Muslims who travel to the Middle East for the “glamour” of jihad will become nothing more than “cannon fodder” for terrorists, David Cameron warns.
The “sick and brutal reality” is that young men will be used as suicide bombers, while women who join the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant will face horrific abuse, the Prime Minister will say.
In a major speech, heralding a five-year plan to tackle extremism, Mr Cameron will say British values are “our strongest weapon” in the battle against the twisted narrative of extremists. It came as Mr Cameron confirmed he was drawing up plans to expand Britain’s military action against Isil into Syria.
UK aircraft have been launching air strikes against terrorist targets in Iraq since September but Parliament is likely to be asked to approve bombing raids in the skies over Syria too because Britain should “do more” to defeat Isil, he told NBC News in America.
The Prime Minister’s upcoming speech will mark a new phase in the government’s assault on the ideology behind the rise of Islamist terrorism, in the aftermath of the mass gun attack that killed 30 British tourists in Tunisia last month. A new counter-extremism strategy will be published later this year, setting out in detail how government will seek to confront and stamp out the “twisted” ideology that justifies terrorism.
The Prime Minister will call for a new drive to promote traditional British values “much more” assertively across the country. “And here’s my message to any young person here in Britain thinking of going out there: You won’t be some valued member of a movement. You are cannon fodder for them. They will use you. If you are a boy, they will brainwash you, strap bombs to your body and blow you up. If you are a girl, they will enslave and abuse you. That is the sick and brutal reality of Isil.”
“We should together challenge the ludicrous conspiracy theories of the extremists. The world is not conspiring against Islam; the security services aren’t behind terrorist attacks; our new Prevent duty for schools is not about criminalising or spying on Muslim children. This is paranoia in the extreme. In fact that duty will empower parents and teachers to protect children from all forms of extremism – whether Islamist or neo-Nazi.”
