The Daily Express newspaper, which has often been accused of thinly-veiled Islamophobia and racism, has published a story claiming that half of Britain’s 3 million Muslims could support the “Islamic State terror group.”
An article by journalist Tom Parfitt published on Tuesday, which features the images of the ISIS flag and a woman in niqab, says that “9 percent of British adults hold a positive view of the group, up from just 2 per cent a year ago, according to polsters ICM. The figure suggests that 1.5 million of the country’s 3 million Muslims could be ISIS sympathisers.”
It is unclear how The Express arrived at “half of Britain’s 3 million Muslims” from a survey which said “9 per cent of British adults” hold a positive view of the group, but the newspaper appears to be assuming that overwhelmingly Muslims would hold a positive view of the group.
The article goes on to say: “Haras Rafiq of the Quilliam Foundation think-tank said he was ‘not surprised’ by the findings.”
It then details the amount of Muslims who have gone to fight with jihadis in the Middle East and gives an example of one who hates the UK.
The article appears to have been deleted from the Express’s website but is still visible on mobile.
The poll it refers to was originally commissioned by the Mirror newspaper and was a survey of general British public opinion and not Muslim opinion. It did show that favourable opinions of ISIS had risen from to 9% in 2015 but at the same time unfavorable views were running at 85%.
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Moreover, every major Muslim leader and organisation in this country has taken a stance against ISIS.
