UK foreign minister: 'Apologists' partly to blame for terror
People who act as "apologists" for terrorists are partly to blame for their actions, Britain's foreign minister said Tuesday, rejecting claims that slip-ups by the intelligence services helped turn young Britons into jihadi militants.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was countering allegations by Muslim advocacy organization CAGE, which says heavy-handed attention from British spies helped radicalize Londoner Mohammed Emwazi, who has been identified as the Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John."
Hammond said "the responsibility for acts of terror rests with those who commit them. But a huge burden of responsibility also lies with those who act as apologists for them."
Hammond strongly defended Britain's intelligence services in a speech to defense think tank the Royal United Services Institute, saying that "the sheer number and range" of threats - from state-sponsored aggression to terrorist groups and lone-wolf attackers - "amounts to the greatest challenge to our collective security for decades."
