"God blessed me when I killed a British man"

So said the terrorist who murdered Christopher Stokes in Jordan, and wounded 5 others. He told the court that all British people are enemies of Islam, for two reasons.

Firstly "because they are fighting the Prophet and his soldiers since (the) Balfour Declaration". This was the statement in 1917 by the British Government in support of establishing a Jewish homeland in, what was then, Palestine. That statement did not delineate the borders of the future state of Israel. If Muslim objection to Israel was only against the occupation of the West Bank then the British would not be responsible. But, as we know, the objection is to the very existence of a state for Jews, thus the Balfour Declaration, giving support for such an existence, makes us a target.

Secondly, we are targets because "The British people ... insulted the honorable Quran and women who wear the head cover". We dared discuss veils and therefore are targets.

Although left-wing liberals try and insist that terrorism is due to war in Iraq or the poor economic situation of Muslims, the statements from the terrorists show that these are not the reasons. The cause of Islamic terrorism is simply that they hate the West and all it stands for.