Dubai : American and Western media reports showed a more careful approach to reporting the Boston Marathon attacks, in stark contrast to much of the wild speculation that has been a hallmark of reports in a post-9/11 world.
But that did not stop Arab and Muslim Americans from wondering what the impact could be on their communities if the perpetrator was found to be an Arab or Muslim or connected to a militant Islamist group.
Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, condemned in the strongest possible terms the deadly bombing.
Shaikh Abdullah said: “The UAE condemns such terrorism and criminal acts aimed at destabilising the security and stability of the United States, and urges all countries to stand united in face of terrorism, to fight it and to eradicate it, in all of its aspects, whatever its source and motivation.”
“These moments, and until the perpetrator is uncovered, are the worst moments for the Arab and Muslim immigrant,” tweeted Samar Dahmash Jarrah, a public speaker and radio host living in the United States and author of the book Arab Voices Speak to American Hearts.
“It is an uneasy feeling because we know how the mainstream media will behave if it turns out to be Muslims,” Jarrah told Gulf News from Florida.
“We will find ourselves in a position were we have to defend the whole religion of Islam,” she said, noting that such an outcome would impact all Muslims across the US, not just in Boston.
A day after the bombing killed three people and injured 140, US investigators pledged to go “to the ends of the Earth” to find those behind the blasts.
