The Prime Minister David Cameron should look closer to home when trying to identify causes for the rise of ISIS and its attraction to some British Muslims.

Speaking at a security conference in Slovakia, the PM warned of the dangers posed by those who “quietly condone” Islamic State militants’ extremist ideology and stressed the importance of tackling radicalisation at its source.

“There are people who hold some of these views who don’t go as far as advocating violence but who do buy into some of these prejudices giving the extreme Islamist narrative weight and telling fellow Muslims ‘you are part of this’. This paves the way for young people to turn simmering prejudice into murderous intent,” he said.

IHRC deplores the suggestion that British Muslims harbour a latent sympathy for ISIS on the basis that they are fellow Muslims. This only deflects the blame for the rise of groups like ISIS away from western foreign policy with the aim of pressurising Muslims into conforming with government policy, both towards ISIS and for draconian anti-terrorism measures at home.

The PM would be better served by looking at Britain’s own and wider western policy in the region which gave birth to ISIS. ISIS was not created by a few thousand misguided western youths looking to establish a utopia but by the cumulative impact of years of neo-colonial meddling.

IHRC Massoud Shadjareh said: “The PM should start thinking about those who are quietly supporting and financing ISIS instead of employing a rhetoric of collective blame. The recent collapse of the prosecution of Bherlin Gildo shows just how deeply British intelligence services have been involved in helping Muslims go to fight in Syria.”

Notes to editors:

For media enquiries please email nadia@ihrc.org or call 020 8904 4222[Ends]

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IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

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