Nobody's defending the people who committed the crime, which I would think is quite obvious by the language I've been using when referring to the crime and the people who committed it.

The people I am defending are the more than a billion other people, who did not commit this crime, who are being held responsible for it.

When we in the US hear people denigrating all Black people because some Black people commit crimes, we quite rightly call the people who do that "racists". I would say it's no less racist to hold all Muslims responsible for the behavior of some Muslims.