Report of Israeli Think-Tank on the Global Muslim Brotherhood

“sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands <strong>of</strong> the believers
so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other
religions. Without this level <strong>of</strong> understanding, we are not up to this challenge
and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim’s destiny to
perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final
hour comes… 25
Once established, these organizations began seeking legitimacy and have worked
to influence and control the development <strong>of</strong> Islamic discourse and political activity
in their respective countries. Less publicly, they are almost always associated with
fundamentalism, anti-Semitism, and support for Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad,
and more recently, the Shiite Hezbollah. While claiming to disavow al Qaeda- linked
terrorism, the Ikhwan are at best lukewarm in their condemnation <strong>of</strong> Islamist violence
and commonly issue statements justifying such violence. When compared to the
Egyptian organization, there has been relatively little scrutiny <strong>of</strong> the network that is
referred to here as the Global Muslim Brotherhood. This network has become far more
important to the Islamist movement worldwide than the Egyptian organization, which
is largely confined to activities inside Egypt, where its members are under constant
government surveillance and control.
While at times denying its existence, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leaders have
acknowledged the reality <strong>of</strong> a global Brotherhood network. For example, in June 2008
the first Deputy chairman <strong>of</strong> the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was asked about the
“International Muslim Brotherhood” and replied:
There are entities that exist in many countries all over the world. These entities have the
same ideology, principle and objectives but they work in different circumstances and
different contexts. So, it is reasonable to have decentralization in action so that every
entity works according to its circumstances and according to the problems it is facing
and in their framework. … These entities can have dialogue when there is a common
cause that faces Arabs or Muslims over their central issues like the Palestinian cause.
At that time, all <strong>of</strong> them must cooperate for it. I want to confirm that while some see
that Palestine caused rifts among the Arabs, we see that this cause is the one for which
all Arabs unite. 26
Mohammed Mahdi Akef, the former Egyptian Brotherhood Supreme Guide, said in an
interview “we exist in 70 countries.” 27
In spite <strong>of</strong> these acknowledgements, there do not appear to any organizations outside <strong>of</strong>
Egypt that refer to themselves publicly as the Muslim Brotherhood, making it necessary
to develop other means for identifying global Muslim Brotherhood organizations and
their leaders. The Internet newsletter cited above suggests a useful set <strong>of</strong> criteria,
including examining the origins and founding <strong>of</strong> the organization and its leaders,
contact, and links to other organizations, ideology, and conferences sponsored and/
or attended.
Identifying the Muslim Brotherhood is made easier in some European countries such as
Germany, where the domestic intelligence agency annually designates the Islamische
Gemeinschaft in Deutschland as representing the Muslim Brotherhood there. 28 In
France, the Union des organisations islamiques de France (UOIF) is <strong>of</strong>ten referred to
by the media as “close to the Muslim Brotherhood.” In addition, most <strong>of</strong> the Muslim
Brotherhood organizations in Europe have banded together to form an umbrella
organization known as the Federation <strong>of</strong> Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) whose
leaders have acknowledged their relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood. 29 30 Other
studies have documented the history and structure <strong>of</strong> the Muslim Brotherhood in the
United States. 31
28