Israel urges Egypt to ‘fight terrorism together’

From Al Arabiya.

Israel urges Egypt to ‘fight terrorism together’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on Egypt to “fight terrorism together” after a bombing killed 25 people in a Coptic Christian church in Cairo.

“Israel condemns the reprehensible terrorist attack at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo,” a statement from the premier’s office said.

“Israel shares in the grief of the families of the victims and of the Egyptian people. We must unite forces and fight terrorism together.”

Sunday’s was the deadliest attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt since 2011, when more than 20 were killed outside a church in the northern coastal city of Alexandria.

Media in Israel say the Jewish state and Cairo cooperate in the struggle against jihadists fighting Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

Israel gave its green light for the Egyptian army to use tanks, aircraft and infantry against jihadists in the Sinai, which was demilitarized under the peace treaty the two countries signed in 1979.

Car bomb attack kills 8 soldiers in Egypt’s Sinai

Have you ever simply taken the time to contemplate just how many instances of Muslim on Muslim death occurs each and every week of every year in the Middle East?

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Car bomb attack kills 8 soldiers in Egypt’s Sinai

Eight Egyptian soldiers were killed in a car bomb attack targeting a checkpoint in Sinai, where the local affiliate of the ISIS group is leading an insurrection, the army said Thursday.

“A group of armed terrorists attacked one of the security checkpoints in north Sinai,” the army spokesman said.

“A car bomb attack, the clashes that ensued and a blast targeting one of the vehicles left eight members of the armed forced dead.”

Egyptian Air Force reportedly kills 70 ISIS-SP terrorists

Some might call this "effective retaliation".....

The story comes from YNET News

Egyptian Air Force reportedly kills 70 ISIS-SP terrorists

In aerial strikes less than a day after a senior Egyptian general was killed, the Arab Republic's injures the same number of terrorists that it take out in the northern Sinai Peninsula.

Dozens of terrorists were killed overnight Saturday in Egyptian military air strikes on the cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zwede in the Sinai Peninsula, according to the Arabic-language version of Sky News.

The attacks were aimed at targets of the ISIS-Sinai Province branch of the international terrorist organization in the peninsula. Despite travel warnings, many Israelis were holidaying in the Sinai last week.

Security sources said that the attacks were focused on the city of Balaa west of Rafah and that some 70 terrorists were killed and another 70 injured. According to the Sky News Arabia report, the attack also destroyed vehicles used by ISIS-SP. Further, Egyptian Army forces reportedly thwarted an attempt to carry out a terrorist attack with four explosives in the northern Sinai.


The air strikes came several hours after Brigadier General Adel Rajaaie, an armored division commander who had served in the region, was shot dead outside his home on the outskirts of Cairo. A newly-emerged militant group calling itself Louwaa el Thawra, or the Revolution Brigade, claimed responsibility for the attack on a Twitter account that was suspended shortly after the claim.

The Four Step Plan of ISIS To Capture Egypt

What?  You don't think ISIS has the goal of one day ruling over the pyramids?  Egypt is large on the ISIS list and this article from DEBKA talks about the four step strategy for ISIS to gain control of Egypt.

ISIS infiltrates Egyptian special forces, joins with Hamas to occupy N. Sinai, liquidate Sisi

Islamic State affiliates in Sinai and Libya have banded together with the Palestinian Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip for the shared goals of capturing northern Sinai from the Egyptian army and staging an assassination coup against President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi, debkafile’s exclusive military and intelligence sources report.

They are in the throes of four steps for promoting their objectives:

1. Monday, June 29, a rogue group of Egyptian Special Forces accessed the heavily-guarded upscale Cairo district of Heliopolis to plant a bomb car, which they remotely detonated as the convoy of their target, Egypt’s general prosecutor Hisham Barakat, went by. He was killed on the spot. The assassins were members of the Egyptian elite force which had defected to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Three weeks later, on July 16, notwithstanding reinforced security in Heliopolis, ISIS killers reached inside the neighborhood once again and planted a roadside bomb. It was detonated as an Interior Ministry special forces security patrol moved past.

Because of the tight official blackout on the event, there are no reliable accounts on casualties. The authorities in Cairo reported that one Egyptian soldier was injured, but this is no doubt only part of the picture.

The following day, July 17, a violent clash erupted In the Talibiya neighborhood of Giza near the pyramids between Egyptian Special Forces and Muslim Brotherhood’s underground cells. Five MB adherents were reported killed, but again no word on military losses.

2. On July 1, ISIS forces launched their most ambitious offensive to date against Egyptian military and police facilities in northern Sinai. Still ongoing three weeks later, the losses the Egyptian military have sustained to date are estimated at 120 dead and hundreds injured. Though fighting fiercely, Egyptian troops have not been able to repel the continuous Islamist assault or contain its advance through the northeastern section of the peninsula.
Tuesday, July 21, Hamas terrorists arrived at ISIS positions in northern Sinai for a joint assault on the base of the Multinational Observer Force at El Gorah, not far from the embattled town of Sheik Zuwaid. It was the first major attack on the US-led force that was installed in Sinai to monitor the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace accord – and is still going on..

Here, too, the MFO command and Cairo have combined to impose a blackout on the situation in the camp and the extent of casualties..

3. On July 17, the Islamic state of Sinai sank an Egyptian coast guard vessel with a sophisticated guided Kornet anti-tank missile. The ship was patrolling the Mediterranean shore of Rafah to prevent the smuggling of arms and fighters from Egypt proper and Libya into northern Sinai. This was a landmark incident in that it was the first time ISIS is known to have sunk an adversary’s vessel at sea.

Cairo reported at first that a fire broke out on the ship and there were no casualties.

4. On July 22, an audio message began making the rounds in Cairo and other Egyptian cities claiming to be the voice of Hisham al-Ashmawy, an Egyptian Special Forces officer who defected to ISIS. He said the country had been “overpowered by the new pharaoh” and called on all Egyptians “to come together to confront the enemy.” The message concluded with the words: “Do not fear them, but fear Allah if you are true believers.”

