Easter is the time in the Irish Republican calendar when the failed 1916 Rising is remembered and the long armed struggle against British occupation of Ireland is commemorated. I’ve written about these commemorations and their politicization in Northern Ireland before, here, and here, and here.

So it should come as no surprise that the armed Republican dissident group commonly called the New IRA yesterday plastered their Easter message on walls across nationalist neighborhoods in the city of Derry. The document is an excellent example of the kind of messaging that many armed political groups routinely engage in as they seek to justify their actions, deflect responsibility, and rally support for their cause. Let me elaborate.

In this first passage, the New IRA lays the blame for any armed conflict squarely at the feet of the British government and those who work to enforce British rule in Northern Ireland. And they make the argument that force is necessary to move the needle toward the goal of ending British occupation.

Responsibility for the ongoing conflict rests firmly on the shoulders of the British Government. While British occupation persists particularly throughout those who implement its policies via Stormont, the Irish people are denied their right to national self-determination and sovereignty. Faced with this reality we remain committed to bringing the British government’s undemocratic rule of the occupied part of our country to an end.

While we face an unprecedented health crisis, it won’t be long until Brexit and it’s continuing difficulties for Britain re-emerges. This has reinvigorated the topic of a reunified Ireland. Revisionist agendas and former Republicans turned British politicos endorsing a Border poll will not force the hand of the British establishment. They listen to one thing and one thing only: physical force.

In this next section, the New IRA makes claims about its capability to strike and its willingness to do so. At the same time they warn the public to stay away from “Crown Force,” i.e. police, vehicles in order to avoid becoming collateral damage. This is a clear reference to the killing last April of freelance journalist Lyra McKee, who was fatally shot as she stood next to an armored police vehicle while observing a riot in Derry.

Despite an increased Crown Force presence and a restocked war chest, we have demonstrated again and again that we retain the capacity and resources to continue to strike against those maintaining British occupation. Everyone should be assured that we are united, we are strong and we remain steadfast in our determination to achieve our objectives.

We have repeated often in the past and do so again now; the IRA can strike at will. We warn the public to be aware of this and to remain a safe stance from Crown Force vehicles at all time.

The message of this is obvious: The New IRA will take no responsibility for any civilian casualties that might occur during an attack on the police. That blame they will lay at the feet of the police first, and then the innocent victims themselves.

And now on to this week’s look back at the week in terrorism history.

• April 13, 2014 — Overland Park, KS: Frazier Glenn Miller, opens fire at a Jewish community center and a Jewish retirement community in Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City. Three people are killed, including a 14-year-old Eagle Scout and his grandfather. Miller, a retired Army veteran and Green Beret, is the founder and former leader of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Patriot Party, which he ran as paramilitary organizations in the 1980s. He was convicted and sentenced to death in November 2015.
• April 14, 2014 — Chibok, Nigeria: More than 250 schoolgirls are kidnapped by Book Haram in an attack on the town. The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, claims responsibility.
• April 17, 2004 — Gaza Strip, Palestine: Hamas political leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, dies in a targeted killing strike carried out by an Israeli Air Force attack helicopter. Two other passengers in Rantisi’s car were also killed, and four bystanders were wounded. Rantisi had succeeded to the leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip four weeks earlier after his predecessor, Ahmed Yassin, was himself killed by Israeli forces.
• April 18, 1983 — Beirut, Lebanon: A car bomb explodes outside the US embassy building, killing 63 and wounding more than 100 others. Hezbollah is responsible for the attack.
• April 19, 1995 — Oklahoma City, OK: Timothy McVeigh detonates a truck bomb in front of the Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 and wounding hundreds more. This remains the single deadliest act of domestic terrorism in US history. McVeigh is subsequently convicted of the bombing and executed on June 11, 2001.
• April 19, 2018 — Orange County, CA: Police raid the home of a 26-year-old man after receiving a tip from his family that he harbored violent antisemitic views. Upon search of his home, authorities uncovered ammunition, antisemitic literature, a kill-list targeting local churches and prominent Jewish leaders and a document titled “How to Kill my First Jew.”