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The Hill
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Congress should designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization
The Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025 was introduced last week by six Republican senators, and in the House by by Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), co-chairs of the Friends of Egypt Caucus. The bill, which seeks to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, updates one that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) first introduced in 2015 and repeatedly since. This time, he has been joined by Republican Senate colleagues Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.). As McCormick told me, the 'Hamas Terrorists … proudly call themselves 'one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood' … which has aided and abetted some of the worst actors in the world for decades.' Indeed, the U.S. has considered Hamas a Foreign Terrorist Organization since October 1997. The findings in the bill include the statement that 'Muslim Brotherhood branches have sought to destabilize and undermine United States allies and partners throughout the Middle East, including in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, and have been outlawed as a terrorist group by the governments of those countries.' Indeed, the U.S. would hardly be the first nation to label the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group. The Egyptian government under the rule of King Farouk banned the Islamist organization in 1948. When he rose to power in 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser again banned the Brotherhood after he asserted that one of its members had attempted to assassinate him. Syria's Assad regime likewise banned the Brotherhood in 1980, meting out the death penalty for membership. Syria's new government, led by the former jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa, has retained both the ban and the penalty of capital punishment for Brotherhood membership. More recently, America's closest regional allies have followed Syria's lead. These include Bahrain, home to the American Fifth Fleet; Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of which host U.S. military bases; and Egypt, home to the Navy's Medical Research Unit Three, the region's largest biomedical research laboratory. Egypt outlawed the Brotherhood in 2013, following the chaotic presidency of the Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi and the accession of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The following year, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE all outlawed the organization; the last of these did so after claiming that its affiliates had tried to overthrow the government. Most recently, Jordan, also home to U.S. military bases, designated the Brotherhood as an illegal organization on April 23, believing that the Brotherhood had been trying to overthrow the Hashemite regime beginning in 2021. The government unearthed the plot two years later and it arrested 16 members of the Brotherhood, leading to the ban. Critics of Cruz's previous efforts to declare the Brotherhood a terrorist organization have argued that his legislation would prompt Islamophobia in the U.S. That argument falls flat in light of the several Arab states that have already banned the group. It is true that many of the organizations that support the legislation can be identified as proponents of Israel, whose creation the Brotherhood actively opposed. Brotherhood fighters participated in the 1948 war against the fledgling Jewish State, and its Hamas affiliate does so today. Nevertheless, when Egypt and Syria first banned the Brotherhood, they were both bitter enemies of Israel. The Gulf countries that followed suit in 2014 likewise did not have relations with Israel at the time that they outlawed the group. Clearly, their actions were driven by their concern for internal stability and regime protection, rather than any particular sympathy for Israel. It is noteworthy that Russia — hardly a friend of the U.S. or for that matter Israel — has also banned the Brotherhood. And France, a vehement critic of Israel's operation in Gaza, has imposed restrictions on the organization that fall just short of an outright ban. It is therefore high time that the White House follow the lead of its Arab allies and support the congressional initiative to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as the terrorist organization that it is. Indeed, doing so would be consistent with the overall policy of the Trump administration. Trump has no love for Hamas and more than anything else seeks to foster stability in the Middle East, if only to begin to extricate the U.S. from that tempestuous region. Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy undersecretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.
Spectator
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Spectator
The problems with a state of Palestine
France intends to recognise a state of Palestine at the United Nations, which I'm sure will be followed by UK recognition of the same. We can be sure of this because the UK does not have an independent foreign policy when it comes to the Middle East. Inside or outside of the European Union, London's stance on Israel and the Palestinians has become indistinguishable from the position of the European Commission. The European Commission simps for the Palestinians and Britain simps for the European Commission. I take the somewhat contentious view that Britain should simp for itself, which is why in my occasional (read: incessant) Coffee House posts recommending, beseeching, UK recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel I have made a case based on the British national interest. Israel's medical innovations, advanced technology, and unparalleled intelligence on Islamist extremism makes it an invaluable ally for the UK. Israel is a country that acts out of self-interest and respects other countries that do the same. National self-interest is a concept not only alien to Britain's governing class but something they consider dirty and shameful. The flaws inherent in France's decision will apply also to Britain's eventual announcement. If there is a state of Palestine, where is it? Applying the 1949 armistice lines, Palestine would