Europol releases an annual study of terrorism; the results do not support claims that "(nearly) all Muslims are terrorists"
Islamophobes have been popularizing the claim that “not all Muslims are terrorists, but (nearly) all terrorists are Muslims.” Despite this idea becoming axiomatic in some circles, it is quite simply not factual. In my previous article entitled “All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 94% that Aren’t”, I used official FBI records to show that only 6% of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil from 1980 to 2005 were carried out by Islamic extremists. The remaining 94% were from other groups (42% from Latinos, 24% from extreme left wing groups, 7% from extremist Jews, 5% from communists, and 16% from all other groups).
But what about across the pond? The data gathered by Europol strengthens my argument even further. (hat tip: Koppe) Europol publishes an annual report entitled EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report. On their official website, you can access the reports from 2007, 2008, and 2009. (If anyone can find the reports from earlier than that, please let me know so we can include those as well.)
The results are stark, and prove decisively that not all terrorists are Muslims. In fact, a whopping 99.6% of terrorist attacks in Europe were by non-Muslim groups; a good 84.8% of attacks were from separatist groups completely unrelated to Islam. Leftist groups accounted for over sixteen times as much terrorism as radical Islamic groups. Only a measly 0.4% of terrorist attacks from 2007 to 2009 could be attributed to extremist Muslims.
Here are the official tables provided in the reports…
For 2006:
For 2007:
For 2008:
(According to the report, there was 1 “Islamist attack” in the UK in 2008, which was omitted in the table above. It has been included in the bar graph below.)
Just glancing at those tables is enough to know how absurd it is to claim that “all terrorists are Muslims.” That statement is nowhere near the truth. If we compile the data, it comes out to this:
On p.7, the 2009 Europol report concludes:
Islamist terrorism is still perceived as being the biggest threat worldwide, despite the fact that the EU only faced one Islamist terrorist attack in 2008. This bomb attack took place in the UK…Separatist terrorism remains the terrorism area which affects the EU most. This includes Basque separatist terrorism in Spain and France, and Corsican terrorism in France…Past contacts between ETA and the FARC illustrate the fact that also separatist terrorist organizations seek cooperation partners outside the EU on the basis of common interests. In the UK, dissident Irish republican groups, principally the RIRA and the CIRA, and other paramilitary groups may continue to engage in crime and violence.
Perception is not reality. Due to the right wing’s influence and propaganda, people mistakenly think that Islamic terrorism is the greatest threat to the Western world. It is even a commonly held belief that Islamic terrorism poses an existential threat–that the very survival of the Western world is at stake. Of course, the reality is that there are other groups that engage in terrorism on a much larger scale, yet these terrorist incidents are minimized. Acts of terrorism committed by Muslims are purposefully sensationalized and focused upon, culminating in the idea that “(nearly) all terrorists are Muslims.”
Terrorism from Islamic extremists is certainly a cause for concern, but it need not be an issue that creates mass hysteria. Nor should it be allowed to be such a critical issue that we are willing to sacrifice our ideals or civil rights for fear of it. Neither should we be reduced to a status of absolute sissitude. We have analyzed data from America and Europe (a good portion of the entire Western world), and the threat from Islamic terrorism is much more minimal than commonly assumed; in the U.S., it accounts for 6% of terrorist attacks, and in Europe not even half of a percent.
It is only through sensationalism and fear mongering that the topic of Islamic terrorism is allowed to be used to demonize a religious community that happens to be a minority in the West. When confronted by such lunacy, we ought to respond with the facts and the truth.
In a future article, we shall analyze the data for terrorism on the world stage in order to further strengthen our argument…
January 28th, 2010 at 11:27 am
Wow. Interesting find. This needs to be spread far and wide!
January 28th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
The article gives a good knowledge and shows the truth
January 28th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
By ‘separatist’, do you mean ‘nationalist’?
If not, what do you mean by ‘separatist’, since ‘separatists’ plan/commit more acts classed as ‘terrorist’ than ultra-leftists, ultra-right and ‘islamist’.
January 28th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Excellent articles Danios. They completely pulverize the erroneous claims of right-wing pundits and bigots. Well done and thank you!
January 28th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
[quote=Important Question]By ’separatist’, do you mean ‘nationalist’?
If not, what do you mean by ’separatist’, since ’separatists’ plan/commit more acts classed as ‘terrorist’ than ultra-leftists, ultra-right and ‘islamist’.[/quote]
I think they mean separatists groups like the Basque in Spain, the IRA in UK and others like the Corsican Separatists in France.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
1980-2005, but what about post 9-11. I can hear them asking
January 29th, 2010 at 5:03 am
Danios,
I would suggest that if you were writing such an article online to convince people whatever you want them to believe, that you could at least provide objective statistics and reliable sources, not ones you see relevant.
