By Al Ahed Staff, Agencies
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin labeling certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood [MB], making specific mention of chapters in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan.
Trump plans to label the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign threat, using existing law, while Congress also pushes similar measures, raising concerns about unilateral US actions abroad.
Middle East Eye previously asked George Washington University professor Nathan Brown, an expert on Middle East politics, whether the Muslim Brotherhood poses a threat to US national security; he responded, “None at all.”
The US president also has broad authority under Executive Order 13224 to use the Departments of Treasury, State, and Justice to block property, and impose sanctions and travel restrictions on groups the government deems hostile or threatening.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in August that the foreign threat designation was “in the works.”
“Obviously, there are different branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, so you’d have to designate each one of them,” Rubio told a radio talk show, adding that the State Department is engaged in a process to assess the various branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, calling it a “process which I didn’t fully appreciate until I came into this job”.
Trump’s move to designate the Muslim Brotherhood is a continuation of efforts that started during his first administration.
Trump apparently began pushing the move in earnest after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the White House in the spring of 2019, according to a New York Times report.
At the time, Trump’s national security advisor, John Bolton, and Mike Pompeo, the former Secretary of State, supported the move, while US government lawyers, defense officials and career national security staff voiced objections, the paper reported.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced earlier this month that he was designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR] – the largest civil liberties group for American Muslims – as both hostile foreign groups and transnational criminal organizations.
That decision has a local impact and stops both groups "from purchasing or acquiring land" in the state of Texas, Abbott said.
The proclamation also grants the state's attorney general leeway to sue the groups accordingly.
The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1920s Egypt, is an Islamic political movement that gained prominence after the 2011 uprisings but was suppressed after Morsi’s 2013 ousting. Though banned in several Arab states, it retains regional influence through affiliated parties, fueling tensions among Gulf powers and complicating US policies toward the group.
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