CAIRO/DALLAS: A new set of evidence introduced in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial in the United States prove that the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) have long planned a takeover of the country, a group of US terrorism researchers claim.
The evidence included previously classified memos and audiotapes translated from Arabic into English, which allegedly contain detailed strategies by the MB of an ambitious plan to seize the US, replacing the Constitution with Islamic Law, and starting a so-called civilization-jihadist process.
According to Dallas News, a strategy paper for the Brotherhood seized in the house of a “co-conspirator in the Holy Land case, stated that “the Ikhwan, or Brothers, must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God s religion is made victorious over all other religions.
Establishing an observant Islamic base [in the US] with power and effectiveness will be the best support and aid to the global movement, the outline said.
Douglas Farah, a former foreign correspondent for the Washington Post and think tank consultant on terrorism issues, argued that the new evidence is an “unprecedented inside look into the history of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States.
The fundamental thing underlying the Brotherhood ideology is the need to establish the caliphate, or an Islamic form of government, Farah continued. That s what the documents show: This was a structured, organized movement here.
However, Peter Mandaville, Islamic scholar and director of the Center for Global Studies at George Mason University, emphasized that while the new evidence is important, it may be “irresponsible to place too much emphasis on it.
Those documents have to be read as internal communications that on some levels have elements of boasting and bravado, he said. The writer wants to tell impressive tales about the work they re doing. Remember, these guys are affiliated with the most radical part of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mandaville argued.
Several high-ranking members of the MB in Egypt that Daily News Egypt contacted were unfamiliar with the case and therefore denied to comment on the accusations.
Islam Lotfy, lawyer for several of the MB members currently standing military tribunal in Egypt, stressed that “the Brotherhood in the US are following the rules of the country and is not breaching any laws.
They are not engaging in any terrorist activity, Lotfy added.
The Holy Land Foundation, formerly known as the “Occupied Land Fund, was incorporated in 1992 to “find and implement practical solutions for human suffering. Its efforts to do so centered mostly on Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza.
For her part, Livni said, “We today declared that the Gaza Strip is a hostile territory. What this means is that although when it comes to humanitarian needs we have responsibility, all needs which go beyond humanitarian needs will not be supplied by Israel to the Gaza Strip.
The international community have in general condemned the Security Cabinet decision with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon saying in a statement that “such a step would be contrary to Israel s obligations towards the civilian population [of Gaza] under international humanitarian and human rights law.
Spokesperson at the Israeli embassy in Cairo Shani Cooper-Zubida told Daily News Egypt that “Israel doesn’t mean to cause a humanitarian crisis, but in the last month we have had two major missile attacks. No state in the world would suffer this. We have been living in this for five years
“After we tried everything with and without Hamas we came to the conclusion that this is the only way, she added.
Hamas and rivals Fatah for once shared a common stance, with both coming out against the decision. Hamas declared it “collective punishment while Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decried “this arbitrary decision [that] will contribute to reinforcing the asphyxiating blockade that is hitting 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and aggravate their suffering.
In Gaza, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy was crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer on Thursday as they conducted a military incursion in Al-Bureij refugee camp.
