Global media is reporting on statements by the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood that Israel and the US are the main losers in the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. According to a DPA report:
The Muslim Brotherhood movement in Jordan, the country’s main opposition group, described Saturday the downfall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as a “historic victory” with the United States and Israel as the main losers. “The victory scored by this revolution is in the first place directed against the United States, which so far sponsored the toppled regime, and wanted it as a strong ally and defender of the Zionist entity and an enemy of the Arab jihad and resistance movements,” the group said in its first reaction to the developments. It advised the U.S. and other western governments “to realize the lesson inferred from the victory of Egyptian revolution by acting seriously to change their policies towards this region.” The group also said that the political changes should send “a clear message” to Israel, which “thought that its security has been secured” by a 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he hopes whichever government rules Egypt will respect the treaty. Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab states to have concluded official peace treaties with Israel.
Earlier posts reported on demonstrations organized by the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood during the crisis.
The Islamic Action Front (IAF) is generally considered to be the political wing of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood. The current leader of the IAF is Secretary-General Ishaq Farhan a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, one of the three founders of the IAF, and a former education minister and senator. Mr. Farhan is also listed as a director of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), founded in the U.S. in 1980 by important members of the Global Muslim Brotherhood who wished to promote the “Islamization of Knowledge.” IIIT was associated with the now defunct SAAR Foundation, a network of Islamic organizations located in Northern Virginia that was raided by the Federal government in March 2002 in connection with the financing of terrorism. In 2000, Mr. Farhan was denied entry to the U.S. after having had his visa revoked in the prior year without informing him. The New York Times reported at that time that unidentified American diplomats called Mr. Farhan a “moderating force” and that he “as kept a distance from the vociferous opposition to peaceful relations with Israel.” However, in 2003 a media report said that the IAF had “declared a jihad in favor of Iraq and Palestine if the US attacks Iraq.”
Previous posts have discussed the support for Hamas provided by the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood.
To see all GMBDW coverage of developments, go here.
For GMBDW coverage on the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, go here.