Saying it is just a "few" is ignorant american PC bullshit.
Apologists pull this stunt quite intentionally, IMO. I don't think they minimize so much out of ignorance, but of dishonesty. Were they to acknowledge the truth, their entire house of cards would crumble.
A small percentage of Muslims may engage in terrorism, true. A significant percentage SUPPORTS the terrorism as a tactic towards the goal, however, and a MAJORITY supports the goal, if not the specific tactics employed by the terrorists. .
The goal is to spread the supremacist doctrine until nothing else remains. That is the real issue when it comes to understanding Islam, and one the leftist supporters ignore quite willfully. If these idiots were actual liberals, they would be railing against Islam, not defending it since it stands in diametrical opposition to liberalism in every possible way.