Michigan Congressman Thad McCotter Gets it Right on Obama's MidEast Speech

"Bluntly, a continued destabilization of Israel's security is a strategic sellout of the highest order, and a breaking of our solemn promise to our ally."

Bravo to US Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R), representing Michigan's 9th District! All supporters of Israel and democracy should applaud Rep. McCotter's perspicacious analysis of President Obama's Middle East Speech.  Please call the Congressman (Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121) to thank him for his political courage and stalwart support for Israel.  Make sure to call our other Congressmen and Senators from Michigan to get their read on President Obama's MidEast push.

Washington, D.C. – In response to President Obama’s address on the Middle East and North Africa, U.S. Representative Thaddeus G. McCotter (MI) has issued the following statement:

In his latest lecture to the Middle East, an ideologically purblind President Obama has again failed to acknowledge the facts on the ground, much to the detriment of American and Israeli strategic interests.

First, the President continues to confound "popular uprisings" with America's strategic interests.  This fails to account for the inherent danger that such movements can be usurped - if not instigated and abetted by - radical elements bent upon usurping them for anti-American purposes, as is increasingly evident in Egypt.  Providing the new Egyptian government billions in debt relief and loans without the conditions that the Camp David Accords must remain inviolable both in law and practice, is but the latest manifestation of this administration's Mid-East dumbfoundment.  

Secondly, the President's ill-conceived and incoherent policy and mission creep in Libya has now resulted in the administration's diminished willingness to promptly call for Syria's Assad to exit power; ergo, we witness the Obama Administration being more resolute in precipitously demanding the removal of an ally in Egypt than of an enemy in Syria - let alone in Iran.

While an increase in human intelligence gathering and grass roots support for nascent democratic and free-market institutions and movements within oppressed nations will help ensure these freedom movements are not hijacked by worse tyrants and steered into anti-American regimes, the Obama Administration refuses to accept the reality that these uprisings' beneficent outcomes can best be effectuated by the success of Iran's Green Revolution.  Succinctly, the removal of a murderous terrorist regime that stole a popular uprising in 1979, and its indigenous replacement with a true, free, anti-terrorist republic, will serve as an example and deterrent to the present movements being perverted by would be despots.

Such strategic celerity, though, is lacking in the Obama Administration.  For, as is becoming abundantly clear, its missteps and missed opportunities stem from the President's inconstant commitment to the strategic partnership that founds America's Middle Eastern policies for our national security and regional peace: the American-Israeli alliance.

Israel is a market-based, liberal democracy that protects the lives and property of its people, including its minorities.

Israel is America's key strategic ally in the region.  Israel enhances our defense capabilities; provides us a secure foothold in the strategically important and turbulent Middle East; and has supported our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by sharing its military technology and its intelligence on hostile forces.

Israel is under a constant and increasing threat from terrorist forces, such as Hamas and Hezbollah; instability on its borders; and the hatred of hostile nations, notably Iran and Syria, that seek our ally's demise.  

Already, due to the Obama administration's bungling, radical political forces in Egypt are promising to press for the abrogation of the Camp David accords with Israel, both as a matter of law and a matter of fact.

Inexcusably, the President's opining and overtures have caused America’s and Israel's shared strategic interests to decline in the Arab world - as has, not ironically, America's popularity.

Now must end the Obama Administration's pressure upon our ally to make dangerous strategic concessions, which the President has done since entering office.  Indeed, from day one the President has misunderstood and mangled the peace process, demanding concessions on Israeli settlements that the Palestinians had never made a precondition in negotiations.  In return, all the President has reaped is the Palestinian National Authority pulling out of negotiations and endeavoring to have the United Nations foist a Palestinian state upon Israel without any direct negotiations.  Moreover, the President's "policies" have done nothing to stem the Palestinian national authority allying with the terrorists of Hamas, who are pledged to Israel's destruction. 

Today's speech repeats the injurious canards of forcing unilateral concessions on Israel; and claiming Hamas is becoming "moderate".  This is naïve at best, and, in reality, a foolish and dangerous misreading of a terrorist group that is America’s and Israel's enemy.  Instead, The President should have made clear that, if the Palestinian Authority chooses Hamas, it has turned its back on peace and forfeited American support, aid and assistance.

Bluntly, a continued destabilization of Israel's security is a strategic sellout of the highest order, and a breaking of our solemn promise to our ally.

