Media spokesperson for the “Muslim Brotherhood”: 

 

5 reasons behind attempts to brand the group as a "terrorist"organization. 

● Dr Talaat Fahmy: The autocrats' "demonization" of the Brotherhood is caused by fear of their popularity and their encouragement of free democratic elections.

● The Brotherhood is the largest umbrella for moderate Islam in the region. The incitement of violent groups is the secret of survival for oppressive regimes.

● Appeasement of the Zionist entity is one of the factors for classifying the “Brotherhood” as a terrorist organization, given their long history of resisting the occupation and rejecting normalization.

● Some Gulf rulers view the "Brotherhood" as an ideological rival, and consider their encouragement of elections an existential threat.

● Authoritarian regimes are keen, with their continuous accusations against the group, to consolidate an incorrect mental image of it in the minds of successive generations of the nation, to dismantle the popular support for the Muslim Brotherhood

Dr Talaat Fahmy, the media spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood, attributed the continuous attempts to brand the group as "terrorist" to five main reasons:

 1- Appeasement of the tyrannical Arab regimes of the Zionist entity,

2- The group’s focus on freedoms and respect for the human being.

3- Fear of the popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood.

4- Attempting to consolidate an incorrect mental image of the group in the memory of generations.

5- In addition, the incitement of extremism and violence is the secret of the longevity of tyrannical regimes.

This came in an exclusive interview with the media spokesperson, on Wednesday evening, March 1, 2023, on “Watan” TV, with the journalist Nour Abdel Hafez.

Fahmy cited the speech of the Qatari academic and journalist, Dr. Ali Al-Hail, "The Brotherhood has a long history of resisting Israel and refusing to recognize it, which prompted the lobby in the American administration to take such a decision (of branding it a terrorist organization)."

Commenting on the attempt of the coup administration in Egypt at the behest of the American administration during Trump’s era to classify the group, as well as the speech of Benjamin Netanyahu: “If Turkey and Egypt unite, then Israel will perish.”; and how a quarter of the Zionist entity’s budget was transferred to the Ministry of Defense in the year of President Morsi’sinauguration, may Allah have mercy on him. They even said: “We have done everything, and there is nothing left but the coup.”  And if we follow what is happening in Sinai, we will be sure of the veracity of what we say.

And he added, saying: (David Kirk Patrick) is the American New York Times correspondent, who took over during the years of the Arab Spring the management of the New York Times newspaper office in Cairo between 2011 and 2015, and wrote several articles criticizing the oppressive regime in Egypt and other oppressive regimes in the region, and wrote a book (Egypt is in the hands of the military), he said: “The characteristic that distinguishes the Muslim Brotherhood is that it supports democratic elections throughout the Arab world, which puts it at odds with authoritarian governments in the region, and at odds with groups that adopt violence.”

Fahmy continued: “By referring to the American (Lobbylog) blog on May 3, 2019 – a blog concerned with analysis of American policy towards the Middle East – we find a report written by Dr. Emile Nakhla – a former intelligence officer and American political analyst of Arab origin – in which he says:  “The Muslim Brotherhood’s decision to focus on elections antagonized the Arab dictators, and because the Muslim Brotherhood provided services that the state failed to do, the Muslim Brotherhood became the face of civil Islam in Egypt and many Arab and Muslim societies.  On May 4, 2019, Reuters said in a report prepared by “Dominique Evans” and “SamiaNakhoul” and edited by “William Maclean”: “There are Gulf rulers who view the Muslim Brotherhood as an ideological competitor, and that its encouragement of political activity, including in the elections, it constitutes a threat to the ruling families, and the group has become politically involved wherever possible.  He said, “It is well known that Gamal Abdel Nasser’s dispute with the Muslim Brotherhood in 1954 had its origins in the group’s favouring towards the parliamentary constitutional system and respect for the people’s freedom to choose their rulers."

