A majority of Muslims in Palestine and Iraq support terrorism (53% and 61% respectively), while a large minority of Muslims in the UK support terrorism (25%). A further look into polls from the Pew Research Center for People and the Press has confirmed my previous conclusion; a majority of Muslims in most Islamic nations support terrorism.
The PRC interviewed over 38,000 people during a four-month period in 44 nations. The conclusions of the Pew Global Attitudes survey are as follows:
* A majority of people in Lebanon support suicide bombing, 73%
* A majority of people in the Ivory Coast support suicide bombing, 56%
* A majority of people in Nigeria who responded supported suicide bombing, 47% yes to 45% no
* A majority of people in Bangladesh who responded supported suicide bombing, 44% yes to 37% no
* 33% of Pakistanis support suicide bombing
* 27% of Indonesians support suicide bombing
* 32% of the population of Mali supports suicide bombing
* 30% of Ghana supports suicide bombing
* 29% Uganda
* 28% Senegal
Because polling was not allowed in many of the more fundamentalist Islamic states such as Iran or Egypt, there are no statistics as to the number of people who support terrorism. However, it is important to keep in mind that Islamic states likely have higher rates of support than the states mentioned above which simply represent majority Muslim populations.
A second PRC study titled A Year After Iraq War has some things to say about support for terrorism as well.
* “Osama bin Laden, however, is viewed favorably by large percentages in Pakistan (65%), Jordan (55%) and Morocco (45%).”
* Suicide attacks against Israelis
o In Turkey, 24% support
o In Pakistan, 47% support
o In Morocco, 74% support
o In Jordan, 86% support
* Suicide attacks against Westerners
o In Turkey, 31% support
o In Pakistan, 46% support
o In Morocco, 66% support
o In Jordan, 70% support
It’s interesting that more Turks support terrorism against the West than they do against Jews. Verily, the euphemism “the Jews” is used for Westerners by Arabs in the Middle East.
Some final statistics on Palestinians and 9/11. These are from the National Review and Palestinian Media Watch.
* “A vast majority in Gaza supported the 9/11 killings” (based on Gallup polls)
* 73% of Palestinians support suicide attacks against the United States
As we see above, in Muslim countries the percent of the population supporting terrorism varies from a large minority to a large majority. On average the least is 30% while the most is 65%. The notion of a “handful” of Muslim terrorists or a “vast minority” of terrorist supporters must come to an end. Terrorism is epidemic in Islam, where are the moderates hiding?
