The Muslim Brotherhood's Propaganda Offensive
The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is heightening its U.S. propaganda offensive in advance of the 2008 presidential elections, taking advantage of the political uncertainty and opposition to the current Administration's defense policies against radical Muslim terrorist organizations and states.
Incredibly, "Hear Out the Muslim Brotherhood," an op-ed in the Boston Globe on Sunday March 25, portrayed the outlawed Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood as a reforming tool to promote democracy and stability there and throughout the Middle East, and praised the MB for "surviving" decades of oppression by previous Egyptian regimes.
In addition to the Globe, Foreign Affairs and the New York Times have lately also run apologias for the Muslim Brotherhood. In "Strategic Thinking about the Muslim Brotherhood," published in the March/April edition of Foreign Affairs, Robert Leiken and Steven Brooke argued that
"the differences between the Brotherhood and the jihadists abound, and it is imperative to differentiate them...[thus] we should begin to explore whether the moderate current of the Muslim Brotherhood is a worthy interlocutor."
"the U.S. government's paranoia has evolved far beyond a fear of particular individuals and taken on a much more insidious form: the fear of ideas."
"Ramadan offers a different way... values that are as universal as those of the European Enlightenment... these values are neither secular, nor always liberal, but they are not part of a holy war against Western democracy either. His politics offer an alternative to violence, which, in the end, is reason enough to engage with him, critically, but without fear."
"Taking him [Ramadan] literally could be one way to get beyond his critics' accusations, as well as the paranoid legalism of the State Department."
"he had to spend the whole night in a dirty cell because of the police ‘overzealousness'." Ramadan, who faces up to 6 months of imprisonment and a fine of €7,500, is expected to be sentenced by a criminal court on April 6.
On the MB Arabic website, however, their leader Mahdi Akef, in his February 22 weekly address, reassured his followers that "the jihad will lead to smashing Western civilization and replacing it with Islam which will dominate the world." Moreover, Akef decreed that in the event that Muslims cannot achieve this goal in the near future,
Akef further declared that "the Western offensive against Islam," is failing. His evidence:"Muslims are obliged to continue the jihad that will cause the collapse of Western civilization and the ascendance of the Muslim civilization on its ruins."
"the failure the American war machine to break the rock of the Iraqi opposition, the difficulties facing the coalition forces in Afghanistan, and the military defeat of the Israeli armed forces in Lebanon and against the Palestinians."
Akef's decrees and ideas of global Islamic domination are not new. They were established by Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna in 1928, and can be found on ummah.net/ikhwan.
The MB states its goals under the heading "Establishing the Islamic government," outlining the specific guidelines to achieve them. The MB instructions include:
Indeed, the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hamas, which is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, took over the Palestinian Authority in January 2006, and gave the MB its first field test of grabbing power via democracy, to then enforce Shari'a law."Preparing the society is achieved through plans for: spreading the Islamic culture, the possible media means, mosques, and Da'awa [inviting others to Islam, an obligatory duty for Muslims], work in public organizations such as syndicates, parliaments, student unions."
Hamas' "accommodation" of the unity government ratified on March 17, without recognizing Israel and reiterating the Palestinian's "right" to "violently resist the occupation," is akin to the Iraqi's right to violently resist the U.S. and U.K. forces there. A ringing endorsement was published by the U.S. based pro-Hamas, virulently anti-American, al-Jazeerah Info, on March 26. Indeed, defeating Israel, the U.S. and the U.K. serve the overriding MB purpose of overthrowing all secular governments and imposing global Islamic law (Shari'a).
Evidence of Muslim Brotherhood violence, repression and authoritarianism upon taking power is abundant in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority. A recent report by The Australian, documents the
"Strict observance of Sunni Islam, through the rigid enforcement of radical Islamic law, espoused by the global jihad network that follows the bin Laden worldview,"
In February, six Rafah pharmacists were attacked for selling Viagra to youths. And in March, at least eight women accused of immoral behavior and fraternizing with men outside their immediate families were hunted down and assassinated because "death gave them honor that their conduct in life had not."
A ninth victim who survived multiple gunshots stated from her hospital bed that she recognized her tormentors as members of the Hamas executive force. "So long as Hamas is in Gaza, the situation will keep developing," she stated.
Since Hamas, apart from Al Qaeda, is the most active branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, stating, "The Brotherhood has consistently demonstrated a long-term commitment to working peacefully..." is evidently false and misleading.
Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is author of Funding Evil; How Terrorism is Financed-and How to Stop It, Director of American Center for Democracy, (ACD) and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger. Alyssa A. Lappen is a senior fellow at the ACD.