In the wake of the recent deadly anti-Muslim attacks in Portland and London, a number of media commentators have opined that “right-wing” terrorism is being ignored, and that it is equivalent to Islamist terrorism.

Neither assertion is true. Law enforcement in both the United States and Britain have prevented various “right-wing” plots from being carried out, and in fact “right-wing” terrorism was the priority for Anglo-American security services throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Yet what is “right-wing” terrorism? According to the statistics produced by the New America Foundation, “right-wing terrorism” is a catch-all or polite euphemism for political violence carried out by white perpetrators, including:

  • Fanatical Christians targeting abortion providers
  • Militant libertarians (e.g. “sovereigntists” or “freemen”) targeting local or national authorities
  • White supremacists targeting non-whites
  • Anti-Muslim whites targeting Muslims


In contrast to the disparate ideologies and organizations above, Islamist terrorism is very specific, and I believe that apples are being compared to oranges here in order to make the statistical disparities less obvious.

In the United Kingdom, just under 4.50% of the population is comprised of Muslims. However, from 2000 to present:

  • 92 people have been killed by Islamist terrorists
  • 4 people have been killed by right-wing terrorists including 2 in anti-Muslim attacks and 1 as part of the Troubles (by the UVF)


The same pattern is found in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the United States:

  • 621 people have been killed by Islamist terrorists (excluding 9/11)
  • 50 people have been killed by right-wing terrorists including 25 in anti-Muslim attacks


Only in Canada (Mosque shooting) and Norway (Breivik) does right-wing fatal terrorism exceed that of Islamists.

In terms of putting the Islamist terrorist threat in perspective, 0.08% of the Catholic and Protestant populations of Northern Ireland were members of their respective paramilitaries at any given time.

If 3,000 Muslims in Britain are being monitored by MI5 as jihadis (estimates range from 2,000 to 23,000), then that would make the participation rate 0.10%, or worse than the Troubles on both an absolute and relative basis, given that the Muslim population is almost double that of Northern Ireland.