--- title: Obama to World Leaders: On 'Extremism', We're all in This Together description: "We come from different countries and different cultures, different faiths… [but] we are all in the same boat" Obama said Thursday. canonical: https://time.com/3715030/barack-obama-violent-extremism-summit/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-19T16:33:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:53.294Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Calls for International Unity in Fight Against Terror, Extremism og:description: "The notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie and all of us have a responsibility to reject it." og:url: https://time.com/3715030/barack-obama-violent-extremism-summit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcf4ec646c656d1d/69877feb8e060104f345a5f1/president-barack-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Calls for International Unity in Fight Against Terror, Extremism twitter:description: "The notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie and all of us have a responsibility to reject it." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcf4ec646c656d1d/69877feb8e060104f345a5f1/president-barack-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Calls for International Unity in Fight Against Terror, Extremism ## Video: Inside ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s Battle for Brand Supremacy [Watch (HLS stream): Inside ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s Battle for Brand Supremacy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gK3s3WLk.m3u8) (5:16)  _Published 2015-02-04. They may share similar goals but the two groups are bitter rivals_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 19, 2015 4:33 PM UTC  President Obama pauses while speaking at the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, Feb. 18, 2015. President Obama pauses while speaking at the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, Feb. 18, 2015.Jacquelyn Martin—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 19, 2015 4:33 PM UTC President Obama echoed [Wednesday’s call for unity](http://time.com/3714339/barack-obama-violent-extremism/?xid=newsletter-brief) in the global fight against violent extremism in his final speech before a White House summit tackling the issue. After two days of talks with community leaders from across the U.S., the State Department on Thursday hosted a group of high-level international leaders as a part of the Countering Violent Extremism Summit. During his speech, Obama again called on leaders to dispute extremist ideology that claims the West is at war with Islam. “The notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie and all of us—regardless of our faith—have a responsibility to reject it,” Obama said. In the wake of terror attacks in Paris and Egypt, and ongoing battles against the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, the summit has largely focused on extremist activities related to the Muslim community. The focus on Muslims has drawn ire from both conservatives—who say the administration hasn’t gone far enough to call out terrorism carried out through the faith—and American Muslims, who say the counter violence efforts being proposed will lead to further targeting and discrimination. Obama on Thursday acknowledged that the targets of ISIS and al-Qaeda propaganda are largely members of the Muslim community and the terror organizations claim they are driven by Islam. He said that that countries had a responsibility, however, to lift up the voices of millions of Muslims around the world who actually represent the faith, and frankly, are just like everyone else. “A lot of the bad is absorbed,” Obama said. “Not enough of the good.” Obama also said by confronting religious conflict, political, economic, and educational issues—all of which he said terrorists exploit in their efforts to recruit—countries can counter extremist messaging in a meaningful way. The summit and gathering of international leaders piggybacks off of a call to action against extremism Obama made in September before the United Nations Security Council. _Read next:_ [_Obama Urges Americans to Keep Calm in Fight Against Violent Extremism_](http://time.com/3714339/barack-obama-violent-extremism/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3715030/barack-obama-violent-extremism-summit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3715030/barack-obama-violent-extremism-summit/"},"headline":"Obama Calls for International Unity in Fight Against Terror, Extremism","datePublished":"2015-02-19T16:33:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:53.294Z","description":"\"We come from different countries and different cultures & different faiths… [but] we are all in the same boat\" Obama said Thursday.","url":"https://time.com/3715030/barack-obama-violent-extremism-summit/","keywords":["National Security","Foreign Policy","White House","Terrorism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcf4ec646c656d1d/69877feb8e060104f345a5f1/president-barack-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcf4ec646c656d1d/69877feb8e060104f345a5f1/president-barack-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"President Obama pauses while speaking at the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, Feb. 18, 2015.","creditText":"Jacquelyn Martin—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/national-security/","name":"National Security"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3715030/barack-obama-violent-extremism-summit/","name":"Obama Calls for International Unity in Fight Against Terror, Extremism"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Inside ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s Battle for Brand Supremacy","description":"They may share similar goals but the two groups are bitter rivals","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gK3s3WLk/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-04T23:06:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gK3s3WLk.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3715030/barack-obama-violent-extremism-summit/","duration":"PT5M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3715030/barack-obama-violent-extremism-summit/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```