Saudi Arabia emphasized on Thursday that extremist ideology and rhetoric that advocates hatred of others "is as dangerous as perpetration of terror acts." Addressing the United Nations Security Council session, Ambassador Abdullah Bin Yahya Al-Moallami, permanent representative of the Kingdom to the UN, voiced deep concern over escalation of this extremist rhetoric, which is based on distorting the image of Islam and linking violence to Islam, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Moallami said "terrorism" has no justification in any place and under any circumstances. "Confronting the terrorist ideology should be comprehensive and consistent," he said while stressing that the fight against terrorism requires combating violent extremist rhetoric directed against Islam and Muslims." Speaking on the topic of "threats to international security and peace", the ambassador explained Saudi Arabia's efforts to address the phenomenon of extremism. "We are facing a wave of extremist thought and we are seeing its tragic effects in several places of the world." He welcomed the adoption by the Security Council of the presidential statement on the fight against terrorism and expressed commitment to all its content and renewed support of Saudi Arabia for the United Nations Center for Combating Terrorism as the comprehensive umbrella for counter-terrorism work at the United Nations. Moallami said that the Palestinian cause remains the main cause for the Islamic and Arab nations, where Israel continues to use all kinds of violence and excessive force against the unarmed Palestinian people. He pointed out that the continuation of Assad regime in committing heinous crimes against Syrian people by his forces, militias loyal to him and sectarian foreign groups, has created an environment conducive to strengthening of extremist rhetoric and violence, which contributed to the creation and spreading of ISIS and other extremist groups. "Therefore, we find that the ruling regime and terrorist groups in Syria are two sides of the same coin, feeding one another and that it is unrealistic to expect the possibility of defeating terrorism in Syria without achieving a real transfer of power in accordance with the Geneva 1 and Security Council resolutions."
