Aussie spy agency says it won’t call out ‘Islamic’ terrorists, but will say ‘religiously’ motivated attackers instead

Australia’s spy agency

Australia’s spy agency is shifting the focus on how it describes the enemies it hunts. From now on, the Australian Security Intelligence Agency (ASIO) will use the term ‘religiously motivated’ instead of ‘Islamic extremist.’

“We don’t investigate people because of their religious views – it’s violence that is relevant to our powers – but that’s not always clear when we use the term ‘Islamic extremism’,” Mike Burgess, the director-general of ASIO said. “Understandably, some Muslim groups – and others – see this term as damaging and misrepresentative of Islam, and consider that it stigmatizes them by encouraging stereotyping and stoking division. Our language needs to evolve to match the evolving threat environment.”

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