Introduction
ADL
The
overthrow of Hosni Mubarak's regime by the Egyptian people in February
2011 marks a turning point in the political development of the
Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest and best organized religious,
social and political movement. Since the upheaval, the Brotherhood has
sought to quickly assert its influence and define the role it will play
in Egypt's post-revolutionary political system.
Although
the group has vowed to promote peaceful co-existence and stability
within Egypt by means of fostering better relations between Muslim and
Christian citizens, the Brotherhood's leadership continues to articulate
its historical and ideological opposition to the existence of the State
of Israel and to the 1979 Camp David peace accord between the two
countries.
For
example, a Brotherhood rally held at the prestigious Al Azhar mosque
days before the start of legislative elections featured several members
of the
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Moreover,
the Brotherhood's leadership has taken advantage of Egypt's newfound
political, civic and media freedoms to publically promote conspiratorial
claims against both Israel and Jews, and to express support for
terrorist groups committed to the destruction of the Jewish state. In
addition to public statements by its leadership, the Brotherhood's media
arm has increasingly served as a platform for such sentiment as well.
To
further promote this agenda, and to circumvent the ban on religiously
affiliated political parties in the new Egypt, the Brotherhood
established the Justice and Freedom Party (FJP), which describes itself as a pluralistic party open to all Egyptians. Several
former Brotherhood officials from the organization's 15-member Guidance
Council have assumed key roles within the new party, and have used
their positions in the FJP to reiterate the Brotherhood's long-standing
hostility toward Zionism and support for terrorist organizations that
serve as obstacles to peace and stability in the region.
FJP's stance on Israel's right to exist is documented in its official political program, labeling Israel as a "racist colonizing expansionist entity" and calling for implementation of the Palestinian right of return.
Due to the atmosphere of uncertainty shrouding Cairo and the continuing calls for swift revolutionary justice, the Brotherhood appears to be poised to use Egypt's new democratic electoral process to ascend into a position of power. This
development may have a profound impact on Egypt's domestic affairs,
regional stability and the security of the state of Israel.
In Their Own Words
In
the wake of the power vacuum that has engulfed Egypt following the
revolution, there has been a steady escalation of anti-Semitic and
anti-Israel themes in public discourse and by Muslim Brotherhood leaders
in particular. Although the official platform of the Brotherhood and
its new political party, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), is couched in terms of democracy and peace, the
organization continues to lash out against Israel and Jews, and to
express support for terrorist organizations dedicated to the destruction
of the Jewish state.
The
following is a sampling of statements by Brotherhood leaders
demonstrating the group's view that the entirety of historic Palestine
is an Islamic waqf (religious endowment) that cannot be divided.
The
following is a sampling of statements by Brotherhood leaders
demonstrating the group's view that the entirety of historic Palestine
is an Islamic waqf (religious endowment) that cannot be divided.
· "We reject normalization under any name, and refuse to visit Jerusalem while it is under Zionist occupation, even if the visit happens to be without visas from the Zionist entity" (IkhanWeb, April 20, 2012)
- Farid
Ismail, Deputy of the National Security Committee of the Egyptian
parliament and member of the parliamentary Commission of the Freedom and
Justice Party (FJP)
· "We do not recognize Israel at all. It is a raping, occupying, criminal enemy entity. I
shall never tolerate for myself to sit with a criminal and we shall not
deal with Israel under any circumstances…The peace treaty absolutely
does not obligate me and the people will give their opinion about this."
