"The Muslim Brotherhood"

Arlene Kushner

I've decided to devote what time I have before Shabbat to this one subject:

There's a great deal of concern in the US and here in Israel -- and rightly so! -- regarding an outreach by the Obama administration to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

See, first, Robert Spencer, a scholar of Islam and the director of Jihad Watch, on this:

"The Obama administration is set to begin formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood, a group dedicated in its own words to 'eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within, and sabotaging its miserable house.' "This news came in a Reuters report...quoting a 'senior U.S. official...' ...Barack Obama has never made a secret of his solicitude for the Muslim Brotherhood. Even though the Brotherhood was still outlawed in Egypt at that time, he made a point of inviting leaders of the group to attend his speech to the Islamic world in Cairo on June 4, 2009.

"Not only that. Obama included the leader of a Muslim Brotherhood-linked group that had been named an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case among the clerics giving a prayer during his inauguration ceremonies: Ingrid Mattson, then-president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA...

"[The senior official] may have been mindful of how poorly this would play among those aware of the Brotherhood's pro-Sharia anti-Israel, anti-American agenda, and so he played up the pragmatic, realpolitik aspects of the decision: 'The political landscape in Egypt has changed, and is changing,' he noted. 'It is in our interests to engage with all the parties that are competing for Parliament of the presidency.'

"The official added that the Obama administration would... 'continue to emphasize the importance of support for democratic principles and a commitment to nonviolence, and respect for minority and women’s rights in conversations with all groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood.'

"Good luck with that. The Muslim Brotherhood...is dedicated to establishing an Islamic state in Egypt and implementing the Islamic law that has no room for democratic principles, uses violence against dissenters and miscreants, and tramples upon minority rights and women’s rights. Then there is the movement’s inveterate anti-Semitism: not only does the jihad terrorist group Hamas style itself as the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine, but recently the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie said: 'Allah has warned us the tricks of the Jews, and their role in igniting the fire of wars… and they labor hard to spread corruption on earth: and Allah does not love the spreaders of corruption.' (emphasis added)

"The spiritual father of the Muslim Brotherhood, the 84-year-old Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, recently returned to Cairo to be greeted by huge and rapturous crowds after the end of his fifty-year exile from the country. In January 2009, during a Friday sermon broadcast on Al-Jazeera, he prayed that Allah would kill all the Jews..."

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/07/04/obama-reaches-out-to-the-muslim-brotherhood/

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Next, see Andrew McCarthy incisive comments on this subject:

"...Reuters reports that the Obama administration has established a policy of formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood.

"The Brotherhood is the world’s most important Islamist organization. It is openly, unabashedly committed to the destruction of the United States and the West. In typical Obama fashion, this disastrous decision to engage America’s avowed enemies has been couched as the mere continuation of prior policy: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is reported to have confirmed that the U.S. would 'resume' contacts which had 'occurred in recent years.' But make no mistake about it, this is a new policy. (emphasis added)

"The contacts that have occurred in recent years have been outside of U.S. policy — at the urging of leftists in the State Department, the intelligence community, the commentariat, and, in particular, the Obama White House. They have long campaigned for a policy of 'engagement' with the Muslim Brotherhood (including Hamas, the terrorist organization that is the Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch). They’ve needed to do this campaigning because it was American policy not to deal with the Brotherhood — dealing with the Brothers empowers them, bolstering their status as leaders of mainstream Islam and legitimizing their agenda, which calls for Islamicizing societies, ultimately establishing a global caliphate, destroying Israel, and incrementally expanding sharia throughout the West.(emphasis added)

"This day has been coming since President Obama’s first day in office" (emphasis added)

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/270864/obama-administration-opens-formal-contacts-muslim-brotherhood-andrew-c-mccarthy

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Khaled Abu Toameh, writing for Hudson-NY, has weighed in with regard to the effect of the new Obama policy on moderate Muslims:

"The United States administration's recent decision to establish contacts with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood organization is a severe blow to moderate, secular Muslims who are trying to achieve democracy and prosperity in their countries. (emphasis added)

"...If the Obama administration is going to talk to the Muslim Brotherhood, there is no reason why it should not also launch dialogue with Hamas, the Taliban, Hezbollah, and even al-Qaeda. Engaging Muslim extremists, without demanding that they abandon their dangerous policies and violence, is a huge mistake." (Emphasis added)

http://www.hudson-ny.org/2243/obama-undermining-moderate-muslims

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Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I call your attention to the comments of Frank Gaffney, who heads the Center for Security Policy. He refers to what Obama has now done as a tipping point:

"The Obama administration chose the eve of the holiday marking our Nation's birth to acknowledge publicly behavior in which it has long been stealthily engaged to the United States' extreme detriment: Its officials now admit that they are embracing the Muslim Brotherhood (MB or Ikhwan in Arabic).

"...Team Obama's official, open legitimation of the Brotherhood marks a dramatic break from the U.S. government's historical refusal to deal formally with the Ikhwan."

Gaffney then proceeds to provide data -- documenting precisely why Obama's embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood "is so ominous." While this material is too extensive to replicate here, I urge you to read it in Gaffney's article.
"In short," he explains, "the Muslim Brotherhood is deadly serious about waging what it calls 'civilization jihad' against the United States and other freedom-loving nations in order to secure their submission to the Islamic totalitarian political-military-legal doctrine called shariah. The MB's goal in this country is to replace our Constitution with theirs, namely the Koran. And they regard this task as one commanded by none other than Allah..the MB's senior official, Supreme Guide Muhammad Badi, has effectively declared war on the United States. (emphasis added)

The MB, says Gaffney, will walk away with legitimacy -- and again he provides documentation for this.

"Unfortunately," he continues, "the U.S. government's dangerous outreach to the Ikhwan is not confined to Egypt but is systematically practiced inside the United States, as well. And again, there are examples -- hair-raising examples -- that demonstrate that this is the case.

Concludes Gaffney:

"It seems a safe bet that, as Team Obama legitimates Muslim Brotherhood organizations and groups overseas, it will feel ever less constrained about further empowering their counterparts in the United States. If so, the MB will come to exercise even greater influence over what our government does and does not do about the threat posed by shariah, both abroad and here. (emphasis added)

"The absolutely predictable effect will be to undermine U.S. interests and allies in the Middle East and further catalyze the Brotherhood's campaign to insinuate shariah in the United States and, ultimately, to supplant the Constitution with Islamic law. Consequently, the Obama administration's efforts to 'engage' the Muslim Brotherhood are not just reckless. They are wholly incompatible with the President's oath to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States' and the similar commitment made by his subordinates. (emphasis added)

"These officials' now-open embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood constitutes a geo-strategic tipping point, one that must catalyze an urgent national debate on this question: Does such conduct violate their oath of office by endangering the Constitution they have undertaken to uphold?" (emphasis added)

http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/p18757.xml

My question then, is whether some solid percentage of the American people is now ready to take seriously the threat of what Obama is doing. Or will they cluck their tongues, while sitting on their rears, and allow what is taking place to continue.

I can only write about this from here in Jerusalem. It is in the US that action must proceed.

You know the routine: share this broadly, post it everywhere, call talk shows, write letters to the editor, contact elected officials, demand answers. Coalescing groups to respond is also a good idea. Be leaders and activists. Follow through with the urgent debate that Gaffney suggests.

This is in the hands of the American people.

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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.