consist of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), Gaza and eastern Jerusalem, but the Palestinians exercise de facto sovereignty over only parts of these territories. Jerusalem is controlled entirely by Israel, Gaza's land and sea boundaries by Israel and Egypt, and Judea and Samaria by a combination of the Israeli military and, in a handful of cities, the Palestinian Authority. Palestine is a state without effective authority over its claimed territory and unable to enforce its borders. If there is a state of Palestine, what kind of state is it? Mahmoud Abbas is in the 20th year of his four-year term as president of the Palestinian Authority, fresh elections having been postponed indefinitely on the quite reasonable grounds that he would have lost. The state of Palestine, if it exists, is not a democracy. That covers where and what Palestine is, but who exercises sovereignty in this supposedly sovereign state? Under the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority is the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, but the Palestinians' claimed territory has been effectively split for two decades now. After Hamas won the 2006 legislative elections, breaking Fatah's long-running stranglehold on Palestinian politics, the two parties proved incapable of cooperating. A brief civil war the following year saw Gaza severed from Palestinian Authority control and run autonomously by Hamas, which has served as its de facto government ever since. If there is a state of Palestine, which is its legitimate government? Hamas won the last election, but is not to the tastes of western leaders. The Fatah-leaning Palestinian Authority is favoured in European capitals, but has refused to allow elections. These are not mere theoretical questions. If a state of Palestine exists and includes Gaza, it is a state in which citizens of a neighbouring state are being held against their will. States have an obligation to prevent the taking or holding of foreign hostages on their territory. This convention will be weakened if the international community recognises Palestine without pressing that state to uphold its duties, putting nationals of all countries at greater risk of being taken captive. Similarly, Gaza has been used by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups to launch rockets into Israel while Palestinians have regularly travelled from Judea and Samaria, as well as eastern Jerusalem, to carry out terror attacks against Israelis. States have a duty to prevent and suppress terrorism, including that carried out from their territory against another state. Since the last serious challenge to its authority saw the Palestinian Authority lose part of its claimed territory to a terrorist group, it is not at all clear that Palestine could fulfil this obligation. Recognition of Palestine also raises the question of human rights and discrimination. Under Palestinian law it is a capital crime to sell property to an Israeli. Will Palestine recognisers be pushing for this legislation to be repealed? Then there is the matter of the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, third holiest in Islam and a significant place for Christians too. The complex is run by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf and all but one of its functioning gates is for the use of Muslims only, with non-Muslims forced to enter and exit via a single gate for the kafir. Israel cooperates with this arrangement in order to keep the peace in a territory where the international community says it is not the lawful sovereign anyway. If this part of Jerusalem is now to be considered the sovereign territory of a state, that state will have to decide whether to permit segregation on the basis of faith to continue under its laws. It would be unfortunate if it does, but at least we'd get to savour the spectacle of NGOs, human rights activists and international law professors flushing everything they've previously said about 'apartheid states' down the memory hole. What of the fate of the Israelis who live in Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem? Even if we accept that settlements are illegal – which I don't – their residents are civilians who have lived in these areas for a considerable time. Some were born there to parents who were also born there. There are vanishingly few examples in modern times of civilian settler populations being transferred peacefully. The Palestinian Authority has previously said it would not permit a single Israeli to remain in a Palestinian state. By what means does it intend to achieve this population transfer? How will it enforce the removal of Israeli civilians who attempt to remain in their homes? And, just so we can keep track of these things, would the transfer of 750,000 Jews out of the State of Palestine be the good kind of ethnic cleansing or the bad kind? These are just a few of the many practical problems with recognising a Palestinian state, although none are as prohibitive as the unhappy truth that every time the Palestinians have been offered a state they have rejected it, more often than not followed by violence. Their representatives have in the past made formal statements recognising Israel, but in practice Palestinian leadership and civic society has dug itself deeper into a trench of anti-Semitism and extremism. Until earlier this year they routinely paid stipends to the families of terrorists killed or imprisoned in the course of attacking and murdering Israelis. There continue to be Palestinian schools and summer camps where children dress up as terrorists and play-act mock attacks on Israel. It remains socially acceptable to give sweets to children to celebrate the slaying of Israelis. No amount of recognitions or declarations, not by the French or the British or anyone else, can will into existence a Palestinian state or the leadership, civil society, or norms required to build and sustain one. For decades European and at times even American policy has proceeded from the certainty that the absence of a Palestinian state was the result of Israeli opposition to the idea, and so they have concentrated pressure on Jerusalem in the mistaken belief that a Palestinian state is something Israel can give the Palestinians. Israel can give territory, the world can give recognition, but the only people who can give the Palestinians a state are themselves.
