Arab League ministers have taken a significant, albeit tentative, step toward acknowledging that terrorism harms not only “infidels” but also that Arab countries are among its worst victims. At a conference last week, reports Amir Taheri, they proposed “a pan-Arab designation of all pro-terror propaganda as a distinct crime of incitement.”

Why has it taken so long for these leaders to face up to this long-standing danger?

[They] couldn’t agree on what constituted terrorism. They shied away from a clear definition for fear that it might apply to the various groups that they financed and armed against Israel, India – or, at times, against each other.
Nor were they willing to take a tough line on textbooks, media products and mosque sermons that incited xenophobia, hatred and violence against non-Muslims – and even, in some cases, against Muslims from different “schools.” They failed to realize that words have consequences in deeds, that individuals brainwashed into hating “the other” might end up trying to kill.