Western and Middle East counter-terror experts have concluded that it was Hisham al-Ashmawy who orchestrated the assassination of the general prosecutor last month. They tag him as the leader of the group of Egyptian officers and men who defected to ISIS. Egypt’s elite military units would appear therefore to be heavily penetrated by the Islamic State.
For Egyptian rulers this is a recurring menace. Thirty-years ago in October 1981, President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by a senior Egyptian intelligence officer who had secretly joined the radical Egyptian Islamic Jihad, one of Al Qaeda’s two parent groups, and went AWOL a short time earlier.

Mohammed Morsi Sentenced To Death By Egyptians, 72 Virgins Confused Whether To Prepare or Not

A lot of people complain nowadays that there isn't much "good news."  Well, today there is GREAT news as the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi, the guy Barack Hussein Obama propped up as the leader of Egypt, has been sentenced to death for his role in a series of prison breaks held during the uprising of 2011.

Yep.  Excellent news.

Like everything Barack Hussein Obama touches, it goes to HELL.

The story comes from DAWN.

Egypt sentences deposed president Morsi to death



CAIRO: An Egyptian court sentenced deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and more than 100 other defendants to death on Saturday over jail breaks during the 2011 uprising.

Morsi, sitting in a caged dock, raised his fists in defiance when the judge read his verdict.

Many of those sentenced were tried in absentia, including prominent Islamic cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi who resides in Qatar.

Under Egyptian law, death sentences are passed on to the mufti, the government's interpreter of Islamic law, who plays an advisory role.

The court will pronounce its final decision on June 2.

Morsi was spared the death sentence in the first of two trials that concluded on Thursday, in which the court advised death sentences for 16 defendants on espionage charges.

They had been charged with colluding with foreign powers, the Palestinian Hamas and Iran to destabilise Egypt.

The court will pronounce the verdicts for Morsi and the remaining 18 defendants in that trial at a later date.

The court then delivered its verdict in the other the case, in which Morsi and 128 defendants were accused of plotting jail breaks and attacks on police during the uprising that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. More than 100 were sentenced to death along with Morsi.

Many of the defendants are Palestinians alleged to work with Hamas in neighbouring Gaza, and were tried in absentia along with a Lebanese Hezbollah commander.

They were alleged to have colluded with Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood to carry out attacks in Egypt in what prosecutors allege was a vast conspiracy.

With this verdict, Morsi and other former opposition members have been condemned for violence during the anti-Mubarak protest, while Mubarak himself beat charges in a trial over the deaths of anti-government protesters during the 18-day revolt that toppled him.

Obama's Link To Al Qaeda: Former Egyptian Jihad Leader: Morsi Gave $25M to Al Qaeda

 Nabil Na'im, former leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and close confidant of current Al Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri


Let's put the pieces together - the Obama administration was in full support of the Arab Spring in Egypt, the Obama administration was in full support of the Muslim Brotherhood taking power in Egypt, and now it all comes full circle as the link between the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda is clear - so, put the Muslim Brotherhood together with al Qaeda and then steer your attention to Benghazi and I would say you have a pretty solid theory of why Barack Hussein Obama and Hillary Clinton made up the "Mohammed video" fairly tale.

The story comes from The Clarion Project.

Former Egyptian Jihad Leader: Morsi Gave $25M to Al Qaeda


Nabil Na'im, formerly a close confidante of Al Qaeda's leader, said the money was to help organize support for the Brotherhood.


Speaking on Haya TV, Nabil Na'im, a former Islamist who was the leader of Egypt’s Islamic Jihad and who was previously a close confidante of current Al Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri, asserted that during the reign of former Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi, Zawahiri was given $25 million from Muslim Brotherhood leader Khairat al-Shatter to organize, fund and assemble the jihadi groups “in order to support the Brotherhood.”

Al-Shatter, though not a member of Morsi’s government, was imprisoned after the overthrow of Morsi. Al-Shatter was asked for personally by John McCain during his visit to Egypt last summer after Morsi's ouster at which time McCain pushed for the reinstatement of the Brotherhood. U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson was reportedly seen visiting Shatter often.

Na'im has previously said that attempts by the U.S. to “reconcile” Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood was “nothing but a conspiracy by the American administration,” and that the Brotherhood, when in power, had betrayed Egyptian sovereignty, adding that ousted president Morsi granted Egyptian citizenship to more than 60,000 Palestinians, many of whom were in the ranks of the jihad.

Egypt sentences 529 Morsi supporters to death

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is about to become a smaller organization.

The story comes from DAWN.

Egypt sentences 529 Morsi supporters to death



CAIRO: A court in southern Egyptian has convicted 529 supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, sentencing them to death on charges of murdering a policeman and attacking police.

The court in Minya issued its ruling on Monday after only two sessions in which the defendants' lawyers complained they had no chance to present their case.

Those convicted are part of a group of 545 defendants on trial for the killing of a police officer, attempted killing of two others, attacking a police station and other acts of violence.

More than 150 suspects stood trial, the others were tried in absentia.

Sixteen were acquitted.

The defendants were arrested after violent demonstrations that were a backlash for the police crackdown in August on pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo that killed hundreds of people.

Egypt arrests 'Israel lover' for Star of David tattoo, contacting Israelis on Facebook

From The Jerusalem Post.

Egypt arrests 'Israel lover' for Star of David tattoo, contacting Israelis on Facebook

According to authorities, the man "made contact with Israelis through his Facebook page, and he clicked 'like' on the Mossad's Facebook page."


A 24-year-old Egyptian has been arrested by authorities in Egypt for allegedly committing the crime of "loving Israel."

National media outlets in our neighbor to the southwest have already given the "suspect" the moniker "Israel-lover," after he was spotted with a tattoo of the Star of David on his arm.

According to authorities, the man "made contact with Israelis through his Facebook page, and he clicked 'like' on the Mossad's Facebook page."

Authorities also allege that the man, who is currently unemployed, made contact with the Israeli and South Sudanese embassies in Cairo. He is also reported to have posted critical comments of the Egyptian government on his Facebook page.

