The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), an Muslim Brotherhood umbrella group in Europe, has blamed the republication of the controversial Danish cartoons on unidentified “forces of extremism.” According to an article posted on the new FIOE website:
The insulting cartoons, which had previously caused embarrassment to Denmark internally and externally, were republished in Denmark, challenging the feelings of a billion and a half Muslims.When these drawings had been published for the first time, Denmark held a conference for dialogue with the participation of some Muslim figures, with the aim of calming the situation and spreading the culture of peaceful dialogue and coexistence.However, some ‘forces of extremism’ assert, through republishing the offensive drawings, their refusal to respect the human feelings and the dignity of the other, disguised under the banner of freedom of speech. This happened in spite of the fact that harming people will never and has never achieved the interest of the Danish people; rather, this may damage the image of tolerance that is known of them. We, in the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe (FIOE), have no doubt that these forces – despite their fewness in number – can cause a social gap within the Danish society, in a way that negatively affects the social peace. Republishing the odious drawings by the main Danish newspapers may be clear evidence on how the se deviant forces can impose their rejected opinion on the majority. While strongly condemning this unjustified insistence on harming Muslims, we call upon the sane majority within Denmark to constrain the minority that claims freedom of opinion and speach as a pretext for spreading their grudge.
The global Muslim Brotherhood universally refers to an assortment of plots and conspiracies directed toward Muslims usually referring to unidentified “special interests” and sometimes specifically to the Jewish community. As a recent post discussed, Youssef Qaradawi, putative leader of the global Brotherhood, blamed “Zionism” for the cartoons. Qaradawi is the head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, a central organization of FIOE.