You seem to discuss in length the incidence of terrorist attacks, but I think what intelligent people really care about is how effective those terrorists are in achieving their goal are and how many casualties are incurred as a result. Sure the separatists might commit more attacks than other groups according to your “find”, but if the seperatists kill 100 people in 50 attacks, its not exactly the same as the islamic terrorists who hijacked the 2 planes and killed 3000 people in approx 10 mins…
So sound as smart as you like, but no one intelligent person will take that you have any credibility…
January 29th, 2010 at 6:17 am
BUT: what about the ratio of number of casualties or cruelty of attack vs. who committed the attack.
Also: the number of terrorist attacks in the mideast and non-western regions of the world should be considered as well to draw the bigger picture
January 29th, 2010 at 7:36 am
Once again, brilliant article by Danios. You should do one about the victims of terrorism – most would be Muslim of course.
January 29th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Danios
Another good find, but brother can you write an article explaining Taqiyah?
January 29th, 2010 at 10:38 am
911 was in 2001.
January 29th, 2010 at 10:51 am
When I read the first paragraph I knew this would be an EXTREMELY flawed statistic.
The “terrorism” that is explained in this article is a completely different type of terrorism.
By this, I mean these are acts of violence against a few people.
The type of “terrorism” that we consider terrorism in America is the kind that is a major attack, like blowing up planes, bombing the USS Cole, etc.
Muslims will always be America’s #1 threat as far as teorrist attacks go.
Keep excusing these murderers folks. Left wing….tree hugging….
January 30th, 2010 at 2:14 am
Every peaceful muslim and non muslim must spread this article like a virus. Just spread however you can.
January 30th, 2010 at 5:34 am
Most of the victims of terrorist activity is by large Muslims them self.
In Pakistan over 10.000 people has been killed since the start of the “War on Terror”. Over 700 pakistanis has been directly killed by americans them selves under the Drone War. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (which is a seperate group and not part of the Afgan Taliban and Mullah Umar’s group) and BLA are directly supported and funded by indian security agency RAW from Afghanistan under a US provided umbrella. These people alone are responsible for 1000′s of human lives in Pakistan.
Total death toll in Afghanistan since the US invation: ca. 500.000 humans
Total death toll in Iraq since the US occupation: 1,2 milliom people as of 2008 according to a british organization (actually the only org. which ever did such a research in Iraq as the americans “do not keep track on bodies”.
How many more people has to die before USA has her 9/11 revange?
January 30th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
I will be writing an article very shortly to refute all the counter-arguments the Islamophobes have been coming up with. Stay tuned.
February 1st, 2010 at 2:27 am
Danios,
Thanks for outstanding research and publication!
February 1st, 2010 at 8:04 am
Great research, again.
February 1st, 2010 at 11:10 am
This vindicates the fact that media is mesmerising viewers/readers. Stats are showing truth.
February 1st, 2010 at 2:11 pm
What is a seperatist really? It sounds like its just a category to put an extremist radical Islamist into after they have committed a terrorist act. That way it makes Islam look better.
February 1st, 2010 at 9:27 pm
This is a great article guys. But I’m really worried about the latest things happening on loony geller’s website. She now claims the Mufti, and somehow Islam, played a major role in the holocaust. I don’t know how, but she acquired these documents pointing to the Mufti’s role in the holocaust. I’m afraid this might cause a huge rift between Muslim’s and Jews and will ensue in a bloody blame game. Can LW please look up on this? Thanks
February 1st, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Someone post another article STAT. I would…but I’ve been busy.
Ilm: That lame accusation against Muslims is very easy to refute…There are a few articles on the net that deal with this issue, such as the one written by Zaid Shakir. However, I do intend on covering this myself in the near future. Unfortunately, my time is very limited.
Sincerely,
Danios.
February 1st, 2010 at 10:47 pm
“She now claims the Mufti, and somehow Islam, played a major role in the holocaust. I don’t know how”
Notice that not even her lapdog Spencer has picked up on that. Anyone can see just how bizarre her claims are.