While Israel and Egypt have had full diplomatic relations for 35 years, civilian contacts between Egyptians and Israelis are considered taboo in Egypt, the largest Arab country in the Middle East. In the first 30 years of Israel's existence, it fought three large-scale wars with Egypt, two of which ended in decisive victory for Israel.

In his online contacts with Israelis, the Egyptian was said to have professed his admiration for the Jewish state. He is also believed to have attempted to reach Israel through Sudan.

Local media even reported on a list of items that authorities say "prove the suspect's guilt": a Hebrew-Arab dictionary, $100 US, rifle rounds, and four identity cards, each of which indicate that he worked in a different place. He also was found to have a business card belonging to the South Sudan embassy. On the back of the card, he wrote, "Israeli embassy."

Authorities who investigated his Facebook page and his personal computer discovered that he clicked "like" on the Mossad's page as well as that of the IDF Spokesperson and other Israeli pages. He was also found to have downloaded pictures of Israeli soldiers and officers as well as other figures waving the Israeli flag.

According to local media reports, the man admitted that "while he worked as a driver in a tourist resort in Sinai, he traveled to Sharm el-Sheikh in 2011, met an Israeli woman, and tried to enter Israel by way of local Beduin who work in smuggling infiltrators into Israel."

Gunmen kill 6 Egyptian soldiers at checkpoint

The Muslim Brotherhood doesn't go quietly....


From Times of India.

Gunmen kill 6 Egyptian soldiers at checkpoint


CAIRO: Egypt's state news agency said gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by the military police in a suburb north of Cairo on early on Saturday, killing six of them, officials said.

Separately, the country's most active militant group said that one of its founding leaders was killed when a bomb he was carrying was set off by a car accident.

Maj General Mahmoud Yousri, chief of security of Qalubiya province, told MENA that the attackers stormed the checkpoint in Shubra al-Kheima. Health ministry official Zakariya Abed Rabbo said six soldiers died.

Yousri said explosive disposal experts managed to defuse two bombs left behind by the attackers, but the experts detonated a third bomb which they were unable to defuse.

A statement issued by armed forces spokesman, Col Ahmed Mohammed Ali, said an armed group which belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood "terrorist group" attacked the soldiers after they finished their dawn prayers.

"These cowardly operations will only increase our determination to continue the war against terrorism," he said.

Egyptian authorities say the Brotherhood has orchestrated a series of bomb attacks on police and other targets that followed the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Islamist group.

They have produced little evidence open to public scrutiny to bolster these claims, and most have been claimed by a Sinai-based al-Qaida-inspired group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis or Champions of Jerusalem. The Brotherhood denies the attacks.

In a statement posted early Saturday on militant websites, the Ansar said one of its founding leaders, Tawfiq Mohammed Freij, was killed Tuesday when an accident set off a "heat bomb" he was transporting in his car. It did not say where the accident took place.

It said Freij, also known Abu Abdullah, was one of the founders of the group, who masterminded the group's tactic of blowing up pipelines to stop Egyptian gas supplies to Israel.

It called him the "field commander" of an August 2011 cross-border attack into southern Israel that targeted a bus and other vehicles near the resort city of Eilat, killing eight people.

The statement's wording suggests that Freij moved from either Sinai or Gaza to Cairo or elsewhere in Egypt in early 2013 to supervise the group's operations, including a failed suicide car bomb attack on Interior Minister Mahmoud Ibrahim in Cairo in September 2013.

The statement could not be independently authenticated, but militant groups regularly use the websites to make announcements.

Egyptian Tourist Bus Full of South Korean Pilgrims Hit By Islamic Terrorist Bombing, 4 Killed...14 Wounded

No one in this world escapes the blood thirst of Muslims.

No one.

The story comes from The Jerusalem Post.

4 killed, 14 wounded as tourist bus in Egypt's Sinai explodes en route to Israel


Egyptian Interior Ministry says bus full of South Koreans was traveling from St. Catherine's Monastery, a popular tourist destination in the south Sinai, to nearby Israel when it was attacked.

CAIRO - An explosion on a tourist bus in Egypt's Sinai peninsula killed three Koreans and the Egyptian driver on Sunday, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said, an apparent turning point in an Islamist insurgency that has gained pace since an army takeover in July. Fourteen other Koreans were injured in the blast.

The ministry said the bus was traveling from St. Catherine's Monastery, a popular tourist destination in the south Sinai, to nearby Israel when it was attacked.

It did not state the cause of the blast. But two security sources said an explosive device planted either inside or near the bus was used.

Al-Qaida-inspired Islamist militants based in the largely lawless Sinai have stepped up attacks on security forces since army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted elected president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July.

If militants were behind Sunday's attack, that would mark a shift in strategy to targeting tourists and economic targets and not just Egyptian police and soldiers.

State television showed a photograph of the bus. Its windows were blown out and the roof had been partially torn off. Plumes of black smoke billowed from the site of the explosion on a palm tree-lined boulevard.

Egypt has been rocked by political turmoil and violence since the downfall of Morsi, Egypt's first democratically-elected president, in July, after mass protests against him.

Since he was deposed, Islamist militants based in the largely desolate Sinai near Israel have stepped up attacks on security forces, killing hundreds.

Morsi appeared in court on Sunday on charges of conspiring with foreign groups to commit terrorist acts in Egypt.

Two Bombs Go Off On the Edge of Cairo, 6 Hurt

I put up this story just to show that the Muslim Brotherhood and the al Qaeda elements in Egypt continue to move closer and closer to striking at the heart of Egypt's center....and if the military of Egypt shows the slightest crack, the slightest inability to contain...all Hell on earth is going to break loose.

The story comes from DAWN.

Six hurt in blasts near Cairo: security sources



CAIRO: Two explosive devices detonated on Friday near a police checkpoint in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, wounding six people, the government and security sources said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts.

The Interior Ministry said four policemen were wounded.

