MI5 has been condemned over its handling of the case of bloodthirsty Islamist Jihadi John ( pictured ) No organisation is more important in the fight against terrorism within our society than MI5 . The security and intelligence service ’ s crest rightly reminds its officers of their duty ‘ to defend our realm ’ . Yet in recent days the service has been ferociously attacked over its handling of the case of the bloodthirsty Islamist Jihadi John , now unmasked as Mohammed Emwazi , a computer graduate from the University of Westminster . Much of this condemnation has focused on the revelation that , before he left to join the IS jihad in Syria , Emwazi was known to MI5 as an extremist and may even have had links to the 2005 London bombers . But there have also been noisy complaints , widely relayed across the media , that it was MI5 ’ s supposedly heavy-handed surveillance which drove Emwazi down the path to radicalism . All too predictably , the verbal assault on the security service has been led by the BBC which , with typical self-importance and disdain for our national interests , has set itself up as judge and jury over the saga . Like the left-wing Guardian newspaper , the BBC has been giving copious airtime to the nauseating pressure group Cage , which has a long record of providing support for Islamist terror suspects . Given an undeserved platform by the BBC , Cage ’ s spokesman Asim Qureshi peddled the revolting propaganda line that Emwazi had been a ‘ gentle ’ and ‘ beautiful ’ man until apparently forced to become a sadistic executioner because of MI5 ’ s cruel harassment . According to Qureshi ’ s grotesque theory , this harassment by MI5 began after Emwazi had attempted to go on ‘ safari ’ to Africa with a couple of other Muslim extremists – he was arrested on landing in Tanzania en route to Somalia – following his graduation . The complaint of heavy-handedness in dealing with extremist suspects is simply absurd . Spooking people like Emwazi is absolutely necessary . They should feel they are being monitored . To inflict on the British public such special pleading as Qureshi ’ s and twisting of the evidence in support of a murderous death cult is a betrayal of BBC values . It is the moral equivalent of giving Joseph Goebbels a slot on BBC Radio Four ’ s Thought for the Day . There have also been noisy complaints that it was MI5 ’ s supposedly heavy-handed surveillance which drove Emwazi down the path to radicalism - an attack which is both 'unfair and counter-productive ' The drivel about Jihadi John was then reinforced by senior Tory MP David Davis on yesterday ’ s Jeremy Vine programme on Radio Two . He rejected the theory that Emwazi had merely gone to Africa on ‘ safari ’ . But he repeated accusations he had already made in the Guardian ( a paper which has already done deep damage to our national security by publishing intelligence documents leaked by US National Security Agency traitor Edward Snowden ) , that MI5 were guilty of ‘ confusion of aims and ineffective tactics that leave known terrorists to carry out evil deeds and recruit more conspirators ’ . In his ill-informed contribution , he further suggested that MI5 should simply arrest jihadis and bring them to trial . Asim Qureshi , spokesman for pressure group Cage , said Emwazi had been ‘ gentle ’ until he was apparently harassed by MI5 . All this criticism of MI5 is both unfair and counter-productive . The only people who gain from it are the terrorists and their supporters . The attack on their work , delivered from the cosiness of media studios , represents little more than the politics of distraction , putting the blame for extremism on those who are trying to defend us , while letting off the zealots who are the real threat . The problem with MI5 is not that it is too interventionist , as Cage and many of the chattering classes pretend , but that , because of its lack of resources and powers , it is insufficiently interventionist . Too often it wants to act as a ‘ fire-fighting unit ’ , where it really needs to be a fire-prevention one . But it needs the tools and manpower to do so . Contrary to all the nonsense talked this week , we should recognise that MI5 has done a remarkable job in foiling a vast number of Islamist plots . Its successes are the terrorist plots that are disrupted and the planes that don ’ t get blown out of the sky . We don ’ t get to hear about these . Of course , there have been disastrous failures , such as the 2005 London bombings , and , before this , a reluctance to recognise that Al Qaeda regarded the entire West as the enemy , not just the Middle East . MI5 have learned that lesson now ; some say too late . I would say better late than never . It is now a security service we should and can be proud of . MI5 are still keeping us safe . Most fair-minded British people would say : good on them . Professor Glees is director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham .
Mohammed Emwazi known as extremist before he left to join the ISIS jihad . The terror group has been blamed for a series of attacks in Europe and claimed responsibility for an attack on Paris' Bataclan concert hall that killed 130 people last November.