Senior terrorism advisor warns against portraying Muslims as 'intrinsically extremist'

Theresa May’s most senior terrorism advisor has warned against portraying muslim communities as “intrinsically extremist”, as this over simplifies the issues surrounding radicalisation.

Speaking at a Jewish news conference on Israel, Charles Farr, director general of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, drew focus to the fact that approximately 2.7 million Muslims live in Britain, while only a few hundred have joined ISIL in the Middle East. He said he was worried that by overstating the amount of Muslims who have been radicalised in Britain, the country risks labelling the Muslim community as extremist, which Farr claims they have “proved not to be”.

Farr said: “It’s not to say the challenges they pose are not significant, they are. But… the more we overstate them the more, frankly, we risk labelling Muslim communities as somehow intrinsically extremist, which actually despite an unprecedented wealth of social media propaganda, they have proved not to be. So I think we need to be cautious with our metaphors and with our numbers.”

Farr’s comments come in contrast to those of David Cameron, who, in a speech on 19 June, implied that some Muslim communities in Britain “quietly condoned” anti western rhetoric that could lead to extremism.

Farr also suggested that many people join extremists groups for reasons other than ideological commitment, and that people who are drawn to ISIL often have “personal problems” and can be seeking excitement.

He said: “The background of broken families, lack of integration into what we might call mainstream society, some level of criminality, sometimes family conflict, are all more than normally apparent.

“People join terrorist organisations in this country and in others because they get something out of them beyond merely satisfaction of an ideological commitment.

“Sometimes it's about resolution of personal problems, sometimes it's about certainty in an environment which has deprived them of it, sometimes it's about excitement and esteem, and we should not omit the last two factors.

“This is the reality in Syria and Iraq but also many other contexts we’ve worked on over the past five or 10 years.”