February 1st, 2010 at 10:52 pm
@Danios
I will be sure to look up the Zaid Shakir article inshallah. It’d be awesome to hear your opinion on this in the near future. Don’t worry about time though. We know it’s hard to keep up with life and these kind of issues. Unfortunately the Islamphobe’s lives revolve around this. Nothing else to do but amteurishly blog.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Great article. Although I think the figures don’t quite prove your point. In India, most terrorist attacks are by separatists. Many of these separatists also happen to be Muslim (in Kashmir). There is also separatist struggles in Christian states where terrorist attacks would be carried out by Christians. It is incorrect to say 99.6% of terrorist attacks are by non-Muslims, they are not Islamist. Regardless of this, great stats to really make people re-think there bias.
Comment by Danios: The article clearly says in Europe. We shall examine the case on the global stage in a follow up article. In South Asia, one must not forget the Tamil Tigers, who are mostly Hindus.
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:46 am
Brilliant! I can just hear all of the loons sputtering, “Bbb-buh-but…”. BTW, This weird kitten moved into my garage this one week when our smaller garage door was broken and left open, so I fed him and he’d come and go, then he stayed, then (he was about 4 mos., not too tiny by then) one day he followed me into the house. The dog scared him and he ended up running up to my daughter’s room, so we just brought him food and a litter box.
The thing is, I had become obsessed with the name of a kid at my kids’ school, Abdussaboor Muhammad, so I named the cat that. But once I had named him this I started thinking of him as being Muslim…ROFL….I’ve never really thought of religious affiliation for my little family of furry housemates. Still, I love the name SO much, and I really hope that Mr. & Mrs. Muhammad don’t mind.
Sorry, I had to tell that story, I’ve never had a rescue pet who just came to my house and moved in himself. Plus, he stretches his hands out and eats by scooping his food to his mouth. He’s kind of weird, but he’s really cool. We love Abdussaboor Muhammad.
February 3rd, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Interesting findings, will the media pick up this. This need to spread out to all media.
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Danios… I love you. I just thought I should say that.
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:26 pm
That’s cute Lex!
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Thanks, Majda!
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:23 pm
And thanks Lex too…and everyone else!
February 8th, 2010 at 3:13 am
Danois, This is really interesting, these figures actually show there’s imbalance in how media reports terrorism. But is there a valid reason?
In EU the most sepratists are a major problem; but is it true that apart from a minority of cases, most attacks target the state appararus? And few attacks aim to inflict maximum civillian casualties.
Is it true that haveover few, recent terrorist attacks aim only at civillian casualties?
I have to admit, I’m not sure about the answers but only with to include qualitative aspects instead of just figures.
thanks again, interesting subject.
February 14th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Danios,
When I look at the table for terrorist attacks in 2008 and look at the line for the UK, it shows a total of 74, but no breakdown. (There is a comment at the foot of the table that says there was 1 ‘Islamist’ attack in the UK in 2008. What were the causes of the other 73?
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:25 pm
but the fact the muslims which their blood shed by non-muslim. It must be published
March 12th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Having lived in Europe, I can provide a good definition of “separatist”. “Separatists” are people belonging to a minority ethnic group in a country, who wish to break away and form their own little ethnically defined country. Prominent ethnic groups that engender separatist activists (who are not always terrorists, of course) are the Basque people of France and Spain, the Corsicans and Bretons of France, the ethnic Germans of northern Italy (who want to rejoin Austria), certain right-wing groups in northern Italy who want to break away from Italy and create a new country centered around Milan, etc. Muslim activists by definition aspire to an Umma, which can in no way be described as an ethnically defined goal. However, in practice many ethnic groups in the Balkans identify themselves primarily as Muslims, like for example the Bosnians and Kosovars.
Finally a word to that red-blooded patriot who resents the “terrorist” bombing of the Cole. Attacks on regular military forces can never be called terrorist, since terrorism means attacking civilians. Duh.
March 20th, 2010 at 4:53 am
Livin’ in Germany for 47 years I was really stunned on the fact, that we got 15 seperatist terrorattacks in 2007. That must have passed me totally. I even don’t know a single name of a german separatist group. Nor a single region, were it’s possible to think of a separatistic terrorgroup.
The only group I know is the Wolpertinger national Party, that fights for a free franconian state in the north of bavaria….
March 21st, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Would have been nice if you also would recognize 2005 and 2004 the years of the London and Madrid bombings.
But that would distort your statitics and your ridiculous conclusion.
Thank you for nothing.
May 2nd, 2010 at 8:52 pm
Whom do you think you are fooling?
Leftist would love to believe that their pets, Muhammadans are nice harmless pussy cats. The reality is diametrically opposite. Muhammad himself was a terrorist who oversaw murder of thousands of defenseless victims. He raped scores of women including a 9 years old child. His Bedouin hordes raped and murdered everyone they conquered.
The followers of Muhammad are like their master.
