Could the US Finally Declare the Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Org?
Plus, Georgetown's president heads to the Hill
Long time coming: The Muslim Brotherhood is already designated as a terror outfit in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Syria, and Bahrain. American efforts to follow suit, including those that came during the first Trump administration, have thus far failed. Donald Trump's return to the White House, however, prompted a fresh push to designate the Brotherhood—and now, there's a new Senate bill that would do just that.
The legislation, which Ted Cruz is set to introduce today, has early endorsements from several GOP senators and pro-Israel organizations. Cruz expects it to gain bipartisan support, a source familiar with the bill said, largely because of its structure. Past legislative efforts have attempted to designate the Brotherhood's nebulous global operation from the top down. But not all Muslim Brotherhood branches are violent, making it difficult for them to meet the criteria for designation. Cruz's bill, then, would catalog the violent branches first, then designate the global Muslim Brotherhood for supporting them.
"This approach, congressional sources told the Free Beacon, draws from President Donald Trump's successful 2017 bid to sanction Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which employs tactics similar to those used by the Muslim Brotherhood," our Adam Kredo writes. "The Trump administration created the legal justification to designate the IRGC as an FTO by targeting the group's violent affiliates."
In the hot seat: Georgetown University's interim president will testify before the House today on campus anti-Semitism. Don't be surprised if the school's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding enters the conversation.
The center is part of Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, and roughly 25 percent of its graduates enter government positions around the world. Its founder, Islamic studies professor John Esposito, "has long defended terrorist groups and collaborated with jihadist figures," our Zach Kessel reports. The center's current director, Nader Hashemi, once suggested that the Mossad could have been behind the assassination attempt against novelist Salman Rushdie. In the middle of it all is roughly $1 billion that has flowed to the school from Hamas-friendly Qatar.
"Esposito’s scholarly and professional history includes many instances of either the defense of or support for terror groups and figures," writes Kessel. "When asked whether Hamas was a terrorist organization during a 2000 interview with the Middle East Affairs Journal, for instance, Esposito hedged. 'One can’t make a clear statement about Hamas,' he said. 'One has to distinguish between Hamas in general and the action of its military wing, and then one has also to talk about specific actions.'"
Buh-bye now: The U.N. founded a "Commission of Inquiry" to probe the "root causes" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2021. Its days appear to be numbered—because all three commissioners leading the panel resigned this week, according to watchdog group U.N. Watch.
The exodus comes "less than a week after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced U.S. sanctions against U.N. special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese for her 'illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt [International Criminal Court] action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives,'" our Alana Goodman writes. "Albanese, as the Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this month, wrote 'threatening letters' to a variety of companies across the globe in which she warned them to cut business ties with Israel or face 'potential criminal liability.'"
Though the commission's chairwoman, Navi Pillay, said she resigned due to "age, medical issues, and the weight of several other commitments," U.N. Watch said she "seemed to be motivated by the sanctions."
READ MORE: Anti-Israel UN Commissioners Resign En Masse After Trump Sanctions
In other news:
Uh oh, Joe: Former president Biden "did not individually approve" the names of thousands of federal convicts granted clemency, instead allowing his staff to finalize the sweeping pardons and commutations using an autopen, the New York Times reported after reviewing White House internal emails.
Donald Trump announced that he will provide Ukraine with "top-of-the-line" weapons through NATO and that, if no peace deal is reached within 50 days, he will impose 100 percent tariffs on countries doing business with Russia.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can move forward with its plans to fire more than 1,000 Education Department workers.
Israel killed the Hamas terrorist who held Emily Damari captive, and she celebrated in a Monday post: “This is the face of evil. A face I will never forget. So glad to know he is no longer in our world.”
Our full lineup is below.
Lets hope so. the Muslim religion is a religion of hate and violence. The origin of the Muslim religion is an advertisement for the guy who called himself Mohammad's family city. the advertisement worked and soon his city needed more land. hence the attacks on neighbors began. the attacks have never stopped.
If you think real estate developers are greedy evil people then you shoudl knwo the Muslim religion is the worst of the bunch. That is why lying to people who are not Muslim is blessed by the Muslim religion. That is why killing non-Muslims is blessed. its like the ultimate real estate developer or use car salesman's code of conduct.