UAE Twitter campaign to counter Isil ideology is launched

UAE Foreign Minister says claims that love of homeland is un-Islamic hides darker purpose, and world must continue fight.

DUBAI // Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed has lashed out at ISIL and its claims that patriotism is un-Islamic, and called for the world to continue its war on the “barbaric organisation”.

The strongly worded attack by the Minister for Foreign Affairs came as a social media campaign was launched to target extremist ideology by reaffirming national values.

The Sawab Centre in Abu Dhabi, jointly run by the UAE and US to counter extremist propaganda from ISIL, launched the #OurNation_OurPride initiative on Twitter.

“Daesh and similar extremist groups that join it in spreading hatred is attempting to disrupt the Islamic affiliation and love of the homeland, in a desperate attempt to portray loving the homeland as a crime,” Sheikh Abdullah said.

He said a hadith told of the Prophet Mohammed’s love for Mecca, and his grief at having to leave the city.

Sheikh Abdullah said ISIL had no respect for civilisation, which it also claims is un-Islamic, as shown by its wanton destruction of heritage treasures.

Its aims were to tear down the social fabric of nations before plundering their wealth.

“Today the whole world is witnessing the brutality of this extremist organisation’s practices,” Sheikh Abdullah said.

“For months, and with desperate attempts, the Daesh terrorist organisation has sought to obliterate everything related to civilisations that have emerged and settled in both Syria and Iraq, which represent the pride of mankind.”

“It is demolishing many churches and monasteries and historical monuments, and even Muslim sites were not safe from the evils of that barbaric organisation, as many mosques and Islamic archaeological sites have been destroyed, and their masterpieces smuggled out of the region and sold to finance its terrorist operations.”

Sheikh Abdullah stressed the need for the world to continue its war on ISIL and he said a continued crackdown on smuggling Iraqi and Syrian artefacts was needed in cooperation with Unesco other organisations.

These treasures do not belong to one state but to the whole of humanity, he said.

The three-day campaign seeks to establish the role of citizenship and pride in the homeland.

The centre said the campaign would highlight how ISIL destabilises the security of a country before ripping out its cultural and historical heritage.

Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a professor of political science, said it was a good first step but there needed to be a more concerted effort to tackle extremism in the region.

“Any effort to counter ISIL is to be welcomed but this and other similar campaigns should be running on a continual basis,” Prof Abdullah said.

It was an issue that other regional powers should be more proactive in responding to, he said.

“It’s not something that only the UAE or US can do alone but there has to be a broader, more concerted effort to counter ISIL.”

Dr Theodore Karasik, a UAE security analyst, also welcomed the campaign.

“This campaign is meant to help target and specify the requirements necessary for the strengthening of national capabilities in terms of tradition, culture, history and religion against this group,” Dr Karasik said.

He described ISIL as “anti-social and anti-civilisation”.

“This is the first of many social-media initiatives that will be seeking to disrupt and mitigate ISIL’s ideology,” he said.

Social media and the internet in general must be used as tools to counter extremist ideology around the world in a continuing campaign, Dr Karasik said.

The Sawab Centre works with people and organisations around the world to counter ISIL propaganda and reveal the true criminal nature and intent of the extremist group.

The word Sawab in Arabic signifies “doing the right thing” or being on the “right path”.