State news agency MENA quoted the Health Ministry as saying six people were hospitalised, but did not specify their injuries.

Egypt has seen a wave of protests and violence since the army ousted elected President Mohamed Morsi last year amid mass protests against his rule.

Army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to run for president and is widely expected to win by a landslide in an election due within six months.

A Sisi presidency would be opposed by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, which the government has declared a terrorist group. It has launched a security crackdown against the movement, which rose to power after the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran leader Hosni Mubarak.

The Brotherhood denies any links to militants who have carried out attacks, including bombings in Cairo and the killing of an Interior Ministry official.

Egyptian Fighter Jets Hit Al Qaeda Camps In Sinai - 13 Jihadis Killed

From Times of India.

Airstrikes kill 13 Sinai militants: Egypt military


EL-ARISH(Egypt): Egyptian military aircraft pounded suspected positions of al-Qaida-inspired fighters in the Sinai Peninsula, killing 13 people, officials said today, as fears rise over an increasingly well-armed insurgency that is striking with increasing regularity in the capital.

In the latest attack, bombs on a highway on Cairo's outskirts hit a police truck.

At the same time, protests by Islamist supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi brought further violence, with clashes in several provinces.

In an eastern Cairo district, an attempt by pro-Morsi protesters to commemorate dozens killed in clashes a week ago turned into new battles with police and pro-military civilians that authorities said involved fire by automatic weapons.

The Islamist protesters had tried to set up a stage in Naam Square, blocks from the fighting last Saturday, when civilians descended on them, firing birdshot and throwing stones, participants in the protest said.

Islamists have been protesting nearly daily for months demanding the reinstatement of Morsi, and have been met with a heavy crackdown that has killed hundreds and led to the arrests of thousands since army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi removed the president on July 3. The deaths have brought a new tone from protesters one increasingly demanding vengeance.

"The demands in the first months after Morsi ouster was his reinstatement," said Hassan Farahat, one of the protesters at Naam Square. "But after all the massacres, the demand now is retribution and the execution of el-Sissi."

The military-backed government accuses Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating violence by Islamic militants and has officially declared the group a terrorist organization.

The Brotherhood denies the accusation, calling it a pretext for authorities to crush it.

Since Morsi's ouster, which followed giant nationwide protests demanding his removal, Sinai-based militants have stepped up a campaign of bombings, suicide attacks and shootings against police and soldiers, along with assassinations of senior security officials.

Last Saturday, militants downed a military helicopter in the northern Sinai, killing all five crewmembers.

The al-Qaida-inspired group that has claimed responsibility for most of the previous attacks Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or Champions of Jerusalem said it downed the aircraft, posting a video of a fighter hitting a helicopter with a shoulder-fired missile. The video suggested the group has gained access to more sophisticated weaponry.

Egyptian forces kill top militant commander in Sinai

From Times of India.

Egyptian forces kill top militant commander in Sinai


CAIRO: The top militant commander of al-Qaida linked Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad group was killed on Sunday by Egyptian forces during an operation in the Sinai peninsula.

Egyptian military spokesman Ahmed Ali announced that the commander of Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, Ahmed Hamdan Harb Malki alias Abu Mariam, was killed during operations aimed at securing the peninsula, which borders Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

"The military was able to kill three Islamist figures, including Abu Mariam, in an exchange of fire between the militants and the army," Ali said in a statement.

Egyptian forces have stepped up crackdown on Islamists in Sinai whose attacks on the army and police rose dramatically following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July, Al-Ahram Online reported.

Mariam's group was among the most active militant groups in Sinai, alongside with other jihadist groups such as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis and Al-Furqan.

According to Al-Ahram Arabic news website, 175 members of the armed forces have been killed in terrorist attacks, with 185 militants killed during security operations.

Gas pipelines in Sinai have come under attack on several occasions over the past three years, since the downfall of longtime president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Why the Obama Administration Won't Call The Muslim Brotherhood Terrorists

 Egyptian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood attack the U.S. embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11, 2012 (Photo: © Reuters)


The Muslim Brotherhood is an enemy of America.  The Obama administration aids them.  That is aiding and abetting the enemy.

The story comes from The Clarion Project.

Why the U.S. Won't Call the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorists


The Egyptian government formally labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group on December 25, banning all of its activities including protests. The Obama Administration, advised by Brotherhood-friendly groups in the U.S., is unlikely to follow in Egypt’s footsteps in calling a spade a spade.

The announcement came after the government blamed the Brotherhood for the suicide bombing of a police station in Mansoura. No proof was offered of Brotherhood involvement. A pro-Al-Qaeda group named Ansar Jerusalem, based in the Sinai Peninsula, took credit.

The Brotherhood may or may not be involved in that specific bombing in Mansoura, but that doesn’t mean it is peaceful. It has threatened to form a rebel armed force. After the Egyptian military’s crackdown on the Brotherhood began, Egyptians outraged by the response of the U.S. government and media posted eye-opening videos showing Brotherhood members threatening violence, attacking Egyptian security forces and churches, and putting children at risk for the sake of propaganda.

In addition, Brotherhood preachers continue to instigate violence in Egypt and abroad. The organization knows what it’s doing. Why officially engage in violence when individual members and Salafist allies will do so on their own accord, leaving room for deniability?

The labeling of the group as terrorists comes as the government prosecutes former President Morsi and many other Brotherhood operatives. Morsi is accused of involvement in a “terrorist plan” begun in 2005 to send Brotherhood fighters to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for training by Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The Obama Administration has decided to swim against the regional anti-Brotherhood wave, cutting aid to Egypt’s government and siding with the Brotherhood. The result is a realignment in alliances that pushes the Arab world into the arms of Russia.

It is extremely unlikely that the U.S. State Department will similarly designate the Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, even though it meets the qualifications. It is more likely that the administration will condemn Egypt’s latest action.

The State Department says there are three criteria a group must meet to be designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

First, the group must be foreign. The Brotherhood’s home base is in Egypt. Its International Organization reportedly moved to Tunisia. Turkey has become its“regional hub” and senior leaders are hosted in Qatar. Check.