The Irish Sun
3 hours ago
- Health
- The Irish Sun
Israel to allow foreign aid to parachute into Gaza but continues bombardment despite growing global pleas for ceasefire
ISRAEL will allow foreign aid to parachute into Gaza despite continuing its relentless onslaught. Horror scenes of mass starvation have sparked an Advertisement 7 A mother cradles her 18-month child in Gaza where fears of famine are growing Credit: Getty 7 Smoke billows over destroyed buildings after an Israeli airstrike Credit: AFP 7 Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen Credit: Reuters 7 A boy cries as he tries to receive food in the under siege territory Credit: Getty Aid groups warned this week Palestinians are on the brink of famine with one in five children suffering from malnutrition, with UN warning civilians are becoming "walking corpses". But Israel has denied responsibility, Aid drops into the territory will be managed by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, an Israeli official said. Despite the concession, Advertisement Read more on Gaza here Explosions from fresh overnight strikes rocked the besieged coastal strip, with Israeli Defence Forces troops continuing to advance on Hamas lairs. The terrorists are still hiding out within civilian communities after the cornered Islamist group repeatedly rejected ceasefire terms. French president Macron held emergency talks over the crisis today with UK PM Sir Keir Starmer who called conditions in the 25-mile enclave 'unspeakable and indefensible'. Advertisement Most read in The US Sun Starmer has already declared statehood is Palestinians' 'inalienable right' but has yet to officially declare recognition. Humanitarian workers have reported seeing children 'emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying' without urgent treatment, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UNRWA relief agency said. Parish priest Gabriel Romanelli is being treated after Israel hit Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza Starmer said: 'We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe. 'The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible. While the situation has been grave for some time, it has reached new depths and continues to worsen.' Advertisement Gaza's health ministry - which is controlled by Hamas - said 82 of 113 hunger-related deaths recorded there so far are Palestinian children. But scores of desperate, innocent civilians have been killed queuing for food aid amid claims of IDF atrocities. US and Israeli negotiators in Qatar walked out of ceasefire talks on Thursday after Hamas submitted a list of 'impossible' demands. They reportedly included the release of more prisoners in exchange for hostages, including captured commandos involved in the October 7 attacks. Advertisement He added that the terror group's 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza' was the reason US negotiators had been recalled. 7 Smoke and flames rise from a residential building hit by an Israeli strike Credit: Reuters 7 Injured Palestinians are transported to hospitals Credit: Getty Advertisement 7 Thousands gather in Tel Aviv to protest the ongoing attacks on Gaza Credit: Getty Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv's Habima Square on Thursday for a protest demanding Israel's strongman PM Benjamin Netanyahu end the Gaza war and return the hostages. Netanyahu has been accused of prolonging the bloodbath to save his political skin - and deflect blame for the security lapses which enabled Hamas to carry out the October 7 horror. The rally, which began with a moment of silence for fallen soldiers, was joined by parents of hostages, parents of soldiers, and reservists demanding and end to the war. Advertisement Retired military commander Major General Noam Tibon said at the rally: 'In the beginning, this was a just war after 22 months, this war no longer has a security purpose. 'The war has turned into a political war, and while the best of us are falling in Gaza.'
Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
France's top court says arrest warrant for Assad is invalid, new one can be issued
FILE PHOTO: A billboard with a picture of Syria's Bashar al-Assad shows damage by bullet holes, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo PARIS - France's highest court ruled on Friday that an arrest warrant for former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was invalid as it was issued when he was still in office, but said a new warrant can now be issued as he is no longer a sitting head of state. French investigating magistrates issued the warrant in November 2023 following a French investigation into chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian city of Douma and Eastern Ghouta district in August 2013 that killed more than 1,000 people. Then-President Assad's government denied using chemical weapons during the country's civil war that began in 2011. Assad was toppled last December by Islamist rebels whose leader is now the interim president. The Court of Cassation's decision overturns one made by the Paris Court of Appeal, which ruled last year that the warrant was valid. Prosecutors, who would need to ask police to carry out the warrant, challenged its validity. "International custom does not allow any exception to the personal immunity of a foreign head of state during the entire duration of their term in office, even when the alleged acts constitute genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity," the Court of Cassation said in a statement. "The arrest warrant issued at a time when this person was the head of state of Syria is therefore invalid ... However, an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity can now be issued since this person no longer holds the position of Head of State." 