Three weeks ago, shots were fired from an automatic rifle at the synagogue in Oslo. This led to a huge debate in the Norwegian press, in which some interesting comments appeared.

On 17 September, in the night from Saturday to Sunday, somebody fired about ten rounds at the synagogue in Oslo with an automatic rifle. Four men were later arrested, and according to the reports of the police, who had had the car of the suspected bugged for some time already, the attack on the synagogue was only an exercise for the real thing: an attack on the Israeli and American embassies in Oslo.

The attack resulted in a huge debate in the Norwegian media, and some interesting statements and views were reported here and there. One is the analysis of a number of Al Qaida cells by researcher Petter Ness of the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI, Forsvarets Forskningsinstitut), published in a report called «Jihad in Europe; recruitment for terrorist cells in Europe». In his analysis he describes what a typical terrorist cell looks like: usually there is an entrepreneur, his protégé, some people from the edge of society, and finally some loose elements. The entrepreneur and the protégé often are very religious, and their acts driven by political resentment and frustration. Usually the entrepreneur has had higher education, and he is the key person for the existence of the group. In many cases he is also the one who actively recruits new members for the group. The other members on the other hand might belong to the group out of loyalty to one of the other members, or simply because they belong to the same social network as the others. All this seems to match well with the cell that fired on the synagogue in Oslo.

Professor and researcher Tore Bjørgo of the Police School in Oslo presented another analysis. He notes that the leader of the group, a 29 year old man of Pakistani origin, used to be a member of the Young Guns, a violent Norwegian-Pakistani gang, and has already been convicted several times for violence. It seems that the problems often start when a group of young people want to acquire status and an identity through the use of violence, which eventually evolves into crime for profit, and eventually leads to politically motivated violence. This pattern follows the personal development of the members of the group, who, as they become older, have other interests: first they want status, later money, and finally they become interested in politics. It should be noted though that some terrorist groups evolve in the other direction: they start with political violence, but then they get used to the money and continue with their crimes for profit.