Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas

24.05.2015 Antoine Sfeir

In Arabic, the term “hamas” means “enthusiasm, exaltation”. The Hamas Sunni movement claims to be part of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was already influential in Gaza during the Egyptian administration. Tolerated by the Israelis in order to face the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) of Yasser Arafat, Hamas has a strong religious base.

Its real breakthrough on the Palestinian front dates back to the first Intifada (1987). Its spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, imprisoned in Israel, was released on 1 October 1997. The founding members of Hamas who were instrumental in its development are: Abd el-Fattah Dukhan, Mohamed Chamaa, Ibrahim al-Yazuri, Issa Al- Najjar, Salah Chehadeh and Abdel-Aziz al Rantissi. In 1988, Hamas declared that Palestine is a land for Muslims, on which an Islamic state must be built and where the sharia must prevail. However, it does not dispute the historical role of Fatah and does not call into question the international role of the PLO as the Palestinians representative.

During the two intifadas, Hamas becomes highly influential on the religious and social front by assisting the deprived Palestinian population, which sometimes has to face the destruction of its houses. The movement thus becomes an opponent of Fatah, although the two organizations actually collaborate during this period. As a matter of fact, a “Unified Command of the Intifada”, comprising one third of Hamas members and two-thirds of PLO members is set up in December 1987. Hamas however withdraws in May 1988 to continue its fight alone.

Hamas’s military allies are the Izz el Din Al Qassam brigades, which have regularly attacked Israeli troops since 1994 but are being repressed by the Palestinian National Authority. Hamas, which spoke out against the Oslo process, subsequently join the “Alliance of Palestinian Forces”, a group of movements opposed to peace. The closure of the Palestinian territories by the Israelis despite the Oslo accords, delays in peace negotiations and the undemocratic tendencies of the Palestinian Authority, have helped Hamas find a firm and precious support among the local population. In 1996, Palestinians and Israelis observe an 18-month truce, negotiated by the PLO on behalf of Hamas, which ended with the targeted assassination by the Israelis of Yahya Ayache, a man responsible for a series of attacks in Israel. His death resulted in a series of suicide bombings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, precipitating Benyamin Netanyahu’s victory in April 1996 parliamentary elections.

The outbreak of the second intifada led to the assassination of Hamas spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, in March 2004, and of his successor, Abdelaziz Al Rantissi, in the following month. On 25 January 2006, Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections (74 seats versus 45 seats for Fatah out of a total of 132 seats). The new government is boycotted by Israel, which refuses to deal with “terrorists”. International subsidies are disrupted and the situation deteriorates between the two Palestinian movements. An escalation ensues, culminating with Mahmoud Abbas’s desire to dissolve the Palestinian Assembly and the outbreak of a civil war between Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza. The partition of the Palestinian territory then raises fear of a further deterioration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite Egyptian efforts to bring the two antagonists closer, as Palestinians are deprived from legitimate representatives in international negotiations. The reconciliation agreement between the two factions, which took place in May 2011 under the aegis of Egypt, paves the way for elections and a PLO reform.

Hamas leader today is Khaled Mechaal.

Source : Dictionnaire du Moyen-Orient, under the supervision of Antoine Sfeir, Bayard, 2011.

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“Work is on us, and success is for God”

15.05.2015 La rédaction

“Work is on us, and success is for God” said Hasan al-Banna on a day of March 1928, according to his first disciples. “Let us make an oath of obedience to God, whereby we are the soldiers of Islam message, a message containing the life of our country and the strength of the Muslim nation. (…) Our grouping will be first and foremost, and fundamentally, an idea, with all its implications and all actions resulting therefrom. We are brothers in the service of Islam. We are the “Muslim Brotherhood”.”

Hasan al-Banna, Memoirs of the Message and the Messenger

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Australian National Imam Council

09.05.2015 La rédaction

The Australian National Imam Council is almost completely controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood. Created in 2006, the Council seeks to mediate between the State and the Muslims.

250 imams are part of this Council which publishes Fatwa and appoints the Mufti of Australia. The first Mufti was Taj al-din al-Hilali. He was elected in 1988 to avoid being expelled by the Australian government. He is known for his extremist sermons, and has compared unveiled women with unwrapped meat.

