JAFFA, Israel – Kuwait’s Ministry of Religious Affairs has warned that more and more Kuwaitis – including women – are expressing their sympathy and support for terrorist organizations, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas reported.
According to the newspaper, while the authorities used to receive three complaints per month from citizens concerned that their relatives may be supporting or identifying with terrorist organizations, that number has recently increased to about 10 such reports each month.
The newspaper cited sources within the Ministry of Religious Affairs saying that women are expressing more support of terrorist organizations as well.
Ministry sources estimated the number of terrorist supporters to be higher than is known, explaining many parents are fearful of filing complaints against their own children.
“However the ‘moderation’ committee within the ministry is laboring to reach all those youngsters in order to dissuade them from their path and from those catastrophic ideas,” the newspaper reported.
Another issue is that the Religious Ministry does not report to the authorities every individual who identifies with a terrorist organization, just those it speculates are a danger to the public.
The Kuwaiti government has recently increased the budget for its “moderation” committee in order to strengthen the education for a moderate way of thinking within the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education, with the objective being to distance the youth from the influences of the extremist factions, reported the newspaper.
Separately, the Al Seyasah Kuwaiti newspaper reported that the Kuwaiti Minister of Religious Affairs, Yaqoub Al-Sanea, announced that his ministry is working to remove from its personnel several officials who support extremist organizations.
The minister singled politicians “who show support for the radical organizations in order to find favor with their constituents.”