(Al Hayat interview, January 1, 2012)
- Rashad Bayoumi, Deputy Chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood
· "This [prisoner exchange with Hamas] proved that
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- Mohammad Badie, eighth General Guide of the Brotherhood
· "Existence of a state for Jews is against all rules of states all over the world." (Radio Free Europe interview, August 15, 2011)
- Essam el Erian, Deputy President of the Freedom and Justice Party and former member of the Brotherhood's Guidance Council
· "The Egyptian nation supports and welcomes Iran's anti-Zionist stance
because the two nations view the formation of the Zionist regime on the
Palestinian territories as a brutal act and against the interests of
the regional nations and Muslims."(Al Masry Al Youm, July13, 2011)
- Kamal al Halbawi, Brotherhood spokesman at the time, speaking during an official Brotherhood visit to Iran
· "Both nations [Iran and Egypt] underline the necessity for Muslim nations to maintain solidarity and unity to annihilate this cancerous tumor (Israel)… Every night when I go to bed, I pray to wake up the next day to see Israel is wiped off the map." (Al Masry Al Youm, July 13, 2011)
-Kemal al Halbawi
· "The Isra' (the
prophet Muhammad's night journey to Jerusalem) demonstrates that the
land of Palestine is the land of Arabism and Islam, which requires this area to be in the possession of its [Arab/Muslim] owners in order for the way to the Al-Aqsa mosque to be secure." (Risalat al Ikhwan, June 24, 2011)
-Mohammad Badie
· "The
next victory – with God's permission – inevitably is the retrieval of
Palestine and Jerusalem and the Golan and all lands occupied by Israel.
This will no longer be a wild dream, rather a hope that's in sight after
the people proceed and know their path to end Israeli superiority and doubt of Israel's continuation and survival will be a sure thing." (Risalat al Ikhwan, June 10, 2011)
-Mohammad Badie
· "My
dream is to live together as we did before the state of Israel…
Americans and Europeans exported the conflict created by Hitler to our
land." (Washington Post interview, May 4,2011)
- Essam el Erian
Anti-Semitism has also been voiced by Brotherhood leaders during interviews and at several rallies.
· "[Muhammad] held treaty after treaty with the Jews... which the prophet and the Muslims adhered to faithfully, while
the Jews breached all treaties. Then began the epic stories of jihad
and fighting to protect the message [Islam] from the enemies…" (Risalat al Ikhwan, November 24, 2011)
- Mohammad Badie
· "Israel cannot tolerate peace… Because they
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- Essam el Erian
· "Allah
has warned us the tricks of the Jews, and their role in igniting the
fire of wars…The Almighty said: 'Every time they light the fires of war,
Allah extinguishes them; and they labor hard to spread corruption on
earth and Allah does not love the spreaders of corruption." (Brotherhood rally, June 2, 2011)
-Mohammad Badie
· "I do not imagine the Americo-Zionist alliance wants our blessed revolution to reach its objectives,
in the forefront of which are: that we enjoy freedom in our land, that
we be independent in our decision and that we have sovereignty over our
homelands… it's a Jewish plot to
divide Muslims, old and new, and that their intentions are evident from
Napoleon to Zionism's founder Theodore Herzl." (Brotherhood rally, June 2, 2011)
-Mohammad Badie
Essam
el Erian, Deputy President of FJP and former senior member of the
Brotherhood's Guidance Council, has voiced his support for terrorist
organizations bent on destroying Israel:
· "Hamas is a resistance group fighting for freedom and liberation of their lands from occupation. And the West must revise their knowledge about Hamas, [so] that war and terrorism come to an end. And mixing cards and putting Hamas and other resistance groups among terrorist groups, this was a fatal mistake of the West." (Radio Free Europe interview, August 15, 2011)
-Essam el Erian
· "They [Hamas] are fighters for liberty. Their land is occupied by the real terrorists.
Real terrorists who kill innocent farmers in Qana and children in
Egypt. They [Israel] killed children in school here in 1968. They are
the real terrorists […] Israelis kill children. They killed 300 children
in Gaza." (PajamasMedia Blog interview, July 14, 2011)
-Essam el Erian
Brotherhood leaders have also made conspiratorial accusations against Israel:
· "The Zio-American scheme will not rest when it sees signs of freedom shadowing Arab and Islamic societies.
