Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner and an education activist, issued a warning Tuesday to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump: “The more you speak about Islam and against all Muslims, the more terrorists we create.”
Ms. Yousafzai, 18, who was nearly shot to death in 2012 by jihadists who boarded her school bus in Pakistan, spoke with Channel 4.com about Mr. Trump’s proposed ban for Muslims entering the U.S. The teen was shot because she and her family were advocating education for girls.
In a campaign statement on Dec. 7, Mr. Trump called for a “complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
His comments drew rapid rebuke from President Obama and many other 2016 presidential candidates in the Republican party. However, a new ABC News-Washington poll said six in 10 Republicans support the real estate mogul’s idea.
The poll also found that 73 percent of Americans said Muslims in the U.S. face discrimination because of their religion.
“So it’s important that whatever politicians say, whatever the media say, they should be really, really careful about it. If your intention is to stop terrorism, do not try to blame the whole population of Muslims for it because it cannot stop terrorism. It will radicalize more terrorists,” Ms. Yousafza told the station.
Ms. Yousafzai’s comments are similar to what she said Tuesday at “Poppies for Peace in Peshawar,” an event in Birmingham, central England, to remember the Taliban attack on a school in Pakistan last year that left more than 150 dead, the BBC reported.
“If your intention is to stop terrorism, do not try to blame the whole population of Muslims for it because it cannot stop terrorists,” she said.
Only education can end terrorism, Ms. Yousafzai added, reiterating what she has said repeatedly in the past.
• Maria Stainer can be reached at mstainer@washingtontimes.com.
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