The Brotherhood: America's Next Great Enemy Read Online Free PDF Page B

during a visit to an Egyptian mosque, Mohammed Morsi himself took part in prayers that called for Israel’s destruction, mouthing “amen” as a cleric railed: “Oh Allah, absolve us of our sins, strengthen us, and grant us victory over the infidels. Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, disperse them, rend them asunder.” 33
    Also in October 2012, Mohammed Badie, the Brotherhood’s Cairo-based Supreme Guide and overall global leader, declared:
    The time has come for the Islamic nation to unite around one man for the sake of Jerusalem and Palestine. The Jews have dominated the land, spread corruption on earth, spilled the blood of believers and in their actions profaned holy places, including their own.
    Zionists only understand the language of force and will not relent without duress. This will only happen through holy Jihad, high sacrifices and all forms of resistance. The day they realize we will march this path and raise the banner of Jihad for the sake of God, is the day they will relent and stop their tyranny. 34
     
    Badie’s jihadist bile isn’t reserved solely for the Jews, mind you. After all, a proper Islamist can’t take a swipe at the Little Satan, Israel, without also hitting the Great Satan for good measure. In an October 2010 speech that amounted to a virtual declaration of war against the United States, Badie railed against “Zionist-American tyranny” and predicted triumphantly that the United States was “heading towards its demise.” Two months later, the so-called Arab Spring began, with the U.S. government enthusiastically backing—you guessed it—none other than Mohammed Badie’s Muslim Brotherhood and its satellites across the Middle East and North Africa.
    Understand that Badie’s statements about America and Israel are not the ravings of a low-level, fringe cleric in some back-alley Suez mosque. He and Morsi are arguably the two most influential and powerful Muslim Brothers in the world . Their influence may only be topped by that of the movement’s Spiritual Guide, Yusuf al-Qaradawi—the third person in what is essentially an Ikhwan Unholy Trinity.
    In 1999, al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian native now based in Qatar, was banned from entering the United States because of his terror ties. 35 Nevertheless, the octogenarian preacher remains the equivalent of a jihadi rock star in the Muslim world. He hosts a top-rated weekly television show, called Sharia and Life , on Al-Jazeera television that is seen by tens of millions of Muslims across the Middle East. He also runs a heavily trafficked website called IslamOnline.
    Islam may not have the equivalent of a pope, but al-Qaradawi, whom the Anti-Defamation League calls a “Theologian of Terror,” 36 is just about the closest thing to a galvanizing religious authority in the Sunni Muslim world. And he’s Brotherhood, through and through. Indeed, he has been offered the position of MB Supreme Guide (the overall global leadership role Badie currently fills) on at least two occasions, but turned it down because he felt he could have more impact for the movement in other capacities. 37 Given his massive, multi-media global presence, it’s hard to argue with al-Qaradawi’s decision.
    “Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi is more than just an ideologue,” Middle East expert Walid Phares told me in a 2012 interview. “He is also a strategist. We’re talking about a Lenin here—a jihadi Lenin who controls the flow of the ideology but also gives the nod with regards to general strategic direction. He’s the mentor today for the Muslim Brotherhood.” 38
    Al-Qaradawi has used his position as the Brotherhood’s chief Islamic jurist to sanction suicide bombings against American troops, as well as against Israeli women and children, and to praise Hitler as a divine instrument of Allah who put the Jews “in their place.” 39 Yet in late 2011, reports surfaced that the Obama administration was using him as a key mediator in peace talks