Thus the conspiracies started and an ambassador [U.S. Ambassador Anne
Patterson] was chosen, whose miserable history testifies of the crimes
she committed in Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to continue the march
of sedition in Egypt." (Ikwanonline op-ed, February 15, 2012)
- Rashad Bayoumi
· "... All
of Egypt considers Israel a strategic enemy… Israel never has nor will
want any good for Egypt what with the exporting of cancerous pesticides
and its conspiracies and spies and schemes to cause differences between
the people and the military the list is endless." (FJP interview, November 29, 2011)
-Ashour Mohamed Al Halawany, Secretary General of the Freedom and Justice Party's Monofeya branch
· The
deteriorating conditions of our Arab nation awakened the conscience and
zeal of the people. It broke down the barriers, sparked revolutions,
and uncovered the sensitive facts of the Zio-American plots. This
weakened the dictatorial power [of the U.S.] which supported those
rulers who neglected their country's national interests…" (Risalat al Ikhwan, September 23, 2011)
- Mohammad Badie
· "Our
primary enemy is the Zio-American project which seeks to control the
whole region in order to establish 'Greater Israel' and the new Middle
East…" (Risalat al Ikhwan, October 7, 2011)
-Mohammad Badie
· "We
know that you [the Supreme Council of Armed Forces] follow carefully
the Zionist enemy's refusal toward any change to the humiliating and
degrading relations equation, which made Egypt's president into a
strategic treasure, and that they
[the Zionists] are behind the gas pipeline bombings to demonstrate the
weak grip of control over the country and they are sending spies after
spies to sabotage and divide the revolution, and to pit the people
against one another." (Risalat al Ikhwan, July 15, 2011)
-Essam el Erian
· "Those
who allege that holding parliament elections first will cause
bloodshed, citing security fears, are Zionists and remnants of the old
regime…" (Al Masry Al Youm, July 4, 2011)
-Mohammad Morsy, chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party and former member of the Brotherhood's Guidance Council
While
some Brotherhood members have either refrained from commenting or been
vague about the group's outlook on the peace accord between Israel and
Egypt, others have viewed the treaty and all that it entails as a crime
against Egypt and its citizens.
Brotherhood Media
In
the wake of newly relaxed media laws in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood
and its affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) have been able to use
various media at their disposal, clearly illustrating the
organization's hostile agenda.
This
apparatus, which includes Web sites in both Arabic and English, helps
promote the group's historical and ideological opposition to Israel. Key
among these sites is IkhwanWeb,
the Brotherhood's English-language Web site that serves as a platform
to disseminate information about the FJP to a Western audience.
· A July 21, 2011, opinion piece alleged Israeli meddling in Sudan during the decades of conflict in the African nation. "Israel has played a major role in this conflict in Sudan in order to break up the integrity of this country," according to the piece.
IkhwanOnline,
the Brotherhood's primary Arabic-language Web site, includes articles
featuring anti-Semitic and anti-Western writings. A recent overhaul of
the site includes a new multimedia page containing photos glorifying
jihad, interviews with Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas leaders and videos of Brotherhood events.
· November 26, 2011 – A video clip of a Brotherhood rally held at the Al Azhar mosque shows thousands
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· A
July 11, 2011, article sought to stoke anti-Israel sentiments among the
Egyptian public by suggesting that Israel was behind a new wave of
demonstrations in Tahrir Square. According to the article, three "thugs" with tattoos of the Star of David, carrying knives and foreign currencies were caught in the square. The
article further alleges that bombs and tear gas marked with the Star of
David were also found in the possession of a television reporter who
was inciting protesters to attack the police and to storm the Ministry
of Interior.
· May
28, 2011 – An article originally published on IslamWay, a Web site that
promotes the Islamic faith and doctrine, titled "Relations Between the
West and the Zionist Entity" claimed that Western support for Israel and
Jews comes as a result of guilt after centuries of Christian
persecution of the Jewish people. The article cited the age-old
anti-Semitic claim of Jewish media domination and an outright denial of
the Holocaust:
The
Jews are in the habit of taking over the media and inflating all the
terrible incidents that have happened to them, but they have also
fabricated incidents, which they have sealed by giving rise to the story
of the "Holocaust," which the Nazis perpetrated against them… the
main chord played by Jews to gain popular support for their State, and
even convince the Jews themselves that they need to establish their own
State.
