The Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, tied to a U.S. Brotherhood organization, has issued a statement calling on the Jordanian government to renounce its peace treaty with Israel and to boycott the planned US-sponsored Middle East meeting. According to a Lebanese newspaper the statement from the Islamic Action Front (IAF) said:
Since the signing of the peace treaty with Israel, freedoms and the rights of citizens have retreated in an unprecedented way. Political and economic reforms have stopped…We call on Jordan and other Arab and Muslim countries to boycott the autumn meeting, and not be involved in a conspiracy of normalization [with Israel].
“Normalization” is a word often used by anti-Israel groups to refer to peaceful relationships with that country.
The Washington Post has reported that Ishaq Farhan, a long-time IAF leader and former Education Minister, was prevented from entering the U.S in May 2000 even though he was carrying a diplomatic passport and was made to pay for his own ticket back to Jordan. Subsequently, a State Department official reportedly visited his home, issued him an immediate visa and passed on the United States’ “deep regret for the difficulties Dr. Farhan experienced.” The Post report indicated that Farhan had been on his way to a Virginia board meeting of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) which, according to corporate registration documents, he helped to found in 1985. A recent report posted on the Arabic language IIIT site indicates that Dr Farhan is also a current trustee of the Jordanian branch of IIIT. Dr. Farhan’s difficulties with immigration authorities may have been the result of his reported associations and support of the Hamas infrastructure in the U.S. that, as recently released documents have revealed, was part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood that also includes IIIT Government documents also have revealed that IIIT was also engaged in the financial support of Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) through contributions made to PIJ leader Sami Al-Arian and to the defunct Florida-based Palestinian think tank, known as the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, or WISE.