Just weeks ago, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order triggering a review of chapters and offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood for potential terrorist designations. But critics and even some allies say the administration is too cozy with Qatar, a Muslim Brotherhood hub, for the sanctions to work.
And now, Republicans in Congress may be letting Qatar off the hook as well.
A bill last week to designate the Muslim Brotherhood, independent of executive action, passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
However, the Republican-led committee passed an amendment by voice vote, which stripped out key provisions that would have mandated the designation not only of Muslim Brotherhood branches, but the entity in its entirety.
A voice vote means no member could be placed on record giving and up or down vote.
With the amended language, only Muslim Brotherhood chapters deemed to pose a national security threat would be subject to scrutiny and potential sanctions.
“The bill reported out of committee this week codifies the Trump administration’s bold efforts to counter the Muslim Brotherhood,” said a statement from the office of committee chair Rep. Brian Mast (D-Fla.). “This is one part of a broader process to work directly with the administration as they advance toward imposing a full designation. There should be no question about the House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans’ commitment to holding terrorist groups accountable, and we are in lockstep with the administration doing so.”
The bill would still need to come up for a full House vote, and a Senate companion bill, fronted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), thus far includes the original language.
Meanwhile, Trump administration officials are coming under fire for participating in Qatari events and trips to Doha, with FBI director Kash Patel, a former consultant on behalf of Qatar, traveling there earlier this week to sign security and intelligence cooperation agreements.
Asked about Republicans’ stance on Qatar, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a proponent of designating the Muslim Brotherhood, told JNS: “You have to really ask them about that, but I can just tell you have to sleep with your eyes open when you’re dealing with our friends over there.”
He said backers of the effort will continue to move things along on the congressional side, regardless of the White House position.
“You’ve got to make sure you hold everyone accountable and watch them, and that’s what I’ll do. And if we don’t see any movement, we’ll start talking to people,” Gottheimer said.
‘There’s tons of evidence’
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), a lead sponsor of the bill, also told JNS that Congress needs to move forward independently of the administration.
“We shouldn’t be doing everything by EO (executive order). It’s part of the problem. Congress needs to grab its power back,” Moskowitz said.
The sanctioning of the Muslim Brotherhood should be a no-brainer based on the actions of those who know them best, Moskowitz told JNS.
“The Saudis, the Emiratis, the Jordanians, the Egyptians, they say they’re a terrorist organization. The folks that are from their neighborhood, they have declared them a terrorist organization,” he said. “So we’re behind France, we’re behind the U.K., we’re behind Bahrain, we’re behind. And it’s clearly because of lobbying influence by different targets.”
A French state-commissioned report issued in May that accuses the Muslim Brotherhood of waging a covert campaign to subvert France’s values and institutions, with French President Emmanuel Macron ordering the drawing up of plans to counter the group’s Islamist influence.
“There’s tons of evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood is supporting and funneling money for terrorist organizations, and that’s why I’m doing the bill on a bipartisan basis. And I think if it comes to the House floor, it’ll pass.”
Should the Senate version pass intact, it will need to be conferenced with the House version to iron out differences, potentially ending with the reinsertion of the original language in the House bill.
