As America's Arab Muslim Allies Move Against the Muslim Brotherhood, 'Smart Set' Doubles Down on Support

Patrick Poole | 12:07 PM on June 23, 2017
(Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Today Kuwait handed Qatar a list of demands from other Arab countries — many of them American allies — demanding the end of support for terrorist organizations:

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One of the cardinal demands is that Qatar stop funding the Muslim Brotherhood, a demand that was made clear when this crisis erupted earlier this month:

Interestingly, in addition to Qatar’s funding of the Muslim Brotherhood efforts to destabilize Arab countries throughout the Middle East, the country ensured that it would not be threatened by dismantling Brotherhood operations inside Qatar decades ago:

Yet as much of the Arab world moves against the Muslim Brotherhood, including the largest Arab Muslim country in the world (Egypt), the Washington, D.C. think tanks, establishment media, and pro-Brotherhood elements inside the U.S. government are doubling down on their support of the group.

This effort to move against our Arab allies in support of the Muslim Brotherhood was seen when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during a Senate hearing last week that designating the Muslim Brotherhood would be “problematic”:

Immediately, Qatar-funded Al-Jazeera and Middle East Eye — both specifically named in the Arab allies’ demand to Qatar — jumped on Tillerson’s comments:

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This is a major reversal from comments he made just a few months ago, including during his Senate confirmation hearing:

This reversal comes just weeks after one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s terrorist wings threatened the U.S. Embassy in Cairo:

This is not the first time that the State Department has undermined Trump’s stated support for the Arab allies’ coalition against Qatar:

Of course, entrenched elements within the U.S. government have been working to undermine any efforts by the Trump administration to take action against the Muslim Brotherhood, such as the CIA leaking to media allies a report making the risible claim that designating the group would lead to more extremism:

But as I reported here at PJ Media at the time, going back to the end of the Bush administration the CIA directly funded the “moderate Muslim Brotherhood” narrative:

The U.S. government support for the Muslim Brotherhood took root immediately during the Obama administration with Obama signing Presidential Security Directive (PSD) 11 in 2011 which ordered U.S. government departments and agencies to back the group in the Middle East and North Africa:

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Hillary Clinton’s State Department was key in organizing U.S. government support for the Muslim Brotherhood:

Clinton authorized Muslim Brotherhood leaders to get VIP treatment when entering the U.S.:

Senator Charles Grassley later discovered that Muslim Brotherhood leaders tied to terrorist financing were placed on a “hands off” list by the State Department and Homeland Security:

That support continued at the State Department under John Kerry:

Top Muslim Brotherhood leaders visited the State Department in January 2015:

White House officials were present at those meetings:

And when news of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders’ visit broke, the State Department got caught engaging in a cover-up:

And just a few days later, the Muslim Brotherhood openly declared violent jihad against the Egyptian government:

And, of course, those same Muslim Brotherhood leaders greeted by the White House and the State Department also have met with terrorist leaders, such as the head of Hamas:

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The New York Times waded into the controversy over Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood by backing both groups against the rest of America’s Arab allies:

It’s not just the New York Times, as virtually the entire U.S. media establishment has come out against any efforts to designate the Muslim Brotherhood — even branding such efforts as an attack on all Muslims, with the Washington Post, NPR, Foreign Policy and the Huffington Post all joining the pro-Brotherhood chorus:

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Interestingly, a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader said earlier this year that they had invested $5 million in public relations efforts in the U.S. to defeat any terror designation of the group:

How much of that $5 million was directed at getting pro-Brotherhood pieces published in the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Foreign Policy and Huffington Post?

The Washington, D.C. foreign policy establishment is also firmly against taking any action against the Muslim Brotherhood:

And so have the D.C. think tanks, in particular, the Brookings Institution:

Perhaps not coincidental to their open opposition to designating the Muslim Brotherhood, the Brookings Institution has received tens of millions from the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

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And Brookings just signed a new funding agreement with Qatar last month:

Given the efforts of our major Arab allies to move against the Muslim Brotherhood, the Trump administration is reportedly revisiting the terror designation issue:

And efforts on both sides of Capitol Hill continue to encourage the administration to designate the Muslim Brotherhood:

But in addition to the Muslim Brotherhood’s $5 million public relations push against the terror designation effort, along with the support from U.S. think tanks, the establishment media, and pro-Brotherhood interests inside the U.S. government, the Brotherhood itself is trying to derail such congressional efforts:

Refusing to take action against the Muslim Brotherhood may damage our relations with a number of Arab countries trying to put an end to the group’s malignant influence in the region:

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https://twitter.com/nadeemmalik/status/871646203817021440

Jordan, too, has made efforts to dismantle their Muslim Brotherhood affiliate:

The elected Tobruk faction of the Libyan government has followed the lead of these other countries and designated their Muslim Brotherhood affiliate, which openly cooperates with Ansar al-Sharia:

As has Israel:

And even Nigeria:

Strangely, at this point the U.S. has taken a more hardline stance in support of the Muslim Brotherhood than most of the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia. Is that the side we want to take — against the majority of our Middle East allies?

Patrick Poole
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]

Patrick Poole is a national security and terrorism correspondent for PJMedia. Follow him on Twitter.
Category: HOMELAND SECURITY
Tags: HOMELAND SECURITY

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