Paris Terror Attacks

This week in my Crawley Observer column, I have written about how I feel we should respond following the terrible events in Paris of November 13th. I wrote this on Sunday evening. There are still people fighting for their lives as a result of the attacks and France is in a state of emergency.  

Ten of the victims of the Paris attacks

"In the year-and-a-half I have been writing this column, this is the most saddening one to write. In the fight against terrorism, last Friday had started well with the news that the serial murderer known as Jihadi John had been taken out by a drone. Further good news came with Kurdish Iraqi forces recapturing the strategic town of Sinjar from Isis in northern Iraq.

Tragically, this good news soon evaporated on Friday evening as the terrible attacks in Paris unfolded. France was targeted but this was an attack on us all. Words are hard to come by when attempting to describe what happened - it is just so hard to comprehend at any level. The scale of the evil unleashed has left us upset and angry but with an even greater resolve to stop terrorism.

If asking what we could do here locally in Crawley to help stop those who seek to destroy our way of life, I would say that regardless of our political outlook, we should all get behind our government’s efforts to keep us safe. That includes supporting new surveillance laws to prevent terrorism and encouraging the government to take more action to destroy Isis. The government want to join the coalition in going after Isis in Syria as well as in Iraq but are being blocked by some MPs. Those MPs ought to reassess their opposition as the UK’s position is increasingly out of step with the coalition and it will take tougher action to help to destroy Isis sooner.

I’m sure we will continue to show solidarity with France and every nation that believes in free and democratic societies where differences are respected. One of the best ways to defy Isis is to not fall into their trap of trying to divide the rest of us from our Muslim friends and neighbours. All of us in Crawley are horrified by the attacks and we know terrorists thrive on division, so let’s continue to stand united against the evil of Isis and make sure they never succeed in dividing us in our great town of Crawley."