Abdullah bin Zayed: the fight against terrorism is incomplete without confronting extremism

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the fight against terrorism cannot succeed unless it goes hand in hand with confronting extremism, in a statement on 25 October.

He wrote that fighting terrorism without fighting extremism is like pouring fresh water into the sea and waiting for the sea to turn into a freshwater river, an analogy that sums up the idea that efforts aimed at violence alone remain incomplete while the ideas that feed it go unchallenged.

The statement did not refer to any specific event, but it echoes a recurring theme in official Emirati messaging: that security measures against terrorism must be matched by work on its ideological roots.

The UAE has built this approach into institutions. Abu Dhabi hosts Hedayah, the International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism, launched in 2012, and the Sawab Center, set up in 2015 in partnership with the United States to counter extremist propaganda online.

Sheikh Abdullah has served as foreign minister since 2006 and was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in mid-2024. He also chairs the Higher Committee overseeing the national strategy on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.