Jordanian media is reporting that the French ambassador to Jordan has said that France has been “engaged” with the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. According to a report to a MERI translation of a Jordanian news report:
French Ambassador to Jordan Corinne Breuze told the Jordanian daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm that France has been engaged in dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. Breuze said that this dialogue began before the demands for reform in the kingdom, and that it is a legitimate dialogue, being held with a movement that operates legally and rejects violence. Breuze further said that Jordan is providing logistical assistance to NATO bombing in Libya.
Source: Al-Arab Al-Yawm (Jordan), August 3, 2011
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 and one of the three founders of the IAF. He is also a former education minister and senator. Mr. Farhan is 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.”