Here are some verifiable numbers from http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
Monthly Jihad Report
March, 2010
Jihad Attacks: 165
Countries: 15
Religions: 5
Dead Bodies: 1304
Critically Injured: 2046
And that is for just one month. Now show me that this indeed is only .4%.
Only a deluded leftist Islamic apologist can full himself like this. Do the math and realize that this would mean that there were a total of 258,500 terror victims last month, and The Muslims are responsible for 1304 (.4%) of them!
Comment by Danios: As has been mentioned several times before, the fantastic “statistics” on TheReligionofPeace website are completely spurious, and differ dramatically from authoritative sources. Nice try though.
May 2nd, 2010 at 11:51 pm
@Emil Ule
I wonder if the category “separatist” also includes German neo-Nazis (and other racists)?
May 3rd, 2010 at 1:11 am
Ray Bright says “Muhammad himself was a terrorist who oversaw murder of thousands of defenseless victims. He raped scores of women including a 9 years old child. His Bedouin hordes raped and murdered everyone they conquered.”
Really? Where are your sources? And were they really defenseless victims? Moreover, if the prophet killed defenseless victims why would he forbid the killings of civilians:
Saheeh Bukhari
Volume 004, Book 052, Hadith Number 257.
Narrated By ‘Abdullah : During some of the Ghazawat of the Prophet a woman was found killed. Allah’s Apostle disapproved the killing of women and children.
Volume 004, Book 052, Hadith Number 258.
Narrated By Ibn ‘Umar : During some of the Ghazawat of Allah’s Apostle a woman was found killed, so Allah’s Apostle forbade the killing of women and children.
What about the noble men of the bible, who according to the bible(not the Quran), when they went into the Holy Land, slaughtered everything that lives, as they were commanded by God:
“They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man……..Now kill all the boys [innocent kids]. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. (Numbers 31:7,17-18)”
Kill everything that “breathes” from humans and animals!
Deuteronomy 20:16
However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.
BY THE WAY GENIUS, IT IS MUSLIMS NOT MUHAMMADANS, WHERE HAVE U BEEN THE PAST 100 YEARS? THIS IS 21st CENTURY NOT THE 19th CENTURY. We no longer talk like 19th century orientalists.
May 5th, 2010 at 12:39 am
The two weapons of mass destruction dropped on Japan—-now that’s what I call terrorism! killing 120,000 men, women,and children in the blink of an eye. In the art of killing, the Yanks are specialists in this area.
May 11th, 2010 at 8:57 am
France = terrorist ? 0_0
May 22nd, 2010 at 2:08 am
When I say I love Allah, I am proud because, I am Muslim
May 22nd, 2010 at 2:12 am
Albanin muslim
May 22nd, 2010 at 4:32 am
@Richard Ryan
I find that anti-Muslim propaganda today to be reminiscent of American anti-Japanese propaganda of World War II.
May 27th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
why does the american essay go back to 1980 but the european one only to 2006?is it possibly to avoid london,madrid and lockerbie?how many people were killed in these non islamic attacks?where are the numbers for terrorist attacks in the middle east?
May 27th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Because the Europol reports were only issued starting from that year, Sherlock.
May 29th, 2010 at 2:39 am
Someone mention Falun Gong among terrorism? You must be a lunatic! That is a followed group in China, they are not doing anything else than practising Tai Chi, meditation and do yoga exercises. The insane communist-party in China did not like that Falun Gong had more members than the communists themself, and started a propaganda against people who are nothing else than peaceful. Do you research!
May 30th, 2010 at 10:08 am
It is easy to infer from the comments for this post that both this webside, and its readers, are very unserious and easily fooled people. “An interesting find”, “an excellent article” and “outstanding reserach” (the latter by a person who seems to be a politician). My god! If this had been a semester paper it would have been slaughtered and the person thrown out of the university or college.
Obviously the interesting information is not the number of “attacks” (the majority are small insignificant “incidents” like burning down a shack or throwing bricks at windows), but the number of persons killed or seriously wounded, and the total economic loss and material damage. And obviously: A person that don’t understand that instently is a fool.
So why not instead inform us of how many lives lost in the “western” world because of terrorist attacks. Well, WTC om 9/11 alone killed 2996 innocent persons. And then we have London and Madrid. How many people have ETA killed since the year 2000? Probably less than 20! That bad enough, but nothing in comparison. Besides. You can’t move separatists because they have lived where they live for generations and centuries. Islamist terrorism on the other hand, is an imported problem.
May 30th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
“Comment by Danios: As has been mentioned several times before, the fantastic “statistics” on TheReligionofPeace website are completely spurious, and differ dramatically from authoritative sources. Nice try though.”
