From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Britain to start calling IS Daesh
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleBritish Prime Minister David Cameron says the British government is changing the way it refers to the Islamic State militant group, following the United States in calling it Daesh.
Britain had previously used the acronym ISIL — Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Cameron told lawmakers in the House of Commons that he was making the change “because frankly this evil death cult is neither a true representation of Islam nor is it a state.”
Cameron was kicking off an all-day debate about whether Britain should extend airstrikes against IS from Iraq into Syria.
Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the group’s name that also carries negative associations. The Twitter account U.K. Against ISIL — now rebranded U.K. Against Daesh — said the term is hated by the militants because it sound similar to Arabic words meaning “trample” and “one who sows discord.”
— AP
The Times of Israel Community.