'MISSED OPPORTUNITY' Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore SMRT to pay lower fine of $2.4m for EWL disruption; must invest at least $600k to boost reliability Singapore MRT service changes needed to modify 3 East-West Line stations on Changi Airport stretch: LTA Singapore S'pore could have nuclear energy 'within a few years', if it decides on it: UN nuclear watchdog chief Asia Live: Thailand-Cambodia border clashes continue for second day Life 'Do you kill children?': Even before independence, S'pore has always loved its over-the-top campaigns Singapore Lung damage, poor brain development, addiction: What vaping does to the body Singapore Fine for couple whose catering companies owed $432,000 in salaries to 103 employees Singapore Kopi, care and conversation: How this 20-year-old helps improve the well-being of the elderly Mariana Pena, senior legal officer at Open Society Justice Initiative which helped gather evidence against Assad, described the court's ruling as "a missed opportunity for justice." But she said the fact that France's top court had agreed to hear the case signalled a growing willingness to challenge immunity. This, she said, was also reflected in "today's decision which leaves the door open to the prosecution of Assad" now that he is no longer in office. Separately, French officials issued a warrant in January against Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes, notably the launch of a deliberate attack on civilians, as part of a inquiry into the case of Salah Abou Nabour, a Franco-Syrian national, who was killed in 2017 in a bombing strike in Syria. Assad fled to Russia in December 2024 when insurgent forces swept through the country in a rapid offensive, ending over 50 years of rule by his family. While arrest warrants against sitting heads of state are rare due to immunity protection, international law has exceptions when that leader is accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. France allows the filing of crimes against humanity cases in its courts. REUTERS
Scottish Sun
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
Israel to allow foreign aid to parachute into Gaza but continues bombardment despite growing global pleas for ceasefire
Aid drops will be managed by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates GAZA HELLHOLE Israel to allow foreign aid to parachute into Gaza but continues bombardment despite growing global pleas for ceasefire ISRAEL will allow foreign aid to parachute into Gaza despite continuing its relentless onslaught. Horror scenes of mass starvation have sparked an international outcry after Israel restricted supplies to the territory. Advertisement 7 A mother cradles her 18-month child in Gaza where fears of famine are growing Credit: Getty 7 Smoke billows over destroyed buildings after an Israeli airstrike Credit: AFP 7 Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen Credit: Reuters 7 A boy cries as he tries to receive food in the under siege territory Credit: Getty Aid groups warned this week Palestinians are on the brink of famine with one in five children suffering from malnutrition, with UN warning civilians are becoming "walking corpses". But Israel has denied responsibility, blaming Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's population. Aid drops into the territory will be managed by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, an Israeli official said. Despite the concession, Israel is keeping up its heavy bombardment in the face of global ceasefire please and huge protests in Tel Aviv. Advertisement Explosions from fresh overnight strikes rocked the besieged coastal strip, with Israeli Defence Forces troops continuing to advance on Hamas lairs. The terrorists are still hiding out within civilian communities after the cornered Islamist group repeatedly rejected ceasefire terms. French president Emmanuel Macron yesterday ramped up pressure on Israel to halt fighting by announcing his nation would become the first in The West to recognise a Palestine state. Macron held emergency talks over the crisis today with UK PM Sir Keir Starmer who called conditions in the 25-mile enclave 'unspeakable and indefensible'. Advertisement Starmer has already declared statehood is Palestinians' 'inalienable right' but has yet to officially declare recognition. Humanitarian workers have reported seeing children 'emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying' without urgent treatment, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UNRWA relief agency said. Parish priest Gabriel Romanelli is being treated after Israel hit Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza Starmer said: 'We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe. 'The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible. While the situation has been grave for some time, it has reached new depths and continues to worsen.' Advertisement Gaza's health ministry - which is controlled by Hamas - said 82 of 113 hunger-related deaths recorded there so far are Palestinian children. But scores of desperate, innocent civilians have been killed queuing for food aid amid claims of IDF atrocities. US and Israeli negotiators in Qatar walked out of ceasefire talks on Thursday after Hamas submitted a list of 'impossible' demands. They reportedly included the release of more prisoners in exchange for hostages, including captured commandos involved in the October 7 attacks. Advertisement Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff branded Hamas 'selfish' and suggested that the group 'does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith'. He added that the terror group's 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza' was the reason US negotiators had been recalled. 7 Smoke and flames rise from a residential building hit by an Israeli strike Credit: Reuters 7 Injured Palestinians are transported to hospitals Credit: Getty Advertisement 7 Thousands gather in Tel Aviv to protest the ongoing attacks on Gaza Credit: Getty Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv's Habima Square on Thursday for a protest demanding Israel's strongman PM Benjamin Netanyahu end the Gaza war and return the hostages. Netanyahu has been accused of prolonging the bloodbath to save his political skin - and deflect blame for the security lapses which enabled Hamas to carry out the October 7 horror. The rally, which began with a moment of silence for fallen soldiers, was joined by parents of hostages, parents of soldiers, and reservists demanding and end to the war. Advertisement Retired military commander Major General Noam Tibon said at the rally: 'In the beginning, this was a just war after 22 months, this war no longer has a security purpose. 'The war has turned into a political war, and while the best of us are falling in Gaza.'
