UAE- France must know who its enemy is: paper
Date
11/16/2015 3:34:33 AM
(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
ABU DHABI 16th November 2015 (WAM) -- As France mourns its dead treats its wounded and pursues those responsible for the heinous terror attacks in Paris it faces a challenge that is much greater than one country can handle commented a UAE daily.
Francois Hollande the French president has declared that the attacks on the Bataclan Club Stade de France and several restaurants on Friday night were an "act of war".
"If France and its allies in Europe and beyond are on a war footing then they must consider their next move very carefully so they don't repeat the mistakes of the recent past including targeting the wrong enemy" said The National in an editorial on Monday.
"While there is an appetite for revenge the response must be more nuanced than meeting hatred with more hatred. Social media is already awash with commentary blaming all Muslims for the actions of Daesh which has admitted the attacks. In particular many are targeting the Syrian refugees who are flowing into Europedespite the obvious fact that these people are actually fleeing terrorism in their homeland.
"This is in the first instance a policing operation. There were reports yesterday of arrests of relatives of one of the suicide bombers. They and any others who are arrested are entitled to due process of the law. What must not happen is that Muslims as a whole are scapegoated for this terrible crime.
"If some French Muslims are being drawn towards Daesh then the authorities must find out why. The answer cannot be as some have claimed that Islam is a religion of hate because that is shallow and demonstrably untrue. The vast majority of Muslims live in peace with their neighbours of all faithsas we in the UAE know well.
"We also know that the Paris bombings form part of a campaign that included attacks in Sousse in June Ankara in October and Beirut on Thursday. Daesh which seemed to give up territory in Sinjar Iraq without much of a fight may or may not be on the run. It is certainly moving away from its stated goal of creating a "caliphate" and transitioning into a terrorist group determined to carry out ruthless attacks on soft targets in this region and now in Europe. The Daesh recruits who might have gone to fight in Syria have remained in Europe to create havoc.
"Mr. Hollande's war cannot be like America's adventure in Iraq which created more problems than it solved. France must work together with all its allies in Europe and in this region to destroy terrorism and that includes tackling it at its root cause" concluded the Abu Dhabi-based daily.