‘Schools, jobs key to defeating IS’

Manama : War on the battlefield alone  cannot defeat the extremists, according to Federal Minister of Defence of Germany Ursula von der Leyen. She called for a ‘coalition for education’ to accompany the ‘coalition of military’ to win against the extremists, while speaking at the Manama Dialogue held here yesterday.

“Education gives you differentiation and the ability to argue and to make up your mind on your own. If you want to be successful over time you not only need a coalition of military but also a coalition for education,” the minister said.

“Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and many more platforms have been weaponised,” she said. 

“People without prospects are easily led to believe such false promises and such brutal lies. To win the war we have to dominate the Internet. But to win peace we have to offer hope and prospects.”

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also echoed on similar views and said that those who left France to join ISIS did so because of becoming indoctrinated and not for economic reasons. 

“Many of those who joined ISIS were living normal lives and they could have secured professional careers in France but they chose something else. They were not excluded from society, they were not a marginalised section and they were not poor. They were looking for a destiny maybe they were susceptible to this ideology,” he said.

“We need to bring together a coalition of forces to fight the indoctrination. We should get together to spread the message of peace of the religion we believe in and I think that is the real fight we should be fighting beyond the military aspect,” he said.