Brotherhood and the West: Relationship governed by utility
Since the establishment of the Brotherhood by Hassan al-Banna in 1928, the group has sought to transcend the local reality in order to achieve its dream of globalization, and accordingly it has practiced methods of penetration of Muslim communities within Western countries, especially the United States, using dawah as a cover to spread its extremist ideology.
The international organization of the Brotherhood serves as
an important stage in the group’s penetration process abroad, as it is one of
its main sources of funding, in addition to managing its financial and business
networks. It also owns many media arms that facilitate influencing
international public opinion to serve the group’s political project.
The terrorist organization has worked to build parallel
societies, especially in the United States and European countries, as it paves
the way for acceptance of the group, its ideology, and its goals, under the
guise of advocacy and charitable purposes, but their core is for purely
political purposes.
Brotherhood lobby in the West
There is a strong presence of the Brotherhood’s lobby within
American political circles. According to a report by the Egyptian Center for
Thought and Strategic Studies, the Brotherhood’s efforts to spread chaos in
Egypt came with the support of former US President Barack Obama, as his
administration followed a strategy of supporting political Islamist currents in
the countries of the Middle East, especially following the Arab Spring
revolutions of 2011, helping them take over the reins of power and take control
of matters.
The relationship between the Brotherhood and the United
States during Obama’s rule crystallized in a large consensual manner, as the
American administration provided full support to the group in the Middle East.
The reasons that make some parties in the West continue to
harbor and embrace the Brotherhood are varied, so that no decision is taken to
deter them, in the presence of clear violent incidents, either directly or
through the extremist groups to which they belong.
Solid relationship
The relationship between the Brotherhood and some Western
countries, such as Britain and the United States, is strong, making the two
parties keen to maintain it, as it is a relationship based on utility and
benefit, especially with the transformation of the Brotherhood’s presence in
the West from a temporary status in the 1950s and 1960s to a permanent one
since the early 1970s.
The freedom of movement and the existential continuity of
the Brotherhood in the Western world confirms that the link between planning
and implementation between some countries of the West and the Brotherhood will
not be broken, as it is an essential part of the formations of the historical
relationship between the movement of the Brotherhood and the West since the
establishment of the group in 1928.