Expert suggests ‘popular mobilization’ for fighting terrorism

CAIRO – 15 July 2017: Mokhtar Noah, expert in Islamic movements, called for a popular mobilization to fight terrorism, saying there is “no sense of war among citizens and no one feels the battle against terrorism.”

His call came as a part of a discussion following Friday’s terror attacks, during his televised interview with TV presenter Osama Kamal on Friday. It was about how armed brotherhood movements are formed, their training and how they choose the victims.

The expert explained that, in his point view, fighting terrorism became limited to the media, Al-Azhar and some slogans only; therefore, he suggested popular mobilization, which is “assembling and readying armed forces troops for war.”

Noah, who is also a dissident leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, added that the rumors that ignite the situation are part of the war that the state is facing, and therefore popular mobilization must be formed.

In this regard, he suggested benefiting from well-experienced former state security officers in order to get out of this security crisis.

He added that the size of funding for terrorist groups has increased significantly during the recent period, stressing that terrorist groups trading in Islam and trying to promote their ideas is a misinterpretation.

On Friday, five policemen were killed earlier in the day when unidentified gunmen opened fire against them at a checkpoint in the area of al-Badrasheen. Also, a knife-wielding man broke into a beach in the Red Sea town Hurghada and plunged a knife into the bodies of two female German tourists and injured others.