B’nai Brith Canada on Friday called on Ottawa to designate the Muslim Brotherhood’s chapters in the Middle East as foreign terror groups, citing the U.S. government’s Nov. 24 decision to sanction them.
In a missive to Canadian Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree, the Jewish group noted reports that the Muslim Brotherhood’s chapters in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan have financed Palestinian Hamas, which Ottawa designated as a terror group under the Criminal Code in 2002.
“Canada has long understood that democratic societies endure only when they draw firm lines against movements that organize, finance, and legitimize violence,” said B’nai Brith Canada CEO Simon Wolle.
Formally designating the Lebanese, Egyptian and Jordanian chapters of the group “would address upstream entities that have supported, enabled, and coordinated with a listed terrorist organization, strengthening the coherence and effectiveness of Canada’s counterterrorism framework,” added Wolle in his letter.
President Donald Trump two months ago signed an order directing the U.S. secretaries of state and the treasury to consider designating chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations.
Trump’s executive order specifically highlighted the activities of the Lebanese, Egyptian and Jordanian chapters as a threat to the United States.
It cited as an example the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel, during which “the Lebanese chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood joined Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian factions to launch multiple rocket attacks against both civilian and military targets within Israel.”
The U.S. State Department on Jan. 13 labeled the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of designations, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group.
The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by the Treasury Department as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
