A senior Emirati official says demonstrations in Europe have moved beyond political expression and become a national security concern, warning that extremism needs to be addressed before it leads to violence.
“People can demonstrate, speak and give speeches,” said Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, who chairs the UAE Federal National Council’s Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee. But, he argued, demonstrations seen in 11 European cities were not simply an exercise of free speech; they posed a threat to national security.
His comments come amid broader concern about radicalization in Europe. On Nov. 3, Europol said authorities in 16 countries had referred more than 9,000 links to extremist material found on 47 social media and gaming platforms. The operation focused on online role-playing content promoting jihadist, far-right, far-left and anarchist violence, including material that could draw young people into extremist networks.
Emirati officials and specialists say their approach starts well before someone is arrested. They place emphasis on schools, families and helping people of different backgrounds live alongside one another.
Al Nuaimi said the UAE’s schools promote coexistence and shared values across religious, national, ethnic and racial differences. People, he said, need to learn to accept one another as they are.
At Hedayah, an Abu Dhabi-based center focused on countering extremism and violent extremism, Maqsoud Kruse described radicalization as a process. It can begin with ideas, develop through emotional responses and, in some cases, progress to violence. Recognizing those stages, he said, gives communities a chance to intervene earlier.
Kruse, an organizational psychologist who helped establish Hedayah in 2012, said no country, institution or individual can tackle extremism alone. International cooperation and shared effort are essential, he argued.
In the UAE, he said, the work draws on psychology, sociology, education and economics, rather than treating extremism only as a security issue. The goal is to move beyond focusing on the problem and create conditions that give people hope.
That approach puts prevention at the center: investing in education and community involvement before extremist beliefs become violent. Kruse also cautioned against treating poverty as the sole cause of radicalization. Some people who are wealthy and well educated adopt extremist ideologies, while many living in difficult circumstances do not.
He pointed to former extremists who have left radical movements as evidence that rehabilitation and reintegration can be possible. Hedayah works with governments, researchers and civil society groups on prevention programs. Education, Kruse’s argument is, does not replace counterterrorism operations. But security measures alone cannot address the ideas and personal vulnerabilities that recruiters exploit.
The UAE’s emphasis on coexistence is also visible at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Displays along the route to its prayer halls highlight mutual respect, tolerance and the legacy of the country’s founding president, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
The mosque’s 82 domes and architecture draw on influences from across the Islamic world. It serves as a place of worship as well as a destination for visitors interested in the country’s religious and cultural traditions.
The ideas promoted there predate the UAE’s opening of relations with Israel. Sheikh Zayed helped establish the federation in 1971, and the country’s leaders have long presented tolerance as part of its national identity. The mosque’s center describes welcoming people from different cultures and accommodating different faiths as part of his legacy.
Over time, the policy took a more formal shape. The UAE passed legislation against discrimination and religious hatred in 2015, appointed a minister of state for tolerance the following year and introduced a national tolerance program. In 2023, it updated its legal framework to address discrimination, hatred and extremism.
The government says more than 200 nationalities live in the UAE. That diversity makes coexistence an everyday practical matter, not just an official principle.
The country has also promoted the idea internationally. In February 2019, Pope Francis and Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, signed the Document on Human Fraternity in Abu Dhabi, calling for dialogue and peaceful coexistence.
Four years later, the UAE opened the Abrahamic Family House on Saadiyat Island. Its mosque, church and synagogue stand in separate buildings alongside shared spaces intended for learning and conversation.
The complex was temporarily closed during a visit to the UAE. Emirati officials said the closure followed an Iranian attempt to target it during the war.
In Dubai, Mohammed Baharoon, director general of the B’huth research center, said the country’s approach to tolerance should not be attributed simply to its oil wealth. In his view, it reflects a deliberate choice to welcome people from different countries and give them a role in the UAE’s development.
Baharoon sees the Abraham Accords, brokered during President Donald Trump’s first term in 2020, as an extension of that approach. The agreement established relations between the UAE and Israel, but he said its purpose was broader than opening embassies.
He argued that the accords could challenge the framing of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute as a conflict between entire religions and peoples. Diplomatic recognition matters, he said, when it helps build relationships that can endure political disagreements.
Al Nuaimi likewise described the accords as an investment in connections between people, rather than support for any particular Israeli government. He said the long-term aim should be a lasting arrangement in which Israelis and Palestinians live as neighbors, respect one another and care about each other’s future.
Al Nuaimi also said the UAE’s relationship with Israel had helped it deliver humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza. He cited hospitals, bakeries and water infrastructure supported by the UAE, saying that cooperation with Israel had made the work possible.
There is, however, a tension in the Emirati model. Cultural and religious coexistence does not mean that people have the same freedom to challenge the government. Freedom House’s 2026 assessment says political parties are banned and that freedom of expression and assembly are sharply restricted. Those limits complicate the idea that the UAE’s system could be transferred wholesale to European democracies.
Even so, during discussions in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the emphasis on coexistence surfaced in several settings: at the Grand Mosque, in conversations with counter-extremism specialists and in the UAE’s effort to maintain ties with Israel while supporting Palestinians.
The temporarily closed Abrahamic Family House offers a striking example of both the ambition and the difficulty. Its three places of worship were designed to stand side by side, but the wider regional conflict has interrupted the conditions in which they were meant to bring people together.
Kruse’s focus is on preventing radicalization early. Baharoon stresses political will over wealth. Al Nuaimi argues for teaching coexistence at home while pursuing a diplomatic future in the region.
Whether those aims can withstand the pressures of war, or take hold beyond the UAE, remains uncertain.
