Nearly a quarter-century after 9/11, the U.S. has taken aim at a leading incubator of Islamic terrorism: the Muslim Brotherhood. Previous attempts to proscribe the group, including by the first Trump Administration, were stymied by the Brotherhood’s loose structure.
On Monday President Trump signed an executive order to begin the process of designating Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations. Branches in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon are singled out for a 30-day review, though the order isn’t limited to them.
These are the three that most clearly cross from extremism to terrorism. Jordan banned its Brotherhood chapter in April after pressing charges against many members for planning a major terrorist attack. The Lebanese branch fired rockets at Israel in 2023-24 in coordination with Hezbollah. Egyptian splinter groups have been involved in bombings and assassinations and support for Hamas.
Hamas is a key link. The Gaza terrorist group defined itself in its 1988 launch as “one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.” The Brotherhood has since established a global network of fronts and sham charities to fund Hamas. This was the case of the U.S.-based Holy Land Foundation, whose leaders were convicted in 2008 for funneling millions of dollars to Hamas. Similar groups have shifted into gear since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, especially in Europe.
The Muslim Brotherhood began in 1928 in Egypt, where its founder Hassan al-Banna argued that Islam and politics can’t be separated. His group taught generations that “the Quran is our constitution.”
One Egyptian group that grew out of the Brotherhood assassinated President Anwar Sadat after his peace with Israel. Later led by Brotherhood alum Ayman al-Zawahiri, it merged with al Qaeda. But other branches stick to religious-political activism, even embracing elections.
Diverse and lacking a single command structure, the Brotherhood is a poor fit for a blanket U.S. terror designation, which would be vulnerable to legal challenge. But by starting with the branches that spread violence, the Trump Administration can follow the links to build out a full sanctions regime.
This Trump decision will be cheered in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia but raise hackles in Qatar and Turkey, which support the Brotherhood and fund some of its branches. Qatar’s Al Jazeera has been a Muslim Brotherhood megaphone.
Those thorny issues remain, but the Trump advance is to get the legal wheels turning. It is an important start of U.S. enforcement against a poison that has spread across the Middle East and even to corners of America.
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