Congressman Dave Trott (R-MI) blasted the Obama administration during a hearing last week for not designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Trott noted the group’s role in the targeting of Coptic Christians in Egypt, and how it continues to incite violence against minorities and U.S. allies.
Rep. Trott also expressed disbelief at the State Department’s excuses for continuing to meet with the group.
Both the House and the Senate are considering bills calling on the administration to designate the Muslim Brotherhood. Last November, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) introduced H.R. 3892, the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2015, which now has bipartisan support.
A Senate companion bill, S. 2230, was introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
On February 24 the House Judiciary Committee voted 17-10 to pass the bill and move the measure to the full House.
As a cosponsor of the House bill, Rep. Trott slammed the administration. He posted the video to his Facebook page:
Several U.S. allies in the Middle East have taken action against the Muslim Brotherhood, including U.A.E., Egypt, and Israel. Last week, Jordan closed the group’s headquarters in Amman:
Police in Jordan shut headquarters of main opposition movement, Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, group officials say https://t.co/YDl1cx72tI
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 13, 2016
As I noted here at PJ Media last June, the Muslim Brotherhood stepped up their terror operations in Egypt while the Obama administration continued to court the group.
In January 2015, the State Department received a Muslim Brotherhood delegation just one day before the group published a declaration of jihad against the Egyptian state on their official website.
In that same article, I discussed my April 2014 trip to Egypt, where I toured many of the Coptic churches looted and torched by the Muslim Brotherhood in August 2013, including hard-hit areas in Upper Egypt like Minya, Delga and Assiut:
During the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Reign of Terror” in August 2013, local affiliates openly encouraged the attacks on the Coptic churches, including this justification for violence posted on the group’s Helwan Facebook page:
When I visited the destroyed monastery in Delga, including the 4th and 7th century churches there, Muslim Brotherhood graffiti could be found inside the burned-out churches and on the bell tower. When I asked the head Coptic priest of the Delga monastery how he could be sure it was the Muslim Brotherhood that led the mob that ransacked and set fire to the buildings, he said the local Brotherhood leaders were leading the mob when they entered the monastery and directed the attack.
Having been a witness to the destruction of the Muslim Brotherhood’s three-day terror campaign in August 2013 and their continued terror attacks against the Egyptian police and military, Rep. Trott has a point. Muslim Brotherhood officials, including their spokesmen, incite violence and terrorism:
MB’s call for violence here is very explicit: https://t.co/hhHHpHAEbe It’s calling for retribution and cutting off heads from rotten bodies.
— Eric Trager (@EricTrager18) May 18, 2015
It will become harder for the Brotherhood’s D.C. think-tank cheerleaders to defend the group’s ongoing terror escalation.
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