Jibran – The Message of the Saudi People to the World
09 January 2017
By Salman Al-dossary
It was not a Hollywood scene and maybe if it was part of a film it would have
been considered to exaggerate a lot. The video showing the Saudi Arabian
security services confronting terrorists in the Al-Yasmine neighbourhood in
Riyadh has summed up hundreds of stories and confrontations that have taken
place for more than two decades.
History does not narrate this with sound and image because such events are
impossible to follow and document except in rare cases. In the latest
incident, it was a coincidence that the whole world came to know of the
reality of Saudi confrontation of terrorism and terrorists. The perpetrators
of these attacks were, unfortunately, also Saudis, and they are portrayed as
if they represent a large percentage of Saudis even though they are targeting
their own country and their fellow citizens in the first instance.
The confrontation between Sergeant Jibran Awaji who dazzled the world with his
courage, prowess and bravery, and the terrorists, clearly summed up the battle
against terrorism in the kingdom. Terrorists want to kill society, running
away from death but to their deaths. A Saudi police man does not fear death in
order to save lives. For a long time the battle was portrayed incorrectly. The
Saudis are not divided with regards to combating terrorism – they support
right as opposed to wrong as is the nature of human beings. Jibran Awaji
represents them in their fight against the terrorist group that announces and
executes operations against its enemy, Saudi Arabia. Despite this, it is
expected that the country, the biggest victim of this terrorism, takes
responsibility for it. How wonderful!
As Saudis are not used to sticking the pictures of their martyrs on the walls
of history or recording the heroism of its forces in their huge war against
terrorism, the media in general mostly circulates pictures of Saudis who
choose bombing and destruction in the name of Islam – Saudis who seek to
destroy their country and kill their own people, and then act as if they
represent 20 million Saudis.
Terrorists choose to have a black image of themselves in their lives and after
their deaths. Jibran's case is a solid and real picture of Saudi Arabia's
battle against terrorism that will not be forgotten, not because the world saw
what it usually doesn't see, but because those terrorists that Jibran killed
are the distorted part of a truthful image of the Saudi people.
There is no doubt that in Saudi Arabia, as in Egypt, France and Britain, there
are extremists, and that the natural role of the state is to besiege them and
eradicate them. Most of the time, an extremist does not announce that he is
one unless the law allows him to. Countries are blamed or and even held
accountable if they allow terrorists to penetrate into them, support them or
turn a blind eye to them.
For example, there are those who manipulate laws and finance terrorists. This
happens in Gulf countries, Europe and elsewhere in the world. In this case, it
is the task of governments to tighten the noose and develop systems so that
there does not remain an opportunity to fund terrorism, however small the
amount. However, is it possible to make unsubstantiated accusations against
governments and say that they allowed the financing of terrorism while their
laws criminalise it and their actions confirm their disapproval?
Militants are waiting for the opportunity to spread their venom and extremism,
not through money alone, but also through ideology. The role of states here is
to trap extremists whenever they find a weak point to exploit.
Jibran's heroism is not isolated from hundreds of untold stories of the fight
against terrorism or the fighting on the southern front against the Yemeni
rebels. The difference this time is that it reminded observers in Saudi Arabia
and abroad of the truthful image of the Saudi citizen whose image has been
distorted in an unjust and systematic way. Who knows, perhaps the shots that
Jibran Awaji fired at the ISIS terrorists will rectify something, even if that
is a little.
Salman Aldosary is the editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
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