Second, it must threaten U.S. nationals or national security, including the American economy. Its regional ambitions for a Caliphate undoubtedly threaten U.S. security. As for nationals, the Brotherhood has justified attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also steadfastly supports the terrorism of Hamas and other groups against U.S. allies.

In August 2012, I had an intriguing exchange with the Brotherhood’s English-language Twitter account. It started off with insulting me as “delusional” and a “scaremonger.” It later posted an article arguing that it opposes violence. I asked whether there were exceptions, such as for U.S. soldiers.

“Unless if they were aggressors and invaders of our lands no matter what nationality? Of course,” was the response.

I followed up by asking if the staging country of the “aggressors and invaders” would be an acceptable target in that scenario. The answer was, “Yes, according to International Law, it’s an act of war.”

Of course, the Brotherhood regularly slams the U.S. and its allies as “aggressors and invaders.” Therefore, as the Brotherhood indirectly admitted, the U.S. can be considered a legitimate target.

Thirdly, to qualify as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, the group must “engage in terrorist activity or retain the capability and intention to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism.”

That’s easy. Hamas is labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Hamas’s charter states that it is the Palestinian “wing” of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas changed its name in December 2011 to clarify that it is a “branch” of the Brotherhood. There is even video of Hamas leaders publicly pledging allegiance to the Brotherhood and, specifically, to its jihad.

Brotherhood apologists will argue that the group is not operationally supportive of Hamas terrorism, only ideologically. This is false. For example, the Treasury Department designated the Union of Good as a terrorist entity for financing Hamas. It is led by Yousef al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Brotherhood.

Israeli aircraft have conducted numerous airstrikes on Iranian rocket shipments to the Gaza Strip through Sudan and Egypt. Hamas does not have an independent structure in Egypt. It is obvious that the Brotherhood networks in Egypt helped manage this route.

It was also proven in court that the Muslim Brotherhood infrastructure in America is guilty of terrorist activity by financing Hamas. The Holy Land Foundation was a key U.S. Muslim Brotherhood component, managed under the Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee, until it was shut down in 2001 for financing Hamas.

When the Holy Land Foundation was found guilty in court in 2008, the Muslim Brotherhood was essentially found guilty. The two are one and the same.

Other U.S. Brotherhood components like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) were labeled unindicted co-conspirators in the trial. In 2009, Judge Solis upheld the labels because of “ample” evidence linking the unindicted co-conspirators to Hamas and the overall terrorism-supporting Brotherhood infrastructure.

Federal prosecutors separately confirmed the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s involvement in terrorism in a 2007 court filing. It stated:

From its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists … the conspirators agreed to use deception to conceal from the American public their connections to terrorists.

The Muslim Brotherhood fulfills all three requirements to be labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department.

There are three reasons why this has not happened: The Brotherhood’s lobby, ignorance and fear.

The political influence of the Brotherhood lobby is enormous. President Obama even addressed the annual convention of a U.S. Brotherhood entity in September. It continues to advise the administration, just as it did the two before it. The impact can even be seen on the Department of Homeland Security.

The lobby’s influence triggers the second factor: Ignorance. Politicians, media figures, even counter-terrorism personnel are left in the dark.

Then, there’s the third factor: Fear. Designating the Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization would be messy.

Dozens of mosques and Islamic centers would be raided and the most powerful Muslim-American organizations would be shut down or, at least, publicly investigated. The outcry of “Islamophobia” would be louder than ever as news cameras repeatedly aired footage of federal agents entering mosques.

The global Brotherhood apparatus would go into anti-American overdrive and some of those refraining from violence would reconsider. It would spark outrage from Muslim governments and organizations around the world, especially from “ally” Qatar and NATO member Turkey.

None of these excuses are acceptable. If a group qualifies as a terrorist organization, it needs to be treated as such, regardless of convenience. The facts speak for themselves: The Muslim Brotherhood is a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

John Kerry, Barack Obama and al Qaeda Only Ones Left Supporting the Muslim Brotherhood In Egypt

This beyond outrage, this is beyond disbelief, this is beyond suicidal.  This is bordering on treason by the POTUS and the State Department.

America is endangered by the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt has now designated the MB as a terrorist organization and still, America's leader and his Secretary of State stand behind this extremist Islamist group.

Egypt has declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and enemy of the state.  When will America declare Barack Hussein Obama and John Kerry as enemies of our state?

The story comes from Times of Israel.

Kerry concerned by Egypt crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood


US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday expressed widespread concern over the military-backed Egyptian government’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, days after the once ruling group was designated a terrorist organization.

During a phone conversation with Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy on Thursday, Kerry condemned Tuesday’s suicide bombing in Mansoura that killed 16 people and the Thursday bombing that wounded five, but “expressed concern about the interim Egyptian government’s December 25 terrorist designation of the Muslim Brotherhood, and recent detentions and arrests,” according to a statement by State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Kerry and Fahmy “agreed that there can be no place for violence in Egypt and that the Egyptian people deserve peace and calm,” Psaki said.

But the secretary of state also “underscored the need for an inclusive political process across the political spectrum that respects the fundamental human rights of all Egyptians in order to achieve political stability and democratic change.”

A US official told Reuters that Egypt was going “way too far” in the crackdown, adding that the Obama administration had no intention of taking any action against Cairo in response, or following suit in labeling the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

On Thursday, Egypt’s security authorities launched a sweep of arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members and warned that holding a leadership post in the group could now be grounds for the death penalty after it was officially declared a terrorist organization, stepping up the government’s confrontation with its top political nemesis.

The announcement came as a bomb exploded in a busy intersection in Cairo Thursday morning, hitting a bus and wounding five people. Though small, the blast raised fears that a campaign of violence by Islamic militants that for months has targeted police and the military could turn to civilians in retaliation for the stepped up crackdown.

On Wednesday, Egypt’s military-backed interim government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, criminalizing all its activities, its financing and even membership to the group from which the country’s ousted president hails.

