Are all terrorists Muslim?

Are All Terrorists Muslims? It’s Not Even Close
by Dean Obeidallah
01.14.15
“Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are
Muslims.” How many times have you heard that one?
Sure, we heard Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade say it , but
to me, that was simply part of the Fox News plan to
make their viewers dumber, as we saw again this past
weekend when its terrorism “expert” Steve Emerson
was caught fabricating the story that Birmingham,
England, is closed to non-Muslims . But more
alarmingly, even some reasonable people have uttered
this statement.
And that comment is often followed up by the
question: Why don’t we see Christian, Buddhist, or
Jewish terrorists?
Obviously, there are people who sincerely view
themselves as Muslims who have committed horrible
acts in the name of Islam. We Muslims can make the
case that their actions are not based on any part of
the faith but on their own political agenda. But they
are Muslims, no denying that.
However, and this will probably shock many, so you
might want to take a breath: Overwhelmingly, those
who have committed terrorist attacks in the United
States and Europe aren’t Muslims. Let’s give that a
moment to sink in.
Now, it’s not your fault if you aren’t aware of that fact.
You can blame the media. (Yes, Sarah Palin and I
actually agree on one thing: The mainstream media
sucks.)
So here are some statistics for those interested. Let’s
start with Europe. Want to guess what percent of the
terrorist attacks there were committed by Muslims over
the past five years? Wrong. That is, unless you said
less than 2 percent .
As Europol, the European Union’s law-enforcement
agency, noted in its report released last year, the vast
majority of terror attacks in Europe were perpetrated
by separatist groups . For example, in 2013, there were
152 terror attacks in Europe. Only two of them were
“religiously motivated,” while 84 were predicated upon
ethno-nationalist or separatist beliefs.
Or what about the (dare I mention them) Jewish
terrorists? Per the 2013 State Department’s
report on terrorism, there were 399 acts of
terror committed by Israeli settlers.
We are talking about groups like France’s FLNC, which
advocates an independent nation for the island of
Corsica. In December 2013, FLNC terrorists carried out
simultaneous rocket attacks against police stations in
two French cities. And in Greece in late 2013, the left-
wing Militant Popular Revolutionary Forces shot and
killed two members of the right-wing political party
Golden Dawn. While over in Italy, the anarchist group
FAI engaged in numerous terror attacks including
sending a bomb to a journalist. And the list goes on
and on.
Have you heard of these incidents? Probably not. But if
Muslims had committed them do you think you our
media would’ve covered it? No need to answer, that’s a
rhetorical question.
Even after one of the worst terror attacks ever in
Europe in 2011, when Anders Breivik slaughtered 77
people in Norway to further his anti-Muslim, anti-
immigrant, and pro-“Christian Europe” agenda as he
stated in his manifesto, how much press did we see in
the United States? Yes, it was covered, but not the
way we see when a Muslim terrorist is involved. Plus
we didn’t see terrorism experts fill the cable news
sphere asking how we can stop future Christian
terrorists. In fact, even the suggestion that Breivik was
a “Christian terrorist” was met with outrage by many,
including Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly.
Have you heard about the Buddhist terrorists? Well,
extremist Buddhists have killed many Muslim civilians
in Burma, and just a few months ago in Sri Lanka, some
went on a violent rampage burning down Muslim homes
and businesses and slaughtering four Muslims.
Or what about the (dare I mention them) Jewish
terrorists? Per the 2013 State Department’s report on
terrorism, there were 399 acts of terror committed by
Israeli settlers in what are known as “price tag”
attacks . These Jewish terrorists attacked Palestinian
civilians causing physical injuries to 93 of them and
also vandalized scores of mosques and Christian
churches.
Back in the United States, the percentage of terror
attacks committed by Muslims is almost as miniscule
as in Europe. An FBI study looking at terrorism
committed on U.S. soil between 1980 and 2005 found
that 94 percent of the terror attacks were committed
by non-Muslims . In actuality, 42 percent of terror
attacks were carried out by Latino-related groups,
followed by 24 percent perpetrated by extreme left-
wing actors.
And as a 2014 study by University of North Carolina
found, since the 9/11 attacks, Muslim-linked terrorism
has claimed the lives of 37 Americans. In that same
time period, more than 190,000 Americans were
murdered ( PDF ).
In fact in 2013, it was actually more likely Americans
would be killed by a toddler than a terrorist. In that
year, three Americans were killed in the Boston
Marathon bombing. How many people did toddlers kill
in 2013? Five, all by accidentally shooting a gun .
But our media simply do not cover the non-Muslim
terror attacks with same gusto. Why? It’s a business
decision. Stories about scary “others” play better. It’s a
story that can simply be framed as good versus evil
with Americans being the good guy and the brown
Muslim as the bad.
Honestly, when is the last time we heard the media
refer to those who attack abortion clinics as “Christian
terrorists,” even though these attacks occur at one of
every five reproductive health-care facilities? That
doesn’t sell as well. After all we are a so-called
Christian nation, so that would require us to look at the
enemy within our country, and that makes many
uncomfortable. Or worse, it makes them change the
channel.
That’s the same reason we don’t see many stories
about how to reduce the 30 Americans killed each day
by gun violence or the three women per day killed by
domestic violence. But the media will have on expert
after expert discussing how can we stop these scary
brown Muslims from killing any more Americans despite
the fact you actually have a better chance of being
killed by a refrigerator falling on you.
Look, this article is not going to change the media’s
business model. But what I hope it does is cause some
to realize that not all terrorists are Muslims. In fact,
they are actually a very small percent of those that
are. Now, I’m not saying to ignore the dangers posed
by Islamic radicals. I’m just saying look out for those
refrigerators.