Samar Al-Miqrin
Al-Jazirah
There is no doubt that Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS) belongs to the Iranian regime and helps Bashar Al-Assad’s regime. Whoever has doubts about this should think again, especially following the speech delivered by Syria’s Mufti in which he threatened Europe and America. After that speech, Daesh carried out a terrorist operation in Paris that spread terror and fear all over Europe.
Following these threats, we expected to hear about terrorist activities in some European city. However, we did not expect to find people on social media supporting terrorist activities in Paris, people who were not members of Daesh. After reading the comments, I started to believe that there were Muslims out there who inside their hearts support Daesh.
I am aware that some will be furious with me because of these words, but this is the bitter truth. We have to understand and recognize this truth in order to pinpoint the problems in the Arab mentality that lead Arabs to destruction and strip them of their humanity. The most important events that took place following the week of the terrorist activities were countless attacks on anyone who expressed sympathy for the victims of Paris. I noticed that some Arabs, including intellectuals and laymen, attacked anyone who sympathized with France. They considered sympathizers to be colluders who do not hesitate to suck up to the West.
On the other hand, some Arabs expressed sympathy for what happened in France, because some of the victims were Muslims. What about the non-Muslim victims? Are they not human beings like us? Should we not feel sorry for them? This is a sad thing. Human feelings should be the same. Anyone who only sympathizes with Muslims, and disregards non-Muslims, is a person with no feelings.
Yet, some viewed the terrorist attacks as France’s punishment for its crimes against over a million and a half Algerians. Thousands on social media supported the attacks. These people came from all social classes, all holding a grudge against France. They suggested that the innocents who were killed in Paris were the grandchildren of those French who killed Algerians, and, therefore, we should not show any sympathy for them.
Have they forgotten that around five million Algerians live in France and enjoy the same rights as other French people without any discrimination? I think those people wanted to play down the role France played in receiving Syrian refugees and offering them a decent life. Why do some of us love to gloat and hold grudges against Western countries? How can we call someone who shows sympathy with the victims of terrorist activities in Paris a colluder or a hypocrite who loves the West?
The biggest contradiction is that most of those who condemn Daesh attacks but support its attacks in Paris want us to believe that they do not have a Daesh mentality, when the reality is otherwise.
