During the Second Intifada (200-2005), the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (PIJ) – a group classified as terrorist by Western governments – employed a wide range of tactics to protest against Israel. Although political violence has long been the subject of academic inquiry in different fields, few studies focus on the role of framing in influencing the type, timing, and evolution of tactics. Towards addressing this gap, this research examines how the way in which PIJ perceived, interpreted and communicated about the reality of the Second Intifada relates to the selection and evolution of specific and different tactics over the time. Drawing upon a new dataset on PIJ repertoires of actions and a frame analysis of PIJ documentation, the findings indicate that PIJ actions should be approached as relational performances that communicated a symbolic message to different audiences, beyond its immediate targets. This, in turn, solves some of the puzzles regarding the mixed effects of repression on political violence. Furthermore, by analysing PIJ thought the lens of Social Movement Theory, this research contributes to de-orientalise the academic knowledge on this group and offers an understanding of militant Islamism as pragmatic and flexible, whose complexity challenges the simple labelling of a ‘terrorist’ organization as a whole.