Mideast peace will not result from arbitrarily and unilaterally imposed solutions that will, in consequence, only further destabilize the region.  Peace will come when the Palestinians and the Arab nations accept Israel as a Jewish state, abandon their dreams of eradicating it; stop demonizing Israel; cease teaching their children to hate it; and, conversely, tolerate and protect the minorities in their midst.  When this happens, the Israelis will have a true partner in peace, one with whom they can mutually work for liberty, prosperity and security in that long troubled land.

Thus, to do otherwise in our strategic partnership with Israel, however unwittingly, would reveal President Obama's failure to acknowledge President Kennedy's sage advice: "The surest path to war is the path of weakness and disunity."

No, in the interests of peace and American and Israeli security, the President must acknowledge the truths underpinning our alliance; recognize those facts on the ground endangering our alliance; and, so doing, commence strengthening the foundations of the American-Israeli alliance; and the very hopes for Middle East peace.

Some Strong Morning Joe! Harvard Historian Rocks MSNBC by Blasting Obama's Bungling of Egypt

As we noted in a previous TT post, Harvard historian Niall Ferguson made waves with his Newsweek column, a stinging rebuke of the Administration's mishandling of the crisis in Egypt.



In a follow up interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," he certainly did not shrink from his bold assertions. This is a must-watch interview in which this Ivy League historian lambastes Obama and his advisors for their failure to anticipate, inexperience, ineptitude and disastrous bungling of the uprising in Egypt and toppling of Mubarak.



Said Ferguson:

The only organized opposition force in Egyptian politics right now is the Muslim Brotherhood. Now if you look closely at what the Muslim Brotherhood stands for is the imposition and enforcement of shariah law and the restoration of the caliphate. Anyone who counts this as a major breakthrough for United States foreign policy hasn't got a clue about what happens in the wake of a revolution like this. It is far too early to say that this is a triumph. On the contrary, the risk are extremely high
that between now and the end of the year the Muslim Brotherhood will get into
power and then we will be staring at something comparable in magnitude to 1979
in Iran."

--posted by MT Beadle

Muslim Brotherhood Supports Terrorism, FBI Chief Testifies

As the world fixates on Egypt and aftershocks in the Arab and Muslim world, Congress is now turning its attention to the Muslim Brotherhood and its global reach.  And not a second too soon, as people are waking up to the insidious penetration of the MB and its affiliates all across the world, including here in Michigan.  While many in Congress have danced around the Muslim Brotherhood, House Foreign Affairs Chairwoman Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-FL) urged:

the unequivocal rejection of any involvement by the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremists who may seek to exploit and hijack these events to gain power, oppress the Egyptian people, and do great harm to Egypt's relationship with the United States, Israel, and other free nations"

Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers, new chair of the House Permanenet Select Committee on Intelligence, convened his first committee hearing on the subject, with a heavy-hitting lineup of the Beltway's intel experts

What FBI Director Robert Mueller testified at the hearing should jar all Americans out of a fog of delusion and denial.  Mueller told members of the Intel Committee that "elements of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group whose ideology has inspired terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, are in the United States and have supported terrorism here and overseas."

Yet the A-Team was disgraced by the glaring gaffe of James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence,  who testified, contrary to our own US State Department,  that the Brotherhood was  largely a secular group.  Clapper's comments provoked quite a stir.

Here are just two reports on reactions from one of our go-to sites on foreign policy, The Cable, and the authoritative  Investigative Project on Terrorism.

Kirk to Clapper on Muslim Brotherhood: WTF?

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) is only one of the many people in Washington who are scratching their heads today after the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was mostly a "secular" group.

"The term ‘Muslim Brotherhood' is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam," Clapper told the first ever hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence under new chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI).

ABC News was quick to point out that he U.S. State Department's Background Note on Egypt describes the Muslim Brotherhood as a "potent political and religious force."

Clapper's public affairs chief Jamie Smith "clarified" the remarks, telling ABC that Clapper really meant to say that "in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood makes efforts to work through a political system that has been, under Mubarak's rule, one that is largely secular in its orientation - he is well aware that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a secular organization."

But the gaffe was enough to invoke the ire of many in Congress, who are warning about the risks of the Muslim Brotherhood coming to power. Kirk, who was a Naval intelligence officer, issued a statement criticizing Clapper Thursday afternoon.

"I am concerned that the DNI's assessment does not agree with recent public statements by senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood nor does it agree with the organization's publicly stated goals," Kirk's statement read. "As the world watches these historic events unfolding in Egypt, the United States should support an orderly transition to democracy that prevents the radical Muslim Brotherhood from grabbing power."

