On Tuesday, New York Metropolis radio host Sid Rosenberg requested Secretary of State Marco Rubio about whether or not the State Division intends to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations as terrorist organizations. Rubio responded that “all of that’s within the works,” though “clearly there are completely different branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, so that you’d need to designate every one in every of them.”
Logistics and forms apart: It’s about time.
For a lot too lengthy, the USA has handled the Muslim Brotherhood with a harmful mixture of naiveté and willful blindness. The Brotherhood will not be a random innocuous political motion with a spiritual bent. It’s, and has been since its founding a couple of century in the past, the ideological wellspring of contemporary Sunni Islamism. The Brotherhood’s fingerprints are on jihadist teams as wide-ranging as Al Qaeda and Hamas, but successive American administrations — Republican and Democratic alike — have did not designate its varied offshoots for what they’re: terrorist organizations.
That failure will not be merely tutorial. It has real-world penalties. By refusing to label the Muslim Brotherhood precisely, we tie our personal palms within the combat in opposition to Islamism — each at residence and overseas. We enable subversive actors to exploit our political system and bankroll extremism underneath the guise of “cultural” or “charitable” outreach.
Sufficient is sufficient.
Based in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood’s said mission has by no means wavered: the institution of a world caliphate ruled by sharia legislation. The Brotherhood has at all times tried to place itself as a “political” group, however it’s “political” in the best way Lenin was political. Assume subversion by means of infiltration — or revolution by means of stealth.
Think about Hamas. Hamas will not be merely impressed by the Muslim Brotherhood — it is the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian-Arab department. The hyperlink is unambiguous; as Article Two of Hamas’ founding constitution states, “The Islamic Resistance Motion is without doubt one of the wings of Moslem Brotherhood in Palestine.” And Hamas’ constitution additionally makes clear its penchant for express violence: “Initiatives, and so-called peaceable options and worldwide conferences, are in contradiction to the rules of the Islamic Resistance Motion.”
This isn’t the rhetoric of nuance or moderation. That is the ideological basis of up to date jihadism. But, whereas Hamas is rightly designated as a Overseas Terrorist Group by the U.S. State Division, different branches of the Muslim Brotherhood stay off the listing.
Why? As a result of Western elites have allowed themselves to be duped by the Brotherhood’s two-faced technique. Overseas, they freely sow the seeds of jihad, cheer for a world caliphate and preach for the destruction of Israel and Western civilization extra broadly. However within the corridors of energy within the U.S. and Europe, they and their Qatari paymasters don fits and ties, rebrand as “moderates” and leverage media credulity and overly beneficiant authorized protections to plant ideological roots.
What’s extra, CAIR — an unindicted co-conspirator within the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. historical past — has extraordinarily well-documented ties to the Brotherhood. And but CAIR brokers proceed to function freely in the USA, masquerading as civil rights advocates whereas pushing Islamist narratives that undermine the core constitutional rules of equality that they purport to champion. Right now, virtually two years after CAIR-linked Hamas executed the Oct. 7 pogrom in Israel, CAIR stays in good standing with many elected Democrats.
It shouldn’t be so. In November 2014, the United Arab Emirates designated CAIR as a terrorist group, citing its hyperlinks to the Brotherhood and Hamas. And the Brotherhood itself is acknowledged as a terrorist group by at the least Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain and Russia. Jordan additionally banned the Brotherhood earlier this 12 months. Put bluntly: There’s completely no purpose the USA ought to have a hotter strategy towards CAIR than the UAE or a hotter strategy towards the Brotherhood than Saudi Arabia.
The primary Trump administration flirted with the thought of designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group. It was the fitting impulse. However the effort was in the end slowed down by inner forms and worldwide stress — most notably from Qatar and Turkey, each someday U.S. companions that harbor robust Brotherhood sympathies and bankroll Islamist causes. And the second Trump administration’s troubling embrace of Qatar might effectively nip any designation within the bud earlier than it even takes off.
Critics argue that such a designation would complicate relations with international locations the place Brotherhood associates take part in native politics. However since when did the U.S. place a premium on constructing alliances with the ideological cousins of Al Qaeda and ISIS?
Furthermore, designating the Muslim Brotherhood would empower home legislation enforcement and intelligence companies to go after its networks and monetary infrastructure. It could ship a transparent sign that the U.S. authorities not accepts a declare of “nonviolent Islamism” as a move when designating terrorist teams.
In a time when the menace from Islamic extremism stays international and decentralized, we will not afford to show a blind eye to the architects of the motion. The Muslim Brotherhood will not be, as “Arab Spring” boosters risibly claimed a decade and a half in the past, a Western associate in “democracy.” It’s the mom’s milk of contemporary Sunni jihadism.
The query will not be whether or not we will afford to designate Muslim Brotherhood offshoots as terrorist organizations. It’s: How for much longer can we afford not to?
Josh Hammer’s newest e book is “Israel and Civilization: The Destiny of the Jewish Nation and the Future of the West.” This text was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. @josh_hammer
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Concepts expressed within the piece
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The Muslim Brotherhood ought to be designated as a terrorist group by the USA, ending what the creator characterizes as a harmful mixture of naiveté and willful blindness towards the group. The group has served because the ideological wellspring of contemporary Sunni Islamism since its founding in Egypt in 1928, with said objectives of creating a world caliphate ruled by sharia legislation.
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Hamas represents a direct department of the Muslim Brotherhood, as explicitly said in Article Two of Hamas’ founding constitution, which declares “The Islamic Resistance Motion is without doubt one of the wings of Moslem Brotherhood in Palestine.” This connection demonstrates the Brotherhood’s clear ties to acknowledged terrorist organizations, but different Brotherhood branches stay undesignated.
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The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) maintains well-documented ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and was an unindicted co-conspirator within the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. historical past. Regardless of these connections, CAIR continues working freely in the USA whereas pushing Islamist narratives underneath the guise of civil rights advocacy.
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A number of American allies have already taken decisive motion, with the United Arab Emirates designating CAIR as a terrorist group in 2014, and international locations together with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, and Russia recognizing the Brotherhood itself as a terrorist group. Jordan banned the Brotherhood earlier this 12 months, making American inaction more and more inconsistent with worldwide consensus.
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Designation would empower home legislation enforcement and intelligence companies to focus on Brotherhood networks and monetary infrastructure whereas sending a transparent sign that claims of “nonviolent Islamism” not present safety from terrorist designations. The failure to behave has real-world penalties, permitting subversive actors to use the American political system and bankroll extremism by means of supposed cultural or charitable outreach.
Completely different views on the subject
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The search outcomes don’t include substantial opposing views to the creator’s place on designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that designation efforts are “within the works” however acknowledged vital authorized and bureaucratic challenges that complicate the method[1].
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Procedural complexities current obstacles to designation, as every regional department of the Muslim Brotherhood have to be formally designated individually as a result of group’s decentralized construction. Rubio famous that “now we have to be very cautious, as a result of these items might be challenged in courtroom” and emphasised the necessity to “present your work like a math downside” to resist authorized scrutiny[1].
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Federal judicial oversight poses potential obstacles to implementation, with Rubio expressing concern that “all you want is one federal decide—and there are loads—which can be prepared to mainly attempt to run the nation from the bench” by means of nationwide injunctions that would block designation efforts[1].