The announcement is a dramatic escalation of the fight between the government and group, which has waged near-daily protests since the July 3 popularly backed military coup that toppled President Mohammed Morsi.

Hossam Eissa, the Minister of Higher Education, read out the cabinet statement after long meeting, saying: “The cabinet has declared the Muslim Brotherhood group and its organization as a terrorist organization.”

He said that the decision was in response to Tuesday’s deadly bombing targeting a police headquarters in a Nile Delta city which killed 16 people and wounded more than 100. The Brotherhood has denied being responsible for Mansoura attack and an al-Qaiea inspired group has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing on Wednesday.

“Egypt was horrified from north to south by the hideous crime committed by the Muslim Brotherhood group,” Eissa said. “This was in context of dangerous escalation to violence against Egypt and Egyptians [and] a clear declaration by the Muslim Brotherhood group that it is still knows nothing but violence.”

“It’s not possible for Egypt the state nor Egypt the people to submit to the Muslim Brotherhood terrorism,” he added.

Riding to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Rescue

Barack Hussein Obama.  I will now refer to him as the "Tantrum President."  This man is like that kid you see on the floor of the Target store as he screams and flails his arms and legs because his mother won't let him have a bag of fun size Snickers bars.

You see, Barack Hussein Obama MUST get what he wants and if he doesn't he throws a tantrum and lashes out.  We here in America are seeing this right now as the "Tantrum President" has tried to make every American "pay" for the government shutdown.  At the same time, since Tantrum President Obama's best friends in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, were ousted from power he threw another fit and now he's lashing out and cutting aid to Egypt.  I guess the message is clear - Egypt, reinstall Mohammed Morsi and the Tantrum President will turn the flow of money back on.

Who is going to end up giving him his bag of Snickers first?

The story comes from Family Security Matters.

Riding to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Rescue


Was it madness, strategic illiteracy or personal sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood that prompted Wednesday's startling announcement that President Obama has decided to slash American support to the Egyptian military? Whatever the rationale, his spectacularly ill-advised decision reverses a generation of American statecraft and threatens the peace of an already unstable region.

Ordered by the president himself, the policy review began soon after Egypt's generals reacted to a popular uprising by overthrowing the Muslim Brotherhood-backed government of Mohammed Morsi. Though freely elected, the Muslim Brotherhood routinely acted as though killings, brutality and thuggish behavior were religious obligations. Meanwhile, Mr. Morsi grabbed every lever of power within reach, but couldn't make the trains run on time. When 30 million Egyptians took to the streets in July to demand Mr. Morsi's ouster, Egypt's top generals arrested him. They thus undid Egypt's first popular election in 5,000 years and set the stage for the American aid cutoff.

But every story has two sides. Egypt's well-respected foreign minister, Nabil Fahmy, has publicly compared the election of Mohammed Morsi to that of Adolf Hitler. So which is more accurate: the perceptions of the Obama administration - or the realities of the Cairo street?

As recounted in these pages, I recently joined a Westminster Institute delegation, the first private group of American military and media analysts to enter Egypt since last summer's unrest. We bypassed the pyramids, but talked extensively with generals, journalists, religious leaders and student revolutionaries. Most argued strongly that Mr. Morsi's overthrow was not a classic military coup d'etat, but the continuation of Egypt's ongoing democratic experiment.

Reinforcing their points was our encounter with Amr Moussa, head of the group now charged with writing Egypt's new constitution. He began by pointing out that the old constitution - 90 percent of it drafted by the Muslim Brotherhood - mysteriously omitted any impeachment provisions: "So what other choice did we have?" If Mr. Morsi's worst sin was "interfering with civil society" in the name of Islam, Mr. Moussa described his main effort as systematic democratic inclusion. Not only will religious toleration and separation of powers be established, but each sector of Egyptian society will be represented. At the end of this 6- to 9-month process, the new constitution will be submitted to a general referendum - followed by parliamentary elections.

I recalled his words while listening to Wednesday's magnificent condescension by the State Department spokeswoman. She promised that American aid might be restored if Egypt makes satisfactory progress in restoring democracy. Oh, really? Compared to what - Chicago? Actually, the real reason for the American aid cutoff has nothing to do with supporting the democratic reforms that Egyptians are already building quite nicely for themselves. Instead, the Obama administration, almost from its inception, has been suspiciously supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood and oddly tolerant of its bizarre policy objectives. Remember when James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, suggested that the Muslim Brotherhood was essentially a misunderstood Egyptian equivalent of the Rotary Club? The intimate connections between the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda are well understood, and Mr. Clapper is no fool; but he understands all too well how dangerous it is for an intelligence officer to be right when his president is so conspicuously wrong.

Because Egypt is the strategic linchpin of the region - as important to peace with Israel as it is to stability throughout Africa - expect the Russians to be aggressive in recapturing influence lost after the Camp David Accords secured Egypt's position as a key American ally. With characteristically adept footwork, Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to pick up the pieces left scattered across the Middle East chessboard by an administration as intent on adhering to its adversaries as it is to leading from behind. Assessing the Obama administration's dismal performance from Libya to Syria, K.T. MacFarland on Fox News convincingly argues that the next great American debate will be "Who lost the Middle East?"

Think the price of gas is high right now? Then what happens if Middle East oil supplies are disrupted by military pressures against the Suez Canal? Speaking of the Canal: What happens if our Navy's privileged access to that vital seaway is lost because of Egyptian displeasure over being cut off? And what might happen should Israel suddenly face the prospect of defending a front left relatively peaceful since the 1973 Yom Kippur War?

One last thing: Egypt will shortly be bringing Mohammed Morsi to trial. With Wednesday's aid cutoff, Mr. Obama has given his Egyptian counterparts every incentive to reveal secret dealings and maybe even White House complicity in the rise of Mr. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood - as well as any high crimes, misdemeanors or other madness that may have been committed.

Retired American Army Officer Found Dead Hanged In Egyptian Prison Cell

This is one of the weirder stories out there right now...have a read, I can't quite figure it out.

