The Muslim Brotherhood's Global Threat Hearing

THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD’S GLOBAL THREAT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JULY 11, 2018 Serial No. 115–90 Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov http://oversight.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 31–367 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018 VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:00 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 H:\31367.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM Trey Gowdy, South Carolina, Chairman John J. Duncan, Jr., Tennessee Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland, Ranking Darrell E. Issa, California Minority Member Jim Jordan, Ohio Carolyn B. Maloney, New York Mark Sanford, South Carolina Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of Columbia Justin Amash, Michigan Wm. Lacy Clay, Missouri Paul A. Gosar, Arizona Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts Scott DesJarlais, Tennessee Jim Cooper, Tennessee Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia Thomas Massie, Kentucky Robin L. Kelly, Illinois Mark Meadows, North Carolina Brenda L. Lawrence, Michigan Ron DeSantis, Florida Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey Dennis A. Ross, Florida Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois Mark Walker, North Carolina Jamie Raskin, Maryland Rod Blum, Iowa Jimmy Gomez, Maryland Jody B. Hice, Georgia Peter Welch, Vermont Steve Russell, Oklahoma Matt Cartwright, Pennsylvania Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin Mark DeSaulnier, California Will Hurd, Texas Stacey E. Plaskett, Virgin Islands Gary J. Palmer, Alabama John P. Sarbanes, Maryland James Comer, Kentucky Paul Mitchell, Michigan Greg Gianforte, Montana Vacancy SHERIA CLARKE, Staff Director WILLIAM MCKENNA, General Counsel SAMUEL WISCH, Professional Staff Member SHARON ESHELMAN, National Security Subcommittee Staff Director SHARON CASEY, Deputy Chief Clerk DAVID RAPALLO, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY Ron DeSantis, Florida, Chairman Steve Russell, Oklahoma, Vice Chair Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts, Ranking John J. Duncan, Jr., Tennessee Minority Member Justin Amash, Michigan Peter Welch, Vermont Paul A. Gosar, Arizona Mark DeSaulnier, California Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Jimmy Gomez, California Jody B. Hice, Georgia Vacancy James Comer, Kentucky Vacancy Vacancy (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:00 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\31367.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on July 11, 2018 ............................................................................... 1 WITNESSES Hillel Fradkin, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 5 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 8 Jonathan Schanzer, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Foundation for Defense of Democracies Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 16 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 18 M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D., President & Founder, American Islamic Forum for Democracy Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 40 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 43 The Honorable Daniel Benjamin, Norman E. McCulloch Jr. Director, John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, Dartmouth College Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 66 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 69 APPENDIX Statement by Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Diplomat in Residence, Princeton University, submitted by Mr. Lynch. ................................................................. 88 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:00 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\31367.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:00 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\31367.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD’S GLOBAL THREAT Wednesday, July 11, 2018 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:06 a.m., in Room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ron DeSantis [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding. Present: Representatives DeSantis, Duncan, Gosar, Hice, Comer, Lynch, and DeSaulnier. Also Present: Representative Grothman. Mr. DESANTIS. The Subcommittee on National Security will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a re- cess at any time. The Muslim Brotherhood is a militant Islamist organization with affiliates in over 70 countries, including groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. Whether the Muslim Brotherhood writ large should be designated as a foreign terrorist organization has been the topic of de- bate here in Congress in recent years and has been under consider- ation by the Trump administration. Thankfully, the Trump administration has discarded the Obama era policy of treating the Brotherhood as a potential ally. Now the questions are focused on how expansive to make the terror designa- tion and whether it should be done through the State Department or Treasury Department. The Muslim Brotherhood has been militant from its very begin- ning. Its founder, Hassan al-Banna, who started the group in 1928, said that, quote: ‘‘Jihad is an obligation from Allah and every Mus- lim and cannot be ignored nor evaded.’’ And in a book titled ‘‘The Way of Jihad’’ he wrote: ‘‘Jihad means the fighting of the unbelievers and involves all possible efforts that are necessary to dismantle the power of the enemies of Islam, including beating them, plundering their wealth, destroying their places of worship, and smashing their idols,’’ end quote. This belief was put into action in the decades that followed as the Muslim Brotherhood’s members committed numerous acts of terrorism, including the assassination of Egypt’s Prime Minister in 1948. This jihadist ideology continues to fuel the Muslim Brotherhood today. The Brotherhood mourned the death of Osama bin Laden and its leaders developed teachings justifying revolutionary vio- (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:00 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\31367.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER 2 lence under sharia law. The Brotherhood has preached hatred to- wards Jews, denied the Holocaust, and called for Israel’s destruc- tion. The Brotherhood has incited violence against Coptic Chris- tians in Egypt amidst a wave of church bombings and other attacks by terrorist groups, including ISIS. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, perhaps the Brotherhood’s preeminent cleric, issued a fatwa legitimizing terrorist attacks against American troops in Iraq. And he’s also deemed the Holocaust to be a, quote, ‘‘punishment for Jews,’’ and expressed hope that another Holocaust would someday be carried out by his fellow Islamists. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide, Mohammed Badie, has said that the organization’s goal is to establish a new Islamist caliphate, including the imposition of sharia law, which is the to- talitarian Islamic legal code. We saw what happens when the Brotherhood takes control of a country in Egypt from 2012 to 2013, and the results were chilling, that then-President Mohamed Morsi defied the rule of law and granted himself near absolute power. As Egyptian leader Mohamed El Baradi put it, Morsi usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt’s new pharaoh. The Brotherhood’s legislators enshrined the principles of sharia as the main source of law in Egypt’s Constitution, while the Morsi government used state institutions to promote Islamic radicalism, roll back freedom of the press, and launched a wave of blasphemy prosecutions. The Morsi Muslim Brotherhood government is no more, but the Brotherhood and its affiliates continue to advance their agenda across the Middle East and throughout the world. There’s no question that the Muslim Brotherhood affiliates are involved in terrorism. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller con- firmed as much in testimony before Congress when he said that elements of the Brotherhood, both here and overseas, have sup- ported terrorism. A number of these Brotherhood affiliates have been designated as terrorist organizations by the United States Government. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch Hamas has been a designated foreign terrorist organization since 1997. Hamas has taken control of the Gaza Strip, launched thousands of rockets against Israeli civilians, and committed suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks that have murdered numerous Israeli and American civilians. Muslim Brotherhood networks raise money here in the U.S. to support Hamas’ terrorist activities in the Middle East. According to the Department of Justice, in the early 1990s, Hamas’ parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, planned to establish a network of organizations in the U.S. to spread a militant Islamist message and raise money for Hamas. And the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation became the chief fundraising

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