.