The story comes from The Telegraph.

Former US Army officer found hanged in Egypt police cell

A retired American army officer has been found dead in his cell in an Egyptian prison six weeks after being arrested for breaking the national curfew, raising concerns about worsening attitudes to foreigners in the country

Officials said that the man, named as James Henry Lunn, 55, was found hanged when prison officers in Ismailiya on the Suez Canal went in to deliver his breakfast.

Mr Henry had been arrested in Sinai in late August, amid a crackdown on movement of residents in Egypt and particularly in Sinai amid unrest following the removal of President Mohammed Morsi by the military.

Last month a Frenchman living in Cairo also arrested for breaching the curfew, Eric Lang, was beaten to death by fellow inmates in his cell.

Meanwhile, only last week, two Canadians, a doctor, Tarek Loubani, and a film-maker, John Greyson, who were arrested at the scene of a pro-Morsi demonstration in August, were released, describing how they had been beaten and humiliated in custody.

It is still not clear what Mr Lunn was doing in Sinai, though it is thought he might have been an amateur history enthusiast since police found historical documents and maps when he was arrested on Aug 27. He was said to have flown to Egypt from Bahrain two days before.

He has published a number of books online on conspiracy theories, including one about the US, Egypt and a "new world order".

The prosecutor’s report referred to an explosion at a police station the day before, and though there was no further statement as regards his involvement, it may have been this that caused him to be investigated further. His was also found with an “electronic device" which was later said to be a computer.

US embassy officials, who confirmed Mr Lunn’s death from an “apparent suicide", visited him last week. On Saturday, his detention was extended by a court.

Ever since the revolution of 2011, pro-army politicians and media have been spreading suggestions that the United States and President Barack Obama were deliberately trying to weaken Egypt, including by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. A map found at an office of a raided American NGO showing Egypt divided into four administrative parts was used to further a conspiracy theory that the US planned to break up the country by force or intrigue.

That has spilled over into attacks on foreigners in the street, which have continued since Mr Morsi was overthrown.

Meanwhile, the broader attempt by the military to exert control is being stepped up. The cabinet approved new measures to stop protests at the weekend, including a demand that 24 hours’ notice be given and that demonstrators not come within 50 metres of state buildings.

It also outlined the measures that can be used to break up protests, though little has been done so far to investigate the hundreds of people killed by police and the army during the crackdown, many by direct shots to the head and chest, including a 17-year-old boy only on Friday.

The New Wave of Islamic Terror Starts in Egypt

The story comes from The Telegraph.

Egypt: British teenager loses leg in Cairo bomb attack


A British teenager has lost her leg in a suspected suicide bomb attack in northern Cairo, described by the Egyptian interior minister as the "beginning of a new wave of terrorism".

No one was killed in the attack, the first in the capital since Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood-backed president, was deposed in July. But more than 20 people were injured.

Among the most seriously injured was Deqa Hassan, 16, a British girl of Somali origin who lived in Brixton but has been at school in Egypt where she lives with her parents. Last month, after a visit to Dubai, she wrote on Twitter that she was afraid of returning to Egypt because of the violence there.

She was taken to the nearby Nasr Medical Insurance Hospital where her left leg was removed to her knee.

"I was walking with my friend and at the end of the street we heard the sound of an explosion," she said from her hospital bed. "I just hit the floor. People were screaming everywhere. It was very scary.

"Eventually two policemen walked up to us. We were screaming for help but they just walked away. It wasn't human."



Speaking in a London accent, Deqa went on: "The people nearby were yelling that they were injured and being shot at."

She said she wanted to go back to Brixton, where she had spent her childhood before moving to Egypt.

She also said she was with a friend who broke her shoulder.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of reports that a British national was injured in the bomb attack and we are urgently looking into it and liaising with the authorities."

Alistair Burt, the foreign minister, issued a statement condemning the attack. "Violence cannot offer a way forward," he said.

Mohammed Ibrahim, who was appointed interior minister by Mr Morsi but supported his overthrow, was driving in a convoy near the ministry when the attack which police said "appeared to be a suicide bombing" happened shortly after 10.30am. He had previously said he had received death threats.

A man was heard to cry "Allahu akbar" after the explosion, which was followed by a brief gun battle which left bullet holes down the side of the minister's vehicle. Two men alleged to be attackers were said to have been killed by the security services.

The minister was interviewed shortly afterwards, saying that the attack had been by means of a "remote controlled device" – believed to be hidden in a motorcycle.

"It was a heinous attempt," he said. "Even if I am martyred, another minister of interior will come and continue the war on the evil terror until we secure the country."

Opponents of the military-backed regime's crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and its forced dispersal of protests with the loss of more than 1,000 lives have warned that it might trigger a violent response.

The government says that the Brotherhood itself has encouraged terrorism.

One of the few senior Brotherhood leaders not arrested or on the run, Amr Darrag, issued a statement condemning the attack.

It was witnessed by large numbers of people living in the middle-class Nasr City district of Cairo, home to both a number of bases of the security forces and of the mosque that became the centre of pro-Brotherhood protests after Mr Morsi was overthrown.

"People were running around randomly," said Raouf Mahmoud, 25, a doctor. "Two police cars were set on fire. Fifteen minutes later an ambulance came and took four or five people away.

"Then we heard some gun shots. They lasted for two or three minutes. After that we just saw the smoke and the fire, and we hear there are some bodies or remains of the people who died there."

The wreckage was strewn across the road, cars with their roofs peeled off and nearby shopfronts shattered.

Egyptian activists said they feared a return to the Islamist terror campaigns of the 90s, in which scores of people including western tourists were killed.

There have already been a number of militant attacks in the Sinai, which now has its own branch of al-Qaeda operating. However, this was the first major attack in the capital.

Egyptian Military Catches Jihadi Groups In Sinai Off Guard, Helicopter Gunships Kill Dozens

You gotta give the Egyptian military some credit as they hit jihadi groups hard in the northern Sinai today - it's almost like the military waited for all of the scumbags to keep gathering and gathering in the desert and then BAM!, the military helicopters hit them hard out of the blue - the report below talks about dozens killed...I'm guessing that is going to end up a conservative guess.