The debate over the real identity and role of the Brotherhood is just starting in Congress, and was at the top of lawmakers' concerns at Wednesday's hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"Now the White House is reportedly making matters worse by apparently re-examining its position on dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood, but also stating that a new Egyptian government should include a whole host of important nonsecular actors," Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) said at the hearing. "The Muslim Brotherhood had nothing to do with driving these protests, and they and other extremists must not be allowed to hijack the movement toward democracy and freedom in Egypt."

FBI Chief: Muslim Brotherhood Supports Terrorism

IPT News
http://www.investigativeproject.org/
February 10, 2011

Elements of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group whose ideology has inspired terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, are in the United States and have supported terrorism here and overseas, FBI Director Robert Mueller told a House committee Thursday.
Mueller joined seven other Obama administration intelligence and law enforcement officials at a hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. They spoke of the Brotherhood's U.S. ties as word spread in Egypt that President Hosni Mubarak was prepared to resign. Mubarak has repeatedly said his administration, in place since 1981, is the one thing keeping an Islamic state led by the Brotherhood from taking over Egypt.
While Mueller, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other witnesses spelled out a variety of threats, they and some committee members highlighted the Brotherhood's ties in the United States. It was a significant departure from earlier hearings, which focused on groups more directly involved with terrorism.
"I'm concerned that the Muslim Brotherhood is using peaceful protests in Egypt for a power grab, and our government doesn't seem to grasp their threat," Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., told the committee and the witnesses. "The Muslim Brotherhood isn't a danger because they are terrorists, but because they push an extremist ideology that causes others to commit acts of terrorism."
Clapper agreed that "there are entities associated with the Muslim Brotherhood here in the United States." Mueller told Myrick that he would provide the committee with greater detail on the Brotherhood's activities in closed session.
However, Clapper also characterized the Brotherhood in Egypt as a mostly secular umbrella organization. "The term 'Muslim Brotherhood'...is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam," Clapper said in response to a question from Myrick. "They have pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt, et cetera.....In other countries, there are also chapters or franchises of the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is no overarching agenda, particularly in pursuit of violence, at least internationally."

Clapper's "secular" reference is odd, given the Brotherhood's motto is "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur'an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."
In a statement issued after the hearing, Myrick expressed astonishment at Clapper's assessment. ""Either the Administration doesn't know who the Muslim Brotherhood is, which shows incompetence," she said, "or they are apologizing for them, which is inappropriate for those in charge of protecting the American people. Let's be clear – the Muslim Brotherhood is NOT secular."
During the hearing, Myrick said she was also concerned about the Brotherhood's attitudes toward government. "The danger of the Muslim Brotherhood is not just encouraging terrorism through their ideology, but also trying to take over government, so everyone has to succumb and live under their ideology," Myrick said.
The scope of the Brotherhood's vision for the United States was spelled out in a 1991 document called the "Explanatory Memorandum." In that memo, which federal prosecutors introduced as evidence in two trials of the now-defunct Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, Brotherhood leaders said they planned to create an Islamic state in the United States.
In that document, the Brotherhood's stated goal was "a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions."
The memo also listed 29 organizations working in the United States to further the Brotherhood's goals. They include the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim Students Association (MSA), the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) and the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP). The IAP and the Holy Land Foundation shared many members and directors, including those who founded the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Clapper told the committee the U.S. government has no relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood in America. However, In response to a question from Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., Mueller said "we do not have a relationship with CAIR," although some FBI officials have attended the same events as CAIR representatives. The FBI suspended formal ties with CAIR in 2009, citing CAIR's ties with Hamas, the Middle Eastern terrorist group that controls the government in Gaza, and the ties of some CAIR leaders with Hamas front groups.
Much of the evidence tying CAIR to Hamas, another offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, was presented during the two trials of the Holy Land Foundation. Five HLF officials were convicted in 2008 of illegally sending millions of dollars to Hamas.
Much of the hearing testimony focused on the threat still posed by al-Qaida, the Islamist terrorist group responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric who now leads al-Qaida unit based in Yemen, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has become perhaps the greatest threat, Clapper said.
While AQAP has primarily focused on attacks in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Clapper said, "it is increasingly devoted to directing and inspiring attacks on the U.S. Homeland and other targets in the West, as well as Western interests in Yemen."
Other witnesses were CIA Director Leon Panetta, Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center; Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; Caryn A. Wagner, under secretary for intelligence and analysis, Department of Homeland Security; Thomas A. Ferguson, principal deputy under secretary of Defense for intelligence; and Philip S. Goldberg, assistant secretary of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
-------------------------------------------
ief-muslim-brotherhood-supports-terrorism

Over at the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), one of Israel's strongest Congressional supporters, also called hearings to address the Muslim Brotherhood and ongoing aid to Egypt.

