WASHINGTON: Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative at the UN, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, said the Kingdom “has long realized that the war to defeat terrorism would take a long time, and that victory in this war must be at a broad international scale.”
Terrorism will be defeated not only on the battlefield, but by also “winning the minds and hearts of the people in villages, cities and (all) communities across the country,” he said at a counter-terrorism symposium held by the Center for Middle East Policy and the Gulf Research Center.
Al-Mouallimi noted the Kingdom’s efforts in drying out the sources of terrorism funding inside and outside the country, as well as its establishment of the Prince Mohammad bin Naif Counseling and Care Center, and a media center tasked with tracking and confronting extremist discourse.
He said the idea to establish the UN’s Counter-Terrorism Center in 2011 came at a conference Saudi Arabia convened in Riyadh in 2005.
The Kingdom donated $110 million to that center, and is partaking in global efforts against Daesh via its participation in the international coalition against the terrorist organization, and via its establishment of the Islamic military alliance to combat terrorism, he added.
Al-Mouallimi said terrorism has no relation to a particular race or religion, and that any discourse that promotes fear, hatred, hostility against Islam and anti-Semitism serves the interests of terrorism and extremism.
Lt. Khaled Al-Zahrani of the Interior Ministry said: “Saudi Arabia does not want applause for its counter-terrorism efforts, but rather wants to be listened to. The Kingdom’s experience in fighting terrorism deserves respect, and is worthy of being acquainted with by other countries to benefit from it.”