The story comes from Times of India.

Egyptian helicopters strike militants in Sinai

EL-ARISH, Egypt: An Egyptian security official says helicopters have rocketed militant hideouts in the northern Sinai Peninsula.

The official said the two helicopter gunships fired 13 rockets after surprising militant gatherings on Tuesday in two locations, al-Muqataa and Touma, south of the town of Sheikh Zuweyid near the border with Gaza.

He said "dozens'' of militants were killed and wounded but that fighting was still ongoing. He did not mention if there were yet any soldiers on the ground to assess the number of casualties.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity according to rules.

Attacks by Islamic militants surged in the lawless Sinai after the toppling of Egypt's President Morsi in a July 3 coup.

New Spiritual Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Is In Hiding In London

Mohammed Badie, 70, the Muslim Brotherhood's previous spiritual leader, was arrested last Tuesday morning in Cairo. Photo: REUTERS

From The Telegraph.

Muslim Brotherhood leader Gomaa Amin is in hiding in London

The new spiritual leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is living in hiding in London in fear of state-sponsored assassination, it can be disclosed.

Gomaa Amin is understood to have been made head of the Islamist organisation last week following the arrest of his predecessor in Cairo by Egypt’s military rulers.

Mr Amin, 79, had flown to London about two months ago for medical treatment and as a result escaped detention when the army seized power in a bloody coup.

He is now residing at an undisclosed address from which he is trying to orchestrate the Muslim Brotherhood’s response to the coup.

The presence of Mr Amin in London is a potential headache for British authorities who may be obliged to provide protection for such a senior and controversial figure.

The Muslim Brotherhood supports a caliphate, a unified Islamic state under Sharia law, and has been accused of fuelling religious tensions in the Middle East, particularly with the Christian minority.



Attacks on Christians in Syria and Egypt are highlighted in a new interview with Lord Sacks, the outgoing Chief Rabbi, who spoke of his grave concern for the religious minority.

“I think this is a human tragedy that is going almost unremarked,” Lord Sacks says in an interview with the Telegraph.

“I don’t know what the name for this is, it is the religious equivalent of ethnic cleansing. We are seeing Christians in Syria in great danger, we are seeing the burning of Coptic churches in Egypt.

“There is a large Coptic population in Egypt and for some years now it has been living in fear. I think sometimes Jews feel very puzzled that Christians do not protest this more vociferously.”

Lord Sacks’s comments - while not directly aimed at the Muslim Brotherhood which describes itself as a non-violent organisation - will turn the spotlight on the Brotherhood’s Egyptian leaders, who appear to be making the UK their base in exile.

There will may be concern that Mr Amin’s residency in London will attract militant Islamists. In the 1980s and 1990s, Britain largely operated an 'open-door’ policy allowing extremists to live in exile in London to escape persecution from authoritarian regimes in the Arab world.

So-called 'preachers of hate’ including Abu Qatada, Abu Hamza and Omar Bakri Mohammed used London as a base to radicalise young Muslims, who went on to commit or attempt terrorist atrocities both here and abroad.

Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood say it is wrong to liken the group to other Islamists which support al-Qaeda and other terrorist organisations.

The Muslim Brotherhood, through its political wing the Freedom and Justice Party, has instructed lawyers in London to investigate whether Abdulfattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian general at the head of the army, who deposed Mohammed Morsi, the country’s democratically-elected president, has committed crimes against humanity.

The team of lawyers includes Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, the former director of public prosecutions, and Michael Mansfield QC, who brought the private prosecution against the killers of Stephen Lawrence.

Legal actions may be brought at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague or else through a private prosecution in London.

If successful, Egypt’s new military rulers may face having their assets frozen in the West and even possibly arrest should they try to visit the European Union or other countries signed up to the ICC.

Mr Amin is understood to be heavily involved in bringing the case although lawyers refuse to identify individuals over fears for their safety.

Tayab Ali, a partner at human rights law firm ITN Solicitors who is head of the legal team, said: “It is really dangerous for Muslim Brotherhood members in exile in London.

"Nobody anticipated how extreme General Sisi’s interim government has been. It appears to be trying to exterminate the Muslim Brotherhood and wipe it out. Nobody will argue that the lives of the senior leadership are in danger and that includes those in London.”

There has been confusion over who is running the Muslim Brotherhood since the security crackdown. Mohammed Badie, 70, its previous spiritual leader, was arrested last Tuesday morning in Cairo.

His position appears to have been taken by Mr Amin, a deputy leader almost a decade older. Mr Badie defeated him in elections to the senior position in 2010.

The Muslim Brotherhood has refused to confirm the identity of its new spiritual leader but Mshariq.com, an Arabic news website, reported that an emergency meeting had taken place following Mr Badie’s arrest and Mr Amin given the role. It is not clear if he is an interim leader.

Mona al-Qazzaz, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spokeswoman in the UK, described Mr Amin as a senior leader who had arrived in London earlier in the summer.

She said: “He is one of the senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and he is here in London. He was here for medical checks two months ago.”

Mr Amin, a father of three, has been an official member of the Muslim Brotherhood since 1951 and for many years has been pursued by the Egyptian authorities.

He was jailed for six years between 1965 and 1971 for opposing the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser and was later put on a wanted list following the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981 - part of a mass round up of Muslim Brotherhood leaders - prompting him to live in exile in Saudi Arabia for four years

He was a vocal supporter of the Arab Spring and actively voiced calls for Sunni Muslims, who predominantly support the Muslim Brotherhood, and Shiites to unite against “a single enemy who [is] American Zionist”.

The scale of support for the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK is unclear but it is estimated that between 500 and 1,000 Egyptians living in London voted for the party through ballot at the Egyptian embassy in London. The majority of the 6,000 Egyptian citizens in London voted for alternative parties in the elections last year.