On Tuesday, New York Metropolis radio host Sid Rosenberg asked 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 must designate every considered one of them.”
Logistics and paperwork apart: It’s about time.
For much too lengthy, america has handled the Muslim Brotherhood with a harmful mixture of naiveté and willful blindness. The Brotherhood isn’t a random innocuous political motion with a non secular bent. It’s, and has been since its founding a few 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 numerous offshoots for what they’re: terrorist organizations.
That failure isn’t merely educational. It has real-world penalties. By refusing to label the Muslim Brotherhood precisely, we tie our personal arms within the battle in opposition to Islamism — each at residence and overseas. We enable subversive actors to exploit our political system and bankroll extremism beneath 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 worldwide caliphate ruled by sharia regulation. The Brotherhood has at all times tried to place itself as a “political” group, however it’s “political” in the way in which Lenin was political. Suppose subversion by way of infiltration — or revolution by way of stealth.
Think about Hamas. Hamas isn’t 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 charter states, “The Islamic Resistance Motion is among 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 worldwide 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 america, masquerading as civil rights advocates whereas pushing Islamist narratives that undermine the core constitutional rules of equality that they purport to champion. Right this moment, 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 organization, citing its hyperlinks to the Brotherhood and Hamas. And the Brotherhood itself is acknowledged as a terrorist group by no less than Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain and Russia. Jordan additionally banned the Brotherhood earlier this yr. Put bluntly: There’s completely no purpose america ought to have a hotter method towards CAIR than the UAE or a hotter method towards the Brotherhood than Saudi Arabia.
The primary Trump administration flirted with the idea of designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group. It was the precise impulse. However the effort was finally slowed down by inner paperwork and worldwide strain — 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 could properly 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 regulation enforcement and intelligence companies to go after its networks and monetary infrastructure. It might ship a transparent sign that the U.S. authorities not accepts a declare of “nonviolent Islamism” as a cross when designating terrorist teams.
In a time when the menace from Islamic extremism stays world and decentralized, we are able to not afford to show a blind eye to the architects of the motion. The Muslim Brotherhood isn’t, as “Arab Spring” boosters risibly claimed a decade and a half in the past, a Western companion in “democracy.” It’s the mom’s milk of contemporary Sunni jihadism.
The query isn’t whether or not we are able to 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 must be designated as a terrorist group by america, 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 worldwide caliphate ruled by sharia regulation.
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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 among 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 america whereas pushing Islamist narratives beneath 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 yr, making American inaction more and more inconsistent with worldwide consensus.
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Designation would empower home regulation 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 take advantage of the American political system and bankroll extremism by way of supposed cultural or charitable outreach.
Totally different views on the subject
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The search outcomes don’t comprise 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 this stuff will likely be challenged in court docket” 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 choose—and there are lots—which might be keen to principally attempt to run the nation from the bench” by way of nationwide injunctions that would block designation efforts[1].
