Plunging the entire Arab world ‘Back into the Dark Ages’
Known for her poise and beauty, Queen Rania (of Jordan) didn’t hold back in denouncing the barbaric and grotesque activities of the terrorist group Islamic State during a powerful address to the Abu Dhabi Media Summit in the United Arab Emirates last November. The 44-year-old beauty queen spoke against the inhumane disgusting acts captured in videos (of decapitation) of prisoners and the promotion of them on Twitter and Facebook by ISIS.
“A minority of irreligious extremists is using social media to rewrite our narrative and hijack our identity,” Queen Rania said. “That’s what ISIS is doing to the Arab world and all of us.” Referring specifically to the beheading videos, the Queen said: “These images don’t represent me anymore than they represent you.
“They’re alien and abhorrent to the vast majority of Arabs – Muslims and Christians. And they should make every Arab across this region seethe.
“Because they’re an attack on our values as a people and on our collective story. This is their version of the Arab world’s story, their plot, their narrative, their heroes, and the rest of the world is listening and watching.”
Queen Rania also had harsh words for moderates of the Arab world. She said that the “silence” of moderate Arabs made them complicit in ISIS’ success, adding: “At the heart of the assault is an ideology. And if you think you can defeat an ideology with a bullet, think of what happened when Osama Bin Laden was killed.
“Sure he died, but his legacy is an even stronger, more twisted extremist movement.
“We must create a new narrative and broadcast it to the world. Because if we don’t decide what our identity is and what our legacy will be, the extremists will do it for us,” she said.
Queen Rania then urged people to post their own positive “profile picture of our Arab world” on social media sites.
She said that education and job creation as being the key to thwarting the extremists.
Countless photos and videos have been posted on social media, showing the atrocities committed by the terrorist group.
In conclusion, Queen Rania said that “We either develop our region, or we let others dismantle it – find solutions to the challenges, or watch the challenges avalanche; harness the tools to drive the Arab world forward in the 21st century, or let others use those tools to drag us back to the Dark Ages.”