Could you link to that for me please? I can’t find any references on this site. In my naivity I had assumed their figures were accurate.
June 8th, 2010 at 10:27 am
There is a very good question: who has spread information about islamists? There is only one country, that is interested in. Did you guess? If I write down, so the web-site will must delete it.
Also! If we take into account ALL terrorist attacks, made by special forces, army or intelligence services, so the statistic will show us who is the real terrorist country in the world.
If you did not still guess, so please go to http://www.un.org about Goldstone mission, investigated operation of the Israeli army in Gaza. Read the conclusions!
June 9th, 2010 at 10:23 am
The latest Europol report (2010) can be found at:
http://www.europol.europa.eu/publications/EU_Terrorism_Situation_and_Trend_Report_TE-SAT/TESAT2010.pdf
July 2nd, 2010 at 5:48 pm
There is a terrorist attack counted on Portugal, in 2007, by right wing, but never happen one here, not in 2007 or in any other year.
Best regards.
July 6th, 2010 at 12:03 am
i appreciate the articles as its an eye opening to some people who believed the other way round …But out of curiosity could i ask if there is any similar kind of stats for those things happened in india till date ?
July 6th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
remember one thing we are all human beings it is a fact that we all are not up to the task our holy prophet is the best man ever seen in the world if some people thing that he is not a good man then then visit http://WWW.history of Muhammad.com we all come together to get common aims for betterment of the world Allah keep this world for betterment but at the day of judgment we all come to know what is true and what is wrong Allah bless you all
July 6th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Now let’s examine the death toll. How many human lives did each group take?
July 8th, 2010 at 11:01 am
This is a LIE. These charts say there are FIVE islamic terror attacks in THREE YEARS. I can find you five for ANY WEEK worldwide. ANY WEEK. And what IS “terror” defined as? Breaking out a car window?
July 24th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Hey did anyone read the report Danios so happily mentions
IN the Europol Report has an ENTIRE section on Islamic terror
it goes like this
“In spite of the fact that only one attack was committed
in the EU, Islamist terrorists still aim to
cause mass casualties, as demonstrated by the attempt
to create an explosion on a fl ight between
Amsterdam and Detroit in December 2009.”
READ THE REPORT
STATISTICS DECEIVE
THINK PEOPLE, MAKE UP YOUR OWN MINDS
July 27th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
the number of people killed in USA, london and Madrid? But the number of people and children killed in Gaza by terrorists is not ( Oh yes!! it was self defense!!!)
The fact that terrorists attacks made by muslims caused more deaths than others is directlly related to the totaly wrong type of education they had.
Islam is like any holy relegion, it can be interpreted the way humans like it to be. The third khalif after the death of Mohamed said it more than a thousand years ago: The Quran does not speak; it is spoken with. At least it is very clear in the Quran that whoever kill one life is like killing all and whoever saves a life is like saving it all.
Those who attack Islam will never stop, either because they are too proud to admit it or because they are too mind controlled. For them i say this: The world had only advanced because of liberal thoughts, people like you, extremists, will only pull it back
August 8th, 2010 at 2:52 am
Except where is the data for right-wing terrorists? The folks blowing up abortion clinics, gay clubs, the Ed Murrow Federal Building in Oklahoma,shooting doctors who perform abortions, and so many, many more? I find it interesting that there are 0 reports of these crimes.
August 12th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2010/08/11/ac.muslim.debate.cnn.html
This was aired lasy night, 8-11-10, and what Mr. Flip has to say is completly ubsurd!
August 19th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
First attempt on the Twin Towers, 9-11 in NYC, Madrid, London… ah-la-hu-akh-bar !!!!!!!!
August 23rd, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Reminds me of some discussions I had with people post-Fort Hood. More at the link:
http://willworkforjustice.blogspot.com/2009/12/nidal-hasan-whats-religion-got-to-do.html
Whenever you hear the tired refrain, “not all Muslims are…” just respond with, “Not all white people are KKK members, but all KKK members are white.”
August 25th, 2010 at 11:32 am
Get a report from the region of Africa & Asia next time, where over 99% of Islamic terrorist attacks occur.
August 27th, 2010 at 5:31 am
Unfortunately, the idea of associating Islam to terrorism is prevalent even in regions and sectors where no terrorist act of whatever nature has ever been witnessed.
See the following article on South Korea where Islamic banking system is suspected of financing terrorism:
http://www.financialislam.com/2/post/2010/08/south-korea-sukuk-bill-triggers-backlash-from-christian-groups.html