The Brotherhood's Arabic-language newsletter, Risalat al Ikhwan,
publishes articles by prominent Brotherhood and FJP leaders. The
newsletter also serves as a platform for the organization to voice its
opinions regarding international matters. For example:
· November
24, 2011 – On the occasion marking Hamas Prime Minister Ismail
Haniyeh's reception of a delegation of Egyptian religious scholars, an
article was published quoting Haniyeh telling the visitors that "the
Land of Palestine is an Islamic waqf (endowment) and it is not allowed
to give up even 1 inch of it, and its capital is al Quds (Jerusalem)." In
addition, when explaining Hamas's position regarding a two-state
solution and peace with Israel, the article quotes Haniyeh saying, "When we say that we accept a state with the borders of '67 and Jerusalem as its capital, it is according to two conditions: No
recognition of the Israeli entity and the Right of Return of the
refugees, which is their right and their case is affirmed and holy."
Haniyeh also claimed that "liberating Gaza and the prisoners was due to
the steadfastness and resistance" of Hamas against Israel.
· October 7, 2011 - In his weekly editorial, Mohammad Badie described political developments impacting the region. "The global forces of the Zionists and the Americans are coming to a defeat...starting with the isolation of 'Israel' and the loss of its great supporters in the region."
· August 19, 2011 - On the occasion marking the 42nd anniversary of the Al Aqsa Mosque fire in Jerusalem, an opinion piece by the Brotherhood's chief ideologue Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi
called upon Arab rulers to use oil as a weapon in the fight for
Jerusalem. The piece, which denied any Jewish connections to the holy
city, ended with the well-known anti-Semitic Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) by a companion of the prophet Muhammad, Abu Hurayrah: "The
Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, 'The hour will not come
until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, even when the Jews hide
behind the rocks and the trees, the rocks and the trees will say: O'
Muslim, O' servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill
him.'"
· July
22, 2011 – An article in response to a UNESCO designation of historical
sites in the city of Jerusalem denounced the UN and urged the
continuation of jihad and resistance against Israel, "The Brotherhood
rejects and strongly condemns what was announced by the UNESCO
representative to the United Nations designating Jerusalem as the
capital of the Zionist entity…Such unfair decisions do not impose a void
of, nor do they rob the rights of [the Palestinians], and by all means
the rights of its peoples' return to its fortified position of
resistance and jihad; and in time all will regret assisting this Zionist entity's violation of the rights and occupation of the lands, and its injustice toward the Palestinian people, the rightful and original owners of the land."
Muslim Brotherhood in a Free Egypt
In
an effort to sidestep the ban on religiously affiliated political
parties in the new Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has established the
Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). The FJP promotes itself as a
pluralistic political party open to all Egyptians, Muslim and Christian;
however, the FJP receives its ideological and financial backing from
the Muslim Brotherhood and its leadership.
Although
the FJP is open to accepting non-Muslim members (the party's
Vice-President is Coptic Christian leader Rafiq Habib), the party is
opposed to a non-Muslim or Copt
becoming head of state. In order to broaden its public appeal to
non-Muslims, the FJP has also removed the image of the Qur'an and the
word "Islam" from their logos and mottos.
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Perhaps
the most telling of the FJP's positions is the party's stance on
Israel's right to exist, as documented in detail in the FJP's official
political program:
· "The
issue of Palestine is the most important issue of Egyptian national
security, in addition to being an Arab or Muslim cause, because the Zionist Entity is a racist colonizing expansionist entity, possessing weapons of mass destruction, which has caused the outbreak of many wars in the region,
affecting the geographical, political, social and economic situation,
disrupting development programs and displacing people from their homes,
in addition to the acquisition of Islamic and Christian holy places in
Palestine. Therefore the party
sees the need to make all efforts to resolve this issue and ensure the
rights of Palestinian self-determination and the return of refugees to
their homes, establish their state and its capital Jerusalem, restore
all the holy places of Muslims and Christians in Palestine and the evacuation of the entire region (Middle East) of weapons of mass destruction."