Both Ros-Lehtinen and her Democratic counterpart, former Committee Chair Howard Berman (D-CA) issued tough warnings about the MB.

In a statement issued after news of Mubarak's resignation, Ros-Lehtinen said:

Now that the immediate demands of the Egyptian people have been met, steps must be taken for the prompt commencement of a calm and orderly transition process towards freedom and democracy in Egypt. This transition must include constitutional and administrative reforms, starting with the repeal of the emergency laws. These are necessary for legitimate, democratic, internationally recognized elections to take place with peaceful, responsible actors who will not only advance the aspirations of the Egyptian people, but will continue to enforce Egypt's international obligations.
The Egyptian military can continue to play a constructive role in providing for security and stability during this transformational period. The U.S. and our allies must focus our efforts on helping to create the necessary conditions for such a transition to take place.  We must also urge the unequivocal rejection of any involvement by the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremists who may seek to exploit and hijack these events to gain power, oppress the Egyptian people, and do great harm to Egypt's relationship with the United States, Israel, and other free nations.

Said Berman: "Like many I am skeptical about the Muslim Brotherhood's commitment to democracy. The Brotherhood wants Egypt to be governed by religious law rather than man-made law, a problematic position for a democrat. It has a bloody history," he said. "Even in the best-case scenario where the Brotherhood proves itself fully committed to democracy, there is every reason to believe it will try to influence the Egyptian government in ways that undermine U.S. interests and that will make Egypt a regressive, less-tolerant place."

For more reaction from the Hill to Mubarak's departure and the fear of the MB, check out Boomberg's reporting here    

Posted by MT Beadle

More on Egypt, Brotherhood

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

The following out-take of Muslim Brotherhood leadership statements by the Washington Instititue for Near East Policy is a repository of wealth for understanding the MB's guiding doctrines and objectives.  TT has reprinted in full the Institute's report below, but for added emphasis, we have also selected to highlight a few statements below as they relate to the group's unbending, binding positions on Israel and global Islamic dominion. 

"We will continue to raise the banner of jihad -- two swords and a Koran -- as long as the Zionists raise their flag, with two blue stripes to represent their so-called state [reaching] from the Nile to the Euphrates. And the [Muslim] brotherhood will continue to view the Jews and Zionists as their first and foremost enemies."
-- Muhammad Badi, IkhwanOnline, April 15, 2010.

"Concerning the Group's views and stance on the issues of internal reform or any other developments at stake, we quickly evaluate the situation when we observe a certain phenomenon that does not suit our beliefs. You know, Muslim Brothers are reform-oriented. It is our approach and will not change over time. Our stance on the issues of Copts, women, Zionist enemy and all other issues at stake is clear for all."

"It is your obligation to stop the absurd negotiations, whether direct or indirect, and to support all forms of resistance for the sake of liberating every occupied piece of land in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and all [other] parts of our Muslim world. The sources of your authority, as all religious scholars have agreed, are the Koran and the Sunna, and not U.N. resolutions or the dictates of the Zionists or Americans."-- Mohamed Mahdy Akef, chairman, Muslim Brotherhood, IkhwanWeb, October 17, 2009.

"We will never concede our principals, and we will not concede our project. It is not a hollow project, it is a project based on Islam and history."
-- Mohamed Mahdy Akef, chairman, Muslim Brotherhood, IkhwanWeb, November 27, 2008.

It bears repeating here the MB's credo as taken from its strategic plan for North America:  
"The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ’sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”



 

The Muslim Brotherhood: On the Record

February 4, 2011"Islam is the solution"
-- slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood

The following sampling of comments by Muslim Brotherhood leadership in Egypt explains the group's position in the current crisis and its attitudes towards the United States, Israel, and the rest of the Arab world.

On protests in Egypt:
"Our first demand is that Mubarak goes. Only after that can dialogue start with the military establishment on the details of a peaceful transition of power."
-- Mohammed al-Beltagi, former member of Egyptian parliament, member, Muslim Brotherhood, Reuters, February 1, 2011.

On forming a coalition:
"We insist on establishing a coalition among all political powers and civil society, to sit together and lay down an agenda and a method through which we can improve this nation and help it out of this serious deadlock and tyranny that Egypt is currently witnessing."
-- Mohamed Mahdy Akef, chairman, Muslim Brotherhood, IkhwanWeb, November 27, 2008.