The media spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood believes that the fear of the Muslim Brotherhood’s popularity is the third reason for attempts to brand the group as a “terrorist” organization and to promote that in the media.

He continued: “Dr. Emile Nakhla said in the aforementioned report: “Al-Sisi and his fellow Arab tyrants began to demonize the Muslim Brotherhood and target its members because these tyrants feared the popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood, and its concern for human rights, political participation, and the rule of law.”

The Zionist newspaper "Haaretz" also published an analytical article by “Zevi Barel”, an analyst of Middle East affairs in the newspaper, in which he stated: “Sisi’s violent measures against the Muslim Brotherhood and its classification as a terrorist organization stem mainly from his concern about its popularity and political power.”  The Zionist expert on Arab affairs, in an interview with Maariv newspaper, made two important points:

– The coup authorities see that after everything they have done, the Muslim Brotherhood constitutes a threat to them and is considered a strong phenomenon in Egypt.

– That the Muslim Brotherhood, if individuals or members of their group enter any electoral process, they win it.

She said, “We always have to remember that this group is the one that gave birth to former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, during the Arab Spring era,” in addition to that “the group proceeds from the assumption that Islam is comprehensive and is the solution to life’s problems, and that it works closely with the social classes that need care and they succeed in providing solutions and answers to all their difficulties.”

Fahmy also stressed that authoritarian regimes are keen, with their continuous accusations against the Muslim Brotherhood, to consolidate an incorrect mental image of the group in the minds of successive generations of the nation, in order to work to dismantle the incubator of popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a broad mass base that believes in the gradual reform project of the group, and this incubator ofpopularity is the one that shows its support for the representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood in all student, professional, parliamentary and presidential elections.

Upon reaching the fifth and final reason, from the point of view of Dr Talaat Fahmy, in answer to the question: “Why are therecontinuous attempts to brand the group as a “terrorist”organization? He said: “inciting extremism and violence is the secret to the longevity of tyrannical regimes, and according to what was reported on the “Signs Online” website on May 3, 2019, there is a saying of  David Hirst, a well-known British writer and journalist who specializes in Middle Eastern issues, spoke about attempts to ban the Muslim Brotherhood as a “an injection to incite people to join al-Qaeda and ISIS,” referring to a previous report by the US intelligence which stated: “Banning the Muslim Brotherhood helps extremism and does not eliminate it,” stressing that all  International reports issued by respected bodies and academies and fair personalities refuse to describe the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization!

Fahmy reviewed a number of reports confirming the foregoing, including: a report translated by Arabi Channel 21 on the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, which stated: “The Muslim Brotherhood does not meet the legal definition of a foreign terrorist organization, and there is no credible evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood, as an organization, uses violence to achieve its political goals.”

In Dr. Emile Nakhla’s aforementioned report on the “LobbyLog” blog, he says: “The decision to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization reflects an ignorance of the organization’s history and its deep roots in the Islamic world and its impact on the prevailing Islamic political activity globally.”

And it was mentioned in the aforementioned report by David Kirk Patrick: “Historians who have dealt with the history of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood since its founding by Hassan al-Banna in 1928 confirm that there was no evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood was involved in acts of violence.”

Arslan Iftikhar, a well-known international lawyer, says: “The designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group is just a thick smokescreen to criminalize Islamic political life.”

Former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson refused to classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, as desired by Trump, the former US president. The US intelligence also rejected this classification in a report issued in 2017.

Dr Talaat Fahmy finished off by sending a message to the Brotherhood, saying:

“From this honourable pulpit, I say to all the Muslim Brotherhood and those who love them and support them: By the grace and mercy of Allah, rejoice and be happy. This is the talk of others about you, and this is how others look at you, don’t be fazed by a people defeated from within. They have been made tofeel like a failure, so they felt like a failure, took it in, and surrendered to the sayings of the provocateurs, the discouraged, and the frustrated, in order to get out of the field of work and achievement and leave it to others.”

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