Brotherhood members who have assumed prominent positions in the FJP are now able to meet with public figures and officials, where they have an opportunity to advance the Brotherhood's platform on domestic and international issues. For example, in an official meeting with the French Ambassador to Egypt in June 2011, FJP Chairman Mohammad Morsy alluded to the Brotherhood's position vis-à-vis the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. "The nature of the relationship with Israel," Morsy said, "would be determined by the next parliament if the Muslim Brotherhood came to power or shared it in any way."
In
an October 11 article on FJP's official Web site, FJP blamed Israel and
the West for creating conditions that encourage sectarian strife
between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Egypt. "One of the most
prominent reasons fueling sectarian strife and clashes in Egypt without
doubt is the intervention of foreigners (the West and Zionists), which
the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, the Prime Minister, and the
Brotherhood warned would ignite and fuel strife between the Muslims and
Copts to thwart the revolution." The article further promoted the
conspiratorial view that intelligence operations carried out by the U.S.
and Israel aim to recruit Egyptian youth online in order to foil
Egypt's revolution:
"It
is no secret that events of sectarian strife and the numerous security
violations that have recently occurred in Egypt… are carried out
unequivocally through intelligence operations by American and Israel….The
youth should be warned about being contacted via 'Facebook' by others
that may have a Mossad member from a unit dedicated for the recruitment
of Arab youth, especially if they were revolutionaries or political
activists."
Not
all Brotherhood members, however, use the FJP to as a means to be
politically active. Unfettered freedom of movement in Egypt has allowed
Brotherhood members and supporters to travel around the country and
speak at engagements to promote the Brotherhood's ideology and platform. In a March 10, 2011, speech at Alexandria University, Mohammad Selim al Awa, a
prominent Islamic thinker and Muslim Brotherhood member, stated that he
believes the 1979 peace treaty with Israel should be nullified, and
that the peace treaty is really a hudna (ceasefire between two
warring sides). Al Awa also advocated for Egypt to build stronger
relationships with all resistance movements, suggesting that these
groups use Egypt as a base to launch attacks against Israel.
History
The
Muslim Brotherhood was founded by Hassan al Banna, the son of a pious
Imam, in 1928. As a child, al Banna was heavily influenced by the
religious teachings of his father and later became involved in politics
as an adolescent during Egypt's colonial rule by the British. Al Banna
became disenchanted with what he perceived as a weakened state of
Muslims while he was studying at Dar al-Ulum College. It was at Dar
al-Ulum when he began forging relationships with prominent Islamic
scholars that would go on to shape his political and religious
philosophy. In 1928, while working as a school teacher in the Suez Canal
city of Ismailia, al Banna founded the Society of Muslim Brotherhood.
The
Muslim Brotherhood was also intended to be an alternative to the Wafd
Party, a secular nationalist political party formed in 1919 as an
opposition group uniting Egypt's Christian and Muslim population against
the British occupation. The difference with the Brotherhood was that it
offered an Islamic approach to the struggle against colonialism, and it
would subscribe to violence in pursuit of establishing its vision for
Egypt. A key figure in synthesizing the Brotherhood's philosophy and
charter was Seyyed Qutb, an Islamist theorist whose radical anti-Western
ideas would go on to influence the ideological foundation of groups
like Al Qaeda. In fact, most of the Muslim Brotherhood's guiding
principles and philosophy come from Qutb's 1964 book, Milestones, where he laid out a plan and made a call to action for the recreation of a Muslim world based solely on the Qur'an.
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"Allah
is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur'an is our law. Jihad
is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."
After
a failed assassination attempt against Egyptian president Gamal Abdel
Nassar, the group was banned in 1954 and driven underground. New laws
were passed during the Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak regimes that marked
police harassment and severe punishment for anyone openly associated
with the Brotherhood. Although driven underground, the Brotherhood
continued to provide social services to many poor Egyptians, a
traditionally rural and religious sector that readily identified with
the Brotherhood's Islamist message. Politically, while virtually
non-existent in Egypt's political arena, the Muslim Brotherhood began to
emerge in politics after suffering deadly suppression by the Mubarak
regime. After senior leaders formally renounced and abandoned the use of
terror, the Brotherhood began fielding parliamentary candidates as
Independents during elections.
The
increased participation in political life did not result in the
abandonment of the Brotherhood's hostility toward Israel, which remained
unchanged under the Mubarak regime. For example, in an article that
appeared on IkhwanWeb in October 2009, the Brotherhood's then chairman
Mohamed Mahdy Akef stated, "Concerning
the group's views and stance on the issues of internal reform or any
other developments… Our stance on the issues of Copts, women, Zionist
enemy and all other issues at stake is clear for all."
Akef reiterated this position in a post-revolution interview:
We
believe that Zionism, the United States, and England are gangs that
kill children and women and men and destroy houses and fields…Zionism is
a gang, not a country. So we will resist them until they do not have a country.
Similarly,
in a Friday sermon given at a fundraising event in September 2010,
Mohammed Badie, the Brotherthood's eighth General Guide, urged followers
to reject negotiations with Israel and called for an end to
normalization:
It
is your obligation to stop the absurd negotiations, whether direct or
indirect, and to support all forms of resistance for the sake of
liberating every occupied piece of land in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan,
and all [other] parts of our Muslim world. The sources of your
authority, as all religious scholars have agreed, are the Koran and the
Sunna, and not U.N. resolutions or the dictates of the Zionists or
Americans. This can be achieved if you declare the Palestine cause and
the causes of the [other] occupied Islamic nations your primary concern.
You must stand behind your free peoples and their various institutions
in their repeated calls for boycotts, an end to normalization, and
support for the resistance and its representatives... You must revoke
all the agreements of capitulation.... especially the Camp David
Accords... which go against the Egyptian constitution and U.N.
resolutions, and do not therefore obligate Egyptian senior officials.
In another September 2010 statement, Badie expressed the Brotherhood's support for terrorist groups fighting Israel.
Resistance
is the only solution against the Zio-American arrogance and tyranny…The
peoples know well who is [carrying out] resistance and who has sold out
the [Palestinian] cause and bargained over it. We say to our brothers
the mujahideen in Gaza: be patient, persist in [your jihad], and know
that Allah is with you...
Badie, who took over leadership of the Brotherhood in January 2010, has stated that the organization will "continue to view the Jews and Zionists as their first and foremost enemies" and that "Jihad means making sacrifices in order to restore what has been stolen [Palestine]."
An
example of this seen in an article by contributing writer Ismail Ali
Muhammad, a Brotherhood member and professor at Al Azhar University:
An
educational series ran for one week between October 20-25, 2010, titled
"The Manners of the Jews as Outlined in the Teaching of the Old
Testament and Talmud." This series, containing six parts, promotes rabid
anti-Semitism and conspiracies under the guise of education. The first
article in the series, "Authenticity of Perversion and Corruption in
Jewish Personality," claims that is it in the inherent nature of the
Jews to "never give up trying to spread corruption on Earth…
[they are] unable to live peacefully and have good relations with anyone
that encounters them… it is a personality that has always been a source
of evil and harm to all societies." Furthermore, the article
mentions the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a forgery suggesting
Jewish plans for world domination, as an example of "the bodies of work
they [the Old Testament and Talmud] have produced…" The fourth article
of the series, "Hostility, Savagery and the Desire to Spread Death and
Destruction," demonizes Jews by claiming that "In the veins of
the Jews, in their blood, there is an ugly, horrible savagery that is
entrenched deep in their being and conscious." The article
further uses the classic blood libel accusing Jews of engaging in ritual
murders as part of their holiday preparations, "Jewish rabbis
consider it permissible to kill or slaughter people to drain them of
their blood and use it to make Matzo to be eaten for the Passover
holiday."
The
movement's ideology has produced sister organizations in the
Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria and Libya. The most notable of
these is Hamas,
the Palestinian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and an extremist Islamic
terrorist organization that calls for the eradication of the Israeli
state. Although Hamas's origins are from within the Egyptian Muslim
Brotherhood, the Brotherhood's leadership refutes any organizational
link between the two, maintaining that Hamas only shares an ideological
bond with its Egyptian counterpart. However, there has been an increase
in communication and cooperation between the leadership of the
Brotherhood and Hamas. For example, Hamas announced in December 2011,
that the Palestinian organization has joined the "global Muslim
Brotherhood" movement and added "Muslim Brotherhood – Palestine" to its
official name.
The
Muslim Brotherhood's Jordanian arm, also known as the Islamic Action
Front (IAF), is the Hashemite Kingdom's largest and best organized
mainstream opposition group. Most notably, in recent years the IAF has
repeatedly called for the Jordanian monarch to cancel the kingdom's
peace treaty with Israel. In the wake of the Israeli embassy attack in
Cairo on September 9, 2011, Murad al Adhaylah from the IAF's executive
office urged the Jordanian government to "clean out the Zionist spy den"
from Amman, adding that "It is a disgrace that the Israeli embassy
remains in Amman under the continuing Zionist attacks on the sovereignty
and interests of Jordan." Al Aghaylah concluded that "the compass of
the revolutions is pointing toward the liberation of Palestine."
The
Muslim Brotherhood's Syrian arm has largely suffered brutal suppression
under the Baathist Assad regime. That has continued in the wake of
widespread anti-regime protests sweeping Syria. Relatively small and
unorganized in comparison to its counterparts in Palestine, Jordan and
Egypt, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood nonetheless adheres to its core
anti-Zionist and Islamists ideology. In light of the political turmoil
facing Syria, the Syrian Brotherhood has taken a stand against the Assad
regime and what its leadership claims is support from Israel, Europe
and America for Damascus.
The
Syrian Muslim Brotherhood also enjoys political support from the
Egyptian arm, where the leadership has organized protests outside the
Syrian Embassy in Cairo against the Assad regime's brutal crackdown and
suppression efforts. During a Brotherhood-led protest against the Syrian
crackdown on Hama in August 2011 supporters chanted "O coward Bashar,
send your army to the Golan," calling on the Syrian leader to direct his
army's deadly assault against Israel instead of his people.
With
the fall of the Qaddafi regime in Libya, the long dormant Libyan Muslim
Brotherhood held its first conference in Benghazi in early November
2011. The conference outlined the movement's political agenda, elected
new leadership, expanded the number of members to the Shura Council and
drafted its social and political platform. Although this was the 9th
conference for the Libyan Brotherhood, it was the first conference to
be held in Libya. Internal elections resulted in the selection of Bashir
Al Kaity as the movement's General Observer, a title that denotes
recognition of the authority of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Similar
to the Egyptian branch of the movement, the Libyan Brotherhood
announced that it will participate in Libya's new political process by
establishing an independent political party.
Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi
The Muslim Brotherhood draws its governing
ideology largely from the body of works produced by Seyyid Qutb, an
Islamist theorist whose ideas also influenced the formation of groups
like Al Qaeda, and the teachings of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al
Banna.
However,
the Brotherhood's present ideological stands have been largely
influenced by leading Islamic theologian and prominent Muslim
Brotherhood member Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi.
Qaradawi is an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel theologian who joined the
ranks of the Brotherhood in its heyday under the guidance of al Banna.
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Upon
Qaradawi's return to his native Egypt in February 2011 after decades of
exile, he led the first Friday prayers of the post-Mubarak era,
exclaiming through loud speakers in Cairo's Tahrir Square, "I have hope that as God has delighted me to see a liberated Egypt, [so too will God] delight me with a conquered Al Aqsa," in Jerusalem.
For an in-depth background of Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi, click here.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
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