On Mohamed ElBaradei and the National Association for Change:
"The Muslim Brotherhood is coordinating with Dr. ElBaradei, as well as with the National Association for Change. My personal attitude as an MB member relates to the MB's policies, and if I'm requested in person to participate, I would not hesitate."
-- Ibrahim Munir, secretary general, International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, IkhwanWeb, January 12, 2011.

On Mubarak and succession:
"Even after (Mubarak goes), we refuse to deal with Omar Suleiman."
-- Essam al-Erian, senior leader, Muslim Brotherhood, Reuters, February 1, 2011.

On the mission and nature of the Muslim Brotherhood:
"We will never concede our principals, and we will not concede our project. It is not a hollow project, it is a project based on Islam and history."
-- Mohamed Mahdy Akef, chairman, Muslim Brotherhood, IkhwanWeb, November 27, 2008.

"Concerning the Group's views and stance on the issues of internal reform or any other developments at stake, we quickly evaluate the situation when we observe a certain phenomenon that does not suit our beliefs. You know, Muslim Brothers are reform-oriented. It is our approach and will not change over time. Our stance on the issues of Copts, women, Zionist enemy and all other issues at stake is clear for all."
-- Mohamed Mahdy Akef, chairman, Muslim Brotherhood, IkhwanWeb, October 17, 2009.

On the United States:
"The Soviet Union fell dramatically, but the factors that will lead to the collapse of the U.S. are much more powerful than those that led to the collapse of the Soviet empire -- for a nation that does not champion moral and human values cannot lead humanity, and its wealth will not avail it once Allah has had His say, as happened with [powerful] nations in the past. The U.S. is now experiencing the beginning of its end, and is heading towards its demise..."
-- Muhammad Badi, statement, IkhwanOnline, September 30, 2010.

On President Obama's Cairo speech:
"Unless one agenda and one objective unite the Arabs, I do not expect anything good to come from the West. But as long as the Arabs remain scattered and torn by internal conflicts, do not expect any outcome from this visit. However, this does not mean that I refuse to enter into a dialogue with the other: if I receive an invitation to enter into a dialogue with the U.S., I will accept the invitation."
-- Mohamed Mahdy Akef, chairman, Muslim Brotherhood, IkhwanWeb, October 17, 2009.

On resistance and jihad:
"...Jihad must not be likened to terror. Jihad means making sacrifices in order to restore what has been stolen, defend one's property, expel the occupier, and make Allah's word supreme, while terror is occupying someone else's land..."
-- Muhammad Badi, statement, IkhwanOnline, March 18, 2010.

"We will continue to raise the banner of jihad -- two swords and a Koran -- as long as the Zionists raise their flag, with two blue stripes to represent their so-called state [reaching] from the Nile to the Euphrates. And the [Muslim] brotherhood will continue to view the Jews and Zionists as their first and foremost enemies."
-- Muhammad Badi, IkhwanOnline, April 15, 2010.

On negotiations and agreements with Israel:
"It is your obligation to stop the absurd negotiations, whether direct or indirect, and to support all forms of resistance for the sake of liberating every occupied piece of land in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and all [other] parts of our Muslim world. The sources of your authority, as all religious scholars have agreed, are the Koran and the Sunna, and not U.N. resolutions or the dictates of the Zionists or Americans. This can be achieved if you declare the Palestine cause and the causes of the [other] occupied Islamic nations your primary concern. You must stand behind your free peoples and their various institutions in their repeated calls for boycotts, an end to normalization, and support for the resistance and its representatives... You must revoke all the agreements of capitulation.... especially the Camp David Accords... which go against the Egyptian constitution and U.N. resolutions, and do not therefore obligate Egyptian senior officials."
-- Muhammad Badi, statement, United Jerusalem Foundation, September 2010.

"After President Mubarak steps down and a provisional government is formed, there is a need to dissolve the peace treaty with Israel,"
-- Rashad al-Bayoumi, RiaNovosti, February 3, 2011

On the role of women:
"On our part, we believe that the burden of presidency must not be placed on a woman's shoulders -- any more than supervising and leading the army -- since they contradict her nature and the rest of her social and humanitarian roles."
-- Muslim Brotherhood Party Platform, Al-Masry Al-Youm, Part 1 and Part 2, August 10-11, 2007.

On confronting the "Zionist enemy":
"Resistance is the only solution against the Zio-American arrogance and tyranny, and all we need is for the Arab and Muslim peoples to stand behind it and support it. The peoples know well who is [carrying out] resistance and who has sold out the [Palestinian] cause and bargained over it. We say to our brothers the mujahideen in Gaza: be patient, persist in [your jihad], and know that Allah is with you..."
-- Muhammad Badi, IkhwanOnline, September 30, 2010.

On a Palestinian state:
"I speak out that the Palestinian nation including all factions should have a clear agenda and work for liberating their homeland. The Arab and Muslim Worlds are also involved in this agenda, because Palestine isn't owned by the Palestinians alone, Al Aqsa Mosque isn't owned by the Palestinians alone, Jerusalem isn't owned by the Palestinians alone, but they are deemed holy by all Arabs and Muslims. Brothers in Palestine should first prepare an agenda to liberate their country, and then all sincere people of the Arab and Muslim nation will back them."
-- Mohamed Mahdy Akef, chairman, Muslim Brotherhood, IkhwanWeb, November 27, 2008.

On Arab reconciliation:
"A comprehensive reconciliation requires Arab countries to possess a free will of action that is independent from the American administration that will allow it to break the siege of division, weakness, and paralysis imposed on it."
-- Mohamed Habib, vice chairman, Muslim Brotherhood, IkhwanWeb, February 2, 2009.

Compiled by Washington Institute research assistant Allison LeBlanc and intern Kelli Vanderlee.

Israel Urges Egypt to Uphold Peaceful Relations

• Islamists attack, plan terror attacks in Sinai Hamas prisoners in Egypt escape to Gaza

An Egyptian watchtower overlooking the Gaza Strip. (Marius Arnesen)

• Netanyahu: Islamists can seize control amid chaos

Egypt could “fall into the hands of radical Islamists as a result of the country’s uprising,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said to a European delegation at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on Monday (Feb. 7).


Israel and the United States are concerned that the situation in Egypt could be “exploited” to provoke unrest around the Middle East and threaten Egypt’s relatively quiet border with Israel.


Incompatibility between Islamism and secular ‘liberal’ democracy is worrying experts around the Middle East, Al Jazeera News TV reported.


Although the protesters may have been seeking social reform at first, "in a situation of chaos, an organized Islamist body can seize control of a country,” Netanyahu said, Israel’s Haaretz reported.


“It happened in Iran. It happened in other instances,” he added. Please click here for The Israel Project’s Iran Kit.


Iran witnessed a revolution in 1979 in which Islamic forces quashed the opposition and moderate voices. The country has been under Islamic control ever since.


The world now fears that Iran is developing nuclear weapons in order to intimidate the West, Arab nations or possibly “wipe Israel from the map,” as Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stated.


Iran-backed Hezbollah and Hamas are allegedly planning terrorist attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, the Egyptian region that borders Hamas-controlled Gaza.


A section of an Egyptian-Israeli gas pipeline was blown up by terrorists on Saturday (Feb. 5) in Sinai. Egyptian officials now say the bombing was carried out by four armed men and that the explosion halted gas exports to both Jordan and Israel.


There was fighting in Rafah, an Egyptian city that borders Gaza, on Monday (Feb. 7). Attackers, identified as members of the Islamic group Takfir wal-Hijram used rocket-propelled grenades and two people were injured, Palestinian Maan News Agency reported.


The attacks in Sinai over the past few days suggest that “provocateurs are trying to take advantage of the political turmoil in Cairo to spread unrest in Sinai,” The New York Times reported.


Egypt closed the Rafah-Gaza crossing because Hamas-members have escaped from Egyptian prisons into Gaza through illegal smuggling tunnels.


Sinai has become increasingly dangerous in recent years as Islamist groups have planned terrorist attacks and tried to attack, kidnap and terrorize foreign tourists there.

Additional Reading:

Jerusalem, Feb. 8 - Israel fears that the current Egyptian government could be replaced with a repressive, hostile regime that causes regional instability.

Is Jordan next?

Haaretz

A successful attempt to remove the current regime in Jordan is of a totally different magnitude

Muslim Brotherhood: ‘Prepare Egyptians for war with Israel'

Jerusalem Post
A leading Muslim Brotherhood member declares that Egyptians should prepare for war with Israel.

Israel, Alone Again?

By:Yossi Klein Halevi
New York Times

"The fear of an Islamist encirclement has reminded Israelis of their predicament in the Middle East. In its relationship with the Palestinians, Israel is Goliath. But in its relationship with the Arab and Muslim worlds, Israel remains David."