The UAE newspaper The National has posted an article suggesting that the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan is facing an increasingly deteriorating situation. The article, written by a UK doctoral student, begins:
Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood
March 2, 2014 In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the conventional wisdom that what is taking place in Egypt has far-reaching echoes across the region is proving to be true. Jordan is no exception.
After the Egyptian army’s removal of Mohammed Morsi from office, and the subsequent clampdown on the Muslim Brotherhood there, the increasingly strained relationship between the Jordanian government and Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood has entered a new phase, predominantly characterised by criticism, anxiety and mutual distrust.
Emboldened by events in Egypt, the Jordanian government has recently arrested and put on trial many active members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and stepped up its antagonistic rhetoric and policies against the organisation and its prominent figures.
Pro-government columnists, especially in the government-controlled Al Rai newspaper, for example, have accused the group of being anti-democratic, opportunistic and seeking to impose strict religious rules. Analysts also pointed out that the group’s leaders are loyal to an international organisation that has an external agenda completely opposite to the Jordanian public’s interests.
For its part, the Muslim Brotherhood continued its three-year policy of criticising the Jordanian government, and it led the opposition movement, a coalition of tribal and secular and Islamic forces.
The last three years of rocky developments have left its devastating toll on relations between the two parties. These relationships were transformed from being relatively peaceful and sometimes based on partnership as they had been in the 1950s and into troubled and increasingly critically sensitive ones.
Jordanian media reported in July 2013 that Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood was “in shock” over the deposition of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. GMBDW coverage on the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood has included:
In September 2013, the GMBDW reported in that the King of Jordan had said that the political arm of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood is part of the political life of his country.
In August 2013, the GMBDW reported that that the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood was boycotting municipal elections.
In July 2013, the GMBDW reported that the leader of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood had delivered speeches in which he called peace negotiations with Israel “a heresy, according to Islamic law” and that Palestine is “the graveyard of the Jews.”
In April 2013, the GMBDW reported that a leader of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood had rejected agreements signed by the country’s king and the Israeli government and that leaders of the Brotherhood wold not meet U.S. officials.
In July 2012, the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood was involved in the cancellation of a scheduled attendance by a Jordanian delegation to an educational conference being held in Israel. In June 2012, the head of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood called the arrival of the latest convoy in Gaza “a new page of the Jihad against the occupation of the Palestinian territories. In May 2012, the Jordanian Brotherhood elected a new leader, described as a “hardliner.”
Extremist statements made in the past by the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood include:
Praising Turkey’s decision to expel the Israeli ambassador and calling on Jordan and Egypt to do the same.
Demanding punishment for those in Jordan who may have warned Israel about the terror attacks in Eilat.
Calling the French ban on full face veils “the beginning of a dangerous battle.”
Suggesting that Israel might be behind a bomb attack on an Egyptian Coptic church.
Support for Sudanese President Omar al- Bashir, accused by the International Criminal Court of genocide in Sudan.
