Was Hussam Dwayat a terrorist?

There's no question that the Palestinian construction worker went on a bizarre rampage in central Jerusalem that left three Israelis dead.

If it happened in Los Angeles or London or Tokyo, it would probably have been treated as a surreal road rage incident with no political undertones.

But this is Jerusalem, and the operating assumption when something like this happens is that it is an act of terrorism.

In broad terms, Dwayat's rampage was a clear act of terror.

But when we think of terrorists, we generally think of someone who is acting with political motivation.

If you look at the various definitions of terrorism, they often make this point.

Israeli police have called the latest attack the spontaneous act of a single person with no apparent ties to militant groups.

Dwayat, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, appears to have been a wayward criminal with a history of domestic abuse and drug use.

He once had a Jewish girlfriend who told Israeli journalists that she didn't think Dwayat's attack was politically motivated. (This coming from a woman who spent six years with Dwayat, who served time for physically assaulting her.)

Israeli officials say Dwayat was a terrorist - clear and simple.

They cite reports from the young Israeli who killed Dwayat that the attacker yelled "God is great" in Arabic as he tried to plow into cars.

And some are calling this "Sudden Jihad Syndrome," a strange term apparently coined by conservative columnist Daniel Pipes in 2006.

Whether Dwayat was a volatile loony tune or a politically-motivated terrorist is more than an academic issue.

Since the attack came just four months after a lone Palestinian gunman from East Jerusalem killed eight Israelis, most of them young students, at a Jewish religious school in Jerusalem, it is fueling a debate about how Israel should respond.

Israeli leaders have suggested a variety of options, from walling out Arab parts of Jerusalem to cutting off government benefits for relatives of the Palestinian attacker to demolishing the family home.

Home demolition was once a major weapon used by the Israeli military during the Palestinian uprising. But Israel suspended use of the tactic in 2005 after a special commission concluded that it had little deterrent value.

Now Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and others are raising the issue again and suggesting that it may be time to resume home demolitions in light of the two recent attacks.

Home demolitions tap into a deep-well of anger that feeds some Israelis who say that morality and justice should not stand in the way of revenge.

That view was plainly stated today in a op-ed titled "This is no time for mercy."

"When it comes to some issues, decisions must be taken precisely when we are infuriated and while blood is flowing through the streets," writes journalist Hanoch Daum in today's Yedioth Ahronoth. "One such decision has to do with the price that a terrorist’s family must pay. We must not wait. We must not let time pass. We must not find ourselves facing moral and legal confusion and showing mercy to the cruel. Every moment that passes where the terrorist’s home is still intact is a dangerous moment; a moment of moral nadir for the State of Israel, which is a captive to its own laws."

"We must not let the tears dry up," Daum concludes in his piece. "We must not put off this decision. There is no room for judgment here. We must adopt a firm hand and resort to collective punishment, with no mercy. It has to be the kind of punishment that has a revenge component, a punishment that has a deterrence component; the kind of punishment that disregards everything. We can keep our morality and decency to other days; quieter days."

Calls to demolish Dwayat's family home are not just coming from emotional journalists like Daum. They're coming from some of Olmert's most influential ministers. Israel's attorney general has apparently given the green light to demolish the attacker's home, though he says there may be "substantial legal difficulties" that have to be considered.

Olmert's office says the prime minister has not yet decided what steps to take. But Olmert spokesman Mark Regev says that "it is incumbent upon as as a government to find more effective ways of protecting the citizens of Jerusalem."

But the central question remains: Was Dwayat a calculating killer acting to further a radical political agenda or a solitary crackpot who went on an irrational rampage?

(Photo: Flash90/Olivier Fittousi)