In its statement at the General Assembly session on the Secretary General's Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism on February 12, 2016, Qatar argued that free speech should be limited to avoid upsetting terrorists. In its words:
"Attempts by some entities to use single violent incidents and link it with no evidence to specific religions such as Islamophobia [are] misleading and thwart the efforts to verify the reasons behind terrorism. Offending symbols of specific religions give pretext to the extremists to recruit their supporters."