Sunday, June 08, 2008
The Muslim Brotherhood. I have always detested the Muslim Brotherhood, ever since they were the reactionary tool that served Saudi/U.S. interests in the Cold War. They also were the opposed to any progressive measure in Arab society over the decades, particularly in the area of women's rights and secularism. What is to like in the Brotherhood? Their rhetoric or their practice, when both are repugnant. I also recently found in an Egyptian magazine from 1948 (Al-Musawwar) that Hasan Al-Banna is the only Arab person/leader who actually had said that the aim "is to throw the Jews into the sea". Ahdman Shuqayri never said it, but Al-Banna said it. Of course, there is no attention paid in Western media to racist and genocidal statements made by Israeli leaders against Arabs, including an official Israeli military statement in 1967 which talked about "pushing" Arabs into the desert. But while I detest the Muslim Brotherhood everywhere--and their record on Palestine is only in the realm of yelling--I particularly detest the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. I have just read (I will not link to the Saudi website of sleaze, Elaph (which is banned in Saudi Arabia) that the lousy Jordanian opposition--which prostrates itself before the monarchy 6 times a day--has begun a boycott of Danish and Dutch products. This in a country that is the largest importer of Israeli products in the entire Arab world.