Arriving at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, May Fernandez was full of life and hope. Bringing her four-month-old daughter with her from the Philippines, she was looking forward to being reunited with her husband who was employed by the catering department of Saudi Arabian Airlines. The couple planned to spend the week together in Riyadh and get together with friends and acquaintances. Her husband, who had not seen his wife and daughter for some time, told her how much he missed both of them and how he longed to see them again. He planned to pick up his wife from the airport on her arrival. Those plans, however, were not to be.
Five gunshots fired from a 1999 Honda by two men shattered all the plans before May Fernandez’s flight landed in Riyadh. And instead of a smile and a warm hug when she arrived, she was greeted with the horrible news that her husband could not be at the airport. For her husband, Hermann Bengler, a German citizen, was shot dead Thursday evening in Riyadh, moments after getting into his car after depositing money into his account in the Arab National Bank in Riyadh’s Al-Hamra district.
According to friends and acquaintances who spoke to Al-Jazirah newspaper, Bengler’s wife told him of her desire to live in Saudi Arabia because of the characteristics of its citizens, their hospitality and the country’s image of being the land of peace, especially to Filipino Muslims. She was deeply shocked how such a bloody terrorist act could be committed by people from this country. She said candidly how she had learned many things from our country, such as dressing modestly and respecting others. She even mentioned that her husband was an advocate of Arab and Islamic causes and how he had had tattooed on his shoulder “Al-Quds is free.”
She also mentioned how she had been personally touched by the visits of the crown prince and senior Saudi officials to the families of security officers killed in terrorist attacks and how that illustrated the unity between the country’s leadership and its people. I do not have the words to express my regret to May Fernandez for the loss of her husband. And I know for sure that thousands of Saudis share her pain and agony. Her husband, along with many of our fellow Saudis and others killed in the past year by terrorists, fell victim to a poisonous ideology. That ideology has not only killed police officers but even innocent children in the safety of their homes. And as I am well aware thatmany foreign nationals consider Saudi Arabia to be their second home, I am also aware that many have lived and enjoyed their lives here.
Some even dream of becoming Saudi nationals one day. The fact that another life has been taken away for no other reason than perhaps being white-skinned or looking like a Westerner is horrifying. This country has been home to millions of people from all over the world. Hermann Bengler was only one of the thousands who have known us as a peace-loving nation. He lived among us and was influenced by our culture and social stability. Our leadership, our government and we the people stand hand in hand, united in our desire and determination to expel these terrorists from our midst and eliminate their ideology.
We cannot and will not allow a group of extremists clinging to a sick and mistaken ideology to distort our image as peace-loving people. We will not allow them to hijack our principles, our religion and our culture. We — the people from the media — must continue to raise our voices and state clearly that these people are alien to our religion, culture and traditions. They do not represent the majority of us. Their ideology of hatred, takfeer — accusing others of being infidels — and destruction is the opposite of our values of harmony and acceptance. The people of Saudi Arabia — citizens and government — are united. And together we shall triumph.