“If you place unwrapped meat and leave it on the street, in a garden (…) without any cover on it and cats come and eat it, whose fault is that? Cats or unwrapped meat? Unwrapped meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her house, wearing her hijab, there would have been no problem.” (Sermon, October 2006)

Taj al-Din al-Hilali then decides to go into politics without much success. He will mostly be remembered for authorizing the concept of “Burkini”.

Following his resignation, the Australian National Imam Council replaces him by Fehmi Naji who will resign in turn for health problems.

Elected in 2011, the current great mufti is Ibrahim Abu Mohamed who is known for being a man of dialogue and peace. At least until 2012, when he starts to defend the Hamas movement, which is considered by Australia as a terrorist organization.

During his stay in the Gaza Strip in 2012, he said

“I am happy to be on a land of Jihad and to learn from its sons.”

Or

“We came to learn from Gaza … We will make stones, trees … to learn sacrifice and the right to defend ourselves.”

During the terrorist attacks in Sydney, the Council and its representatives repeatedly appear on all televisions. They explain that terrorism has no connection with Islam, and condemn “unequivocally” the murder of innocent people. Due to this type of intervention, the Council appears as a peaceful body for the Australian population.

Yet one of the Council main activities is to delay anti-terrorist measures.

The Australian National Imam Council mobilizes against anti-terrorism laws, which it deems dangerous for freedom of expression. Ibrahim Abu Mohammad thus explains that the criminalization of the “defense of terrorism” is an infringement of his freedom of expression. According to the Mufti, reading certain excerpts of the Koran can be seen as “defense of terrorism”. He also mentions jihad in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.

When the Australian government decides to penalize hate preachers like the Hizb ut-Tahrir group, the Council of the Australian Imams and Ibrahim Abu Mohammad rush to their rescue.

“Hizb ut-Tahrir is not against the freedom of expression. On the contrary, they are strong supporters of the freedom of expression. They are even exercising this freedom. Those who are against freedom of expression are those who try to prevent Hizb ut-Tahrir from expressing their opinions. “

This position was described by the Australian Prime Minister as “not very useful”.

The Council is also up against anti-terrorism laws. It is heard by various governmental and parliamentary committees. On several occasions, the Muslim Brothers even went so far as to read excerpts from the Koran to convince decision-makers that banning the apology for terrorism can result in forbidding faith.

This post is also available in Français and العربية.

An Nour Mosque (Montigny-Lès-Cormeilles)

28.04.2015 La rédaction

The An Nour mosque is expanding. Officially, it is under construction, but since 2010, it has regularly organized conferences, some of which were attended, among others, by executives of the UOIF.

On the site of the mosque, whose page is followed by more than 4000 fans on Facebook, one can read:

“The mosque of Montigny-Lès-Cormeilles is under construction, Inchallah. It will be located in a wooded environment, on an area of approximately 1700 m², near the Esperance district. This important project for our community will be examined by the architect J.SKALLI. (…) This dignified and ambitious project that we want to develop on Montigny is also yours! It represents our spiritual and cultural heritage. This new place of worship will be a place of spirituality, of prayer but also of encounter, sociability and exchange … Everyone must participate in it, so as to create a concrete, solid and effective project. For that purpose, you can support us in different ways: by helping the mosque volunteers during functions or by making donations.”

Concerning the attacks of January 2015, it read: “An Nour Mosque associates itself with the national solidarity movement spreading across the country since yesterday, with the gathering in tribute to the victims of 7 and 8 January attacks.

Except that the attacks lasted from 7 to 9, and claimed the lives of 9 Jewish victims at Hypercasher.

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El Fath Mosque (Saint Dizier)

24.04.2015 La rédaction

The El Fath Mosque, in Saint Dizier, claims to follow the Mosque of Paris.

Yet several elements suggest a rapprochement with the Muslim Brotherhood.

In 2015, the El Fath mosque organized a bus trip to Le Bourget to attend the UOIF Conference.

For Valentine’s Day, the Mosque published a text on its Facebook account prohibiting any celebration of lovers’ day.

“It is not allowed to observe lovers’ day (…) this futile behavior is contrary to the path of our ancient pious predecessors. It is not permitted to observe the rites marking the celebration of that day, whether through meals, drinks, outfits, exchange of gifts or the like. The Muslim must remain proud in his religion, and avoid unconsciously responding to any call“.

Another post suggests that one must choose between the love of the Koran and the love of music.

The competