Editor's Letter

The Right Brotherhood?

L

ooming in the back shadows of the historic and unre-
lenting uprising against the 30-year regime of Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak is the Muslim Brotherhood, a
wild card of epic proportions.
Make no mistake about that.
The Brotherhood — an Islamist
Sunni transnational movement found-
ed in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Ban-
na, an imam and Sufi schoolteacher
— is the largest political opposition
organization in many Arab states. It's
a spur for modern Islamic jihad (holy
war). In the rush to oust Mubarak, 82,
the Brotherhood is letting the protes-
tors grab the headlines, but it's still
very much in the game.
"It has supported the protests and
helped organize local vigilante efforts against looting and van-
dalism," says Steve Emerson's Washington-based Investigative
Project on Terrorism (IPT).
The Brotherhood is dedicated to the same global suprema-
cist objectives as Al Qaida and the Taliban. Such groups follow
shariah, but believe that violence is the quicker means to the
common end of a global caliphate. Shariah means "the path."
Faithful Muslims are obliged to wage jihad in
pursuit of a shariah-governed global Islamic
state known as the caliphate.

Entity would not have stood nor its flag raised."
Translated, that means Israel — "an occupying usurper" —
would have been co-opted via jihad, not in negotiations. "The
history of freedom is not written in ink, but in blood," goes the
Brotherhood credo.
U.S. security also would be at grave risk, relates New York-
based Council on Foreign Relations President Emeritus Leslie
Gelb. "Above all," Emerson quotes Gelb, "the MB would endan-
ger counterterrorism efforts in the region and worldwide. That
is a very big deal."
Scary, too.
Emerson, a respected authority on international terror,
says one of the Brotherhood's top theologians, Yusuf al-
Qaradawi, has sanctioned suicide bombings by Palestinians
on Israelis and by Iraqis fighting U.S. soldiers. A sign of just
how deranged he is, al-Qaradawi believes Jews got what they
deserved in the Holocaust. That way of thinking is not surpris-
ing given the Brotherhood's affinity toward Adolf Hitler and
the Third Reich during World War II.
Significantly, there's little to suggest the Brotherhood sees
Egypt's future through the same upheaval lens as the people
marching on the streets of Cairo against a hated president and
his hardline palace security forces. Emerson stresses that the
people aren't opposed to the Egyptian military; they consider
it an ally with minimal infiltration by the
Brotherhood.

The U.S. Factor
President
Barack Obama should rethink his
Political Red Flag
support
of
true democracy arising from the
The Brotherhood exploits the fear of intimi-
grassroots
revolution
in the land of the Nile.
dation imposed by Islamic terrorists. It is
As
Emerson
notes,
when
President George
backing the bid by popular Egyptian politi-
W.
Bush
pushed
the
Palestinians
to hold free
cian Mohammed El-Baradei, the former
elections
in
the
Gaza
Strip,
Hamas
won big.
International Atomic Energy Agency director
We
know
what
followed.
general and Nobel Peace Prize winner, to be
Clearly, its certainly not in America's inter-
the consensus leader of a post-Mubarak gov-
est,
nor that of the civilized world, to let a new
The
Muslim
Brotherhood
icon
ernment in Egypt. The net result? "Concern
Egyptian
regime be controlled or influenced
depicting
the
Koran
and,
below
over how much power and influence the
by
the
Brotherhood.
"That scenario',' Emerson
the
swords,
a
koranic
call
to
be
Brotherhood might enjoy under an emerging
says,
"would
destabilize
the entire Middle
prepared
to
terrify
or
fight
the
Egyptian government," says Emerson.
East,
possibly
creating
a
domino reaction
enemies
of
Allah
Emerson discounted that the Brotherhood
that
would
see
the
government
of Jordan and
is "a relatively moderate movement in a sea
other
Muslim
allies
of
the
U.S.
fall."
of Islamic radicalism" — a notion that, if
As Obama monitors the revolution, one thing should
true, could be a positive in restoring order in Egypt. The view
resound: Any new governing force in Egypt must understand
that the Brotherhood has renounced violence, says Emerson,
that our $1 billion-plus in annual economic and military aid
"glosses over the Brotherhood's core fundamentalist attitude
hinges on what Emerson's organization calls "a stable, civil
that could subject women and Egypt's religious minorities
society in Egypt before any elections."
[such as Coptic Christians] to second-class status, threaten the
Without such a commitment, the U.S. needs to punctuate
30-year peace between Egypt and Israel, and benefit terrorist
the cutoff of all that money from, as Emerson so succinctly
groups including Hezbollah and Hamas, [the latter] a group
puts it, "any Egyptian government seeking to renounce peace
created by the Brotherhood to carry out terrorist violence
treaties and impose the Brotherhood's theocratic ambitions on
against Israel."
The Brotherhood, officially outlawed by the Mubarek regime, the Egyptian people."
Remember the Muslim Brotherhood as the anti-Mubarak
also flirts with Iranian dictators and proxies; and it is hazy on
march unfolds. There's more to it and its ideology than general
how it would operate the ever-pivotal Suez Canal.
news outlets may choose to share.
How sobering is that? The Brotherhood may defer violence,
but it's a believer when violence accentuates the cause.

Israel In Danger
Emerson's take has strong roots. He quoted a 2010 sermon
by Brotherhood General Guide Mohammed Badie: "The
Zionist's, the West and the lackey rulers conspired together. If
the Muslim Brotherhood had remained in the field, the Zionist

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Jenny Baldwin and Marsha Kowal

JARC's social action

committee sponsored

its 16th annual Yvonne

Vandenberg Memorial

"Heart To Heart" Mitzvah Day.

Over 30 volunteers packaged

650 Valentine's Day gift bags

for needy children.

The packages will bring

smiles to many faces when

delivered to Beaumont

Children's Hospital,

Lighthouse of Oakland County,

Orchards Children's Services

and Neinas Elementary

School in Detroit.

Special thanks to the Mignon and

Eugene Kraft Social Action Fund for

helping to make this important project

possible. Thanks also to Richard

Graff who keeps Yvonne's legacy alive.

Whether as a volunteer
or donor, your generous
support will benefit
the men, women and
children JARC serves.

Is Western concern about the
Muslim Brotherhood overrated?

Can the Brotherhood be moderate
despite jihad undercurrents?

February 10 2011

5

