The so-called Islamic State has no credibility. It is founded on fear. We – an international community inspired by our common humanity – will defeat it.
As 2015 opens up before us, and as we reflect on the events of the past year, the actions of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria stand out for their brutality and inhumanity. Whether or not the cowardly thugs who murdered twelve people in Paris last week were members of Da’esh, they were from the same sorry stable.
This vicious organisation is neither Islamic nor a state. It traduces Islam – which is peacefully practised by over a billion people – to excuse barbaric acts of murder, torture, rape and slavery.
These crimes are motivated not by religious faith, but by greed, lust and hatred. Their perpetrators are criminal thugs. Like bullies in a school playground, they resort to violence because they think it will gain them the respect which they cannot command through merit. And, also like child bullies, they pick on those who are weak and defenceless.
They have targeted people of all faiths and ethnic groups: Muslims, Christians, Yezidis, Arabs and Kurds. The majority of their victims are Muslim. They are not warriors for Islam, but hooligans against humanity.
Muslims of all schools and traditions have come together to defend Islam against the thugs who would subvert it. Muslims are adamant that Da’esh’s laughable, but poisonous, pretension to ideology should not go unchallenged.
The scale of the international response, a coalition of over 60 countries, shows that the world will not tolerate this thuggery. Bahrain, Kuwait and Belgium have all hosted conferences to look at different aspects of the coalition’s work. Air forces from across the region have joined European, North American and Australian partners in attacking Da’esh from the air. The UAE has played a vital role in all this.
The UK is committed to playing a key role. At the request of the Iraqi Government, we are conducting military strikes and providing training and equipment to the Iraqi armed forces, including the Peshmerga, to halt Da’esh’s advance.
But military efforts alone are not enough. There needs to be a comprehensive approach. We must bear down on all forms of support to Da’esh – money, weapons, people, political comfort, and any vestiges of misguided popular sympathy. And we must give all possible support to those who oppose the thugs, and to their victims – including the millions driven from their homes.
That is why, for example, the UK has championed UN Security Council resolutions to stop the flow of arms and fighters to Da’esh and other extremist groups.
That is why we have supported efforts to promote inclusive and accountable governance in Iraq.
That is why, in the UK, we have banned preachers of hate and those who incite terrorism in our schools, universities and prisons; and why we have cracked down on abuse of charities, and removed terrorist material from the internet.
New UK anti-terror legislation enables us to seize passports to stop would-be fighters from travelling from the UK, and to prosecute acts of terror committed by UK citizens anywhere in the world.
We must not forget the millions displaced across the region. According to the UN Refugee Agency, there were more displaced people in 2014 than at any time since the end of the Second World War. Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey are shouldering most of the burden, despite the huge impact on their societies and public services. The international community must continue to support them.
The UK is now the second largest bilateral donor to the Syrian refugee crisis. We are providing over a billion U.S. Dollars in humanitarian aid to support people in need across Syria and the region with food, fresh water, healthcare, shelter and other basic services. This is the largest humanitarian response in British history, and demonstrates powerfully our continued commitment to our brothers and sisters in the region.
Over the past week, it has been heartening to see the Emirati response to the needs of refugees suffering from the severe winter storm. This comes at a time when Christians have particularly been remembering that Jesus was born in poverty to a displaced family; and that, with them, he soon became a refugee from tyrannical violence.
Genuine religious faith brings people together on the basis of their common humanity, and inspires generosity of spirit and of action. It is founded on love, not fear. The criminal thugs of Da’esh and their type are so afraid, and have so little confidence in their alleged beliefs, that they gun down unarmed journalists rather than argue their point of view. They kidnap and rape young girls because they are pathetically incapable of civilised interaction with women.
The more we recognise these delinquent and deficient thugs for what they are, and the more confident we are in the resilience of the human spirit, and the more closely we collaborate, the more quickly Da’esh will be consigned to the forgotten footnotes of history.