The Commando Scientist Billionaire who Died Fighting Terrorists | Hacker News Reader

The Commando Scientist Billionaire who Died Fighting Terrorists

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49 pointsphilip120914 comments

"There, he participated in classified anti-terrorism missions such as assassinations and kidnappings."

That's something to be proud about? Not really sure why this made it to the HN front page, but I guess I'm probably not sharing other people's sentiments about this person's activities.

It may not be something to be proud of (I, for one, would be inclined to believe that it is quite likely at least some of what he might have participated in in the IDF would account to terrorism in my eyes), but that doesn't mean it isn't interesting to read about.

EDIT: Though it is worth pointing out that Sayeret Matkal has carried out a number of well known anti-terrorism operations that few people would presumably object much to (taking out hijackers, most famously in the Air France plane at Entebbe).

Most of us on here have probably had, at some point in our lives, the fantasy to attain a batman-esque power while behaving heroically against some clearly defined evil.

And most us hopefully have gotten over it. The most difficult problems in this world can't be solved with weapons or MMA.

Still, the title speaks to the child in me who read superhero comics and imagined the good guys are definitely good guys and the bad guys are definitely bad guys, and killing them makes everything better.

I think what the author might have meant regarding your quote above was that the unit Danny was a member of in the IDF was often responsible for diffusing/stopping/ending situations such as "assassinations and kidnappings"

I am pretty sure not considering he was in this unit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayeret_Matkal

Which has listed in its known operations both assassinations and kidnappings.

You mean like Seal Team Six, the British SAS this particular unit is modeled on, and all special forces (military and police) from all the developed countries ever?

A uniform and a gun does not automatically make anybody morally bankrupt, perhaps you want to reserve judgment until you know what they actually do:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe

There is a lot to be proud of fighting Islamic terrorism and defending one's homeland. The world isn't one homogenous soup of moral equivalence.

Ironic when the other man on peoples minds this week ended a different apartheid.

Meteoric rise and a amazing story of an israeli commando with anti-terrorism training in assassinations and kidnappings to a genius billionaire entrepreneur on one of the planes on 9/11 that crashed into NY. Why was he on a regular plane as a billionaire? Sad that he had such a short life as someone who could figure things out quicker than most, he lived an amazing almost movie-like life.

Because his "billions" were on paper, in the form of Akamai stock (and "billionaire" seems like a stretch; I don't think Akamai was worth enough for him to have been a billionaire, even on paper, at the time he died).

He was the CEO of Akamai, and on a business trip at the time. This was right during the dot-com bust; Akamai was losing customers left and right, and cash was very short. You don't make a good CEO by chartering private jets for your trips while your company is busy laying off employees because business has just dropped.

Its disheartening how readily they gloss over his immoral decision to participate in the subjugation and opression of the palestinian people.

Ill be interested in the comments within this thread particularly considering the recent death of nelson mandela, a man who saw parallels between apartheid soith africa and neocolonial israel.

i believe israeli citizens have no choice about serving in their armed forces, due to mandatory service at the age of 18. not sure if he was a citizen though.

Best. Title. Ever.

Seems a little content spammy.

AFAIK there's no actual evidence of what transpired on the plane, except his seat assignment, and that a flight attendant who got on the phone said the hijackers had killed a guy. But seems like a good guy, and who wants to let lack of evidence get in the way of a story we want to believe?

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