http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/terror-islamists-muslims-jews/2015/01/14/id/618509/
Newsmax
Dean Obeidallah: Most Terror Attacks Not Done by Muslims
Wednesday, January 14, 2015 09:30 AM
By: Drew MacKenzie
Dean Obeidallah, an Arab-American lawyer turned comedian and writer, has slammed the commonly held opinion that all terrorist acts are committed by Muslims, saying that only a very small percentage are actually carried out by Islamic radicals.
In a commentary for The Daily Beast, Obeidallah denounced the remark often bandied about in public that "not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims."
He noted that Fox News correspondent Brian Kilmeade had even made that comment in 2010, while defending Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s remarks that "Muslims killed us on 9/11."
Obeidallah, wrote, "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 … overwhelmingly, those who have committed terrorist attacks in the United States and Europe aren’t Muslims.
"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. Only two of them were 'religiously motivated,' while 84 were predicated upon ethno-nationalist or separatist beliefs."
Obeidallah pointed to terror attacks committed by the FLNC fighting for Corsica’s independence, as well as the Italian anarchist group FAI, and the Militant Popular Revolutionary Forces organization in Greece.
He also noted that in 2011, Anders Breivik slaughtered 77 people in Norway to promote his anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, and pro-Christian agenda.
And extremist Buddhists have killed many Muslim civilians in Myanmar, while recently in Sri Lanka Buddhists burned down Muslim homes, killing four people, he said.
"Or what about the (dare I mention them) Jewish terrorists?" Obeidallah wrote. "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."
As far as the United States is concerned, Obeidallah pointed to an FBI study showing that, from 1980 to 2005, 94 percent of terror acts were committed by non-Muslims, with 42 percent conducted by Latino-related groups and 24 percent by left-wing organizations.
He also referred to a 2014 study by the University of North Carolina showing that since the 9/11 attacks killed more than 3,000 people, Muslim-linked terrorism has claimed the lives of only 37 Americans.
"But our media simply do not cover the non-Muslim terror attacks with same gusto," Obeidallah wrote. "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."
He concluded by saying, "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."
