The terrorist attack at the Mosque of Al-Rawda near Arish has proven to anyone who needed further proof that these terrorist gangs, whether they are affiliated to Da’ish or to any other groups, are beyond the pale of any civilized society that believes in the rule of law, individual freedom, social solidarity and the construction of a future for its citizens. These terrorist acts are not just criminal in nature, by their murder of the innocent and the devastation of families, and in their total disregard for all that society holds precious and holy, but also they have crossed a line in the savagery with which they execute such actions.
There can be no place for such persons in a civilized society, and they must be extirpated, and their ideology must be destroyed root and branch. We must fight the type of thinking that allows such ideologies to emerge. So in addition to the clear and action that society demands of the State Security Services and Armed Forces, we must fight these obscurantist currents with enlightened thought, for ideas are ultimately defeated by ideas.
Our determination to fight this ideology of terror is reinforced. Our solidarity to the entire nation is reaffirmed. And in this moment of mourning and grieving we extend our prayers for the victims, and our sincere condolences and deepest sympathies to the families of the victims.
Ismail Serageldin