Nawar Fakhry Ezzi
Daesh, (the self-proclaimed IS), has been killing innocent people indiscriminately regardless of their religious or ethnic background demonstrating that their only religion is terrorism and inhumanness. Saudi Arabia alone has suffered from eight terrorist attacks this year not to mention the ongoing bloodbath in Iraq and Syria. One of Daesh's latest terrorist attacks was on Friday in Paris, which left more than 120 people dead and around 300 wounded. This was preceded by the deadliest suicide attack Beirut has witnessed since 1990 killing at least 43 people and resulting in the injury of more than 100 people. Both countries received condolences and support from all over the world, but the Paris terrorist attacks seemed to provoke a much stronger reaction by the global community, which was apparent through the display of blue, white, and red over the landmarks of most major cities around the world including Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
This overwhelming support caused some Arabs and even some Westerners to criticize the "double standard" in reacting to the attacks in both countries questioning whether Western lives were worth more than the lives of Arabs, especially because according to them people are dying almost on a daily basis in Syria, Iraq and Palestine with no apparent reaction from the international community. Moreover, in social media, Arabs who sympathized with the French were slammed and shamed because of their "lack of allegiance" to people of their own blood and faith as if extending support to others would somehow undermine their grief for their own and prove that the blood of Arabs is indeed "cheap".
As humans, Arabs and Muslims, we are constantly saddened and heartbroken by all the deaths and atrocities committed against Palestinians, Syrians, Iraqis, Lebanese and many more who share our ethnicity or faith. Sadly, we grew up with tragedy in the Middle East and have learned to always remember our martyrs who were killed in violence by helping them in any way that we can even if it is only through including them in our prayers.
It is not my intention to discuss or analyze the reason behind the different reactions to both tragedies because it is irrelevant at the moment. The bigger issue is that innocent people have been murdered and their loved ones are shocked and grieving for their loss whether in Beirut or Paris. Our only concern should be to attempt to give them comfort and solace not to fight among ourselves.
As a matter of fact, these tragedies should unite the whole world because they prove that we are in this together facing one common enemy of humanity and life. Forgetting our differences and extending our support to each other on both sides does not mean that we do not care about our own; it simply means that we are human beings and are capable of feeling the pain of others.
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance constitute the emotional stages of grief, but it seems that many of us whether in the Middle East or in the West are stuck in anger by blaming or hating each other to fill the void that was caused by the loss of our loved ones in these tragic events. During a time when we as Muslims are asking people not to generalize or blame Islam for what these terrorists who call themselves Muslim have done, keeping silent and suppressing our sympathy would be a form of condoning the actions of these terrorists.
Innocent victims of violence everywhere in the world deserve to be mourned and their families deserve our empathy and support. If there is anything good that can come out of this, let it be compassion and understanding and may all those who were wrongfully murdered rest in peace and their loved ones find comfort and solace. Let us just allow ourselves to be human beings and grieve for all the victims by thinking of ways to move forward toward a better world.
The writer can be reached at nawar81@hotmail.com
