Ex- Amb. Tawfik on Fox News: Combating ISIS in Libya
Egyptian Ex-Ambassador to the United States Mohamed Tawfik appeared on Fox News yesterday to address the mass execution of 21 Egyptian Christians by ISIS in Libya and how best to combat this growing extremist threat. The Ex-Ambassador emphasized the importance of supporting the government in Libya, a rapid international response, confronting the ideology of extremism and more. Excerpts for the interview are below, and the full interview is available here.
On supporting Libya in the fight against terror:
“In Libya, there is a legitimate government, and that government is denied the weapons it needs to confront terrorists.”
“If you start early on, it is easy to control ISIS. If you wait until it is too late, until they have roots deeply in place, until they have training camps, until they control a large part of the country, then it’s already too late.”
On Egypt and the international community’s response:
“We are determined to confront these people. We are not going to allow them to take control over our region. Egypt considers itself to be the bulwark against these extremists, and we take our role seriously. But now these 21 people, these 21 Egyptians who were slaughtered in Libya —that should be a wakeup call to us all. The international community needs to show resolve, and that has to happen today, not in six months’ time.”
On the importance of confronting the ideology of global extremism:
“And it’s up to us Muslims to deal with that, to take away the ability to abuse our religion. And we have to start at all levels. We need to deal with how we educate our children, the way we address people in mosques, this is really a comprehensive approach. We have to make people understand the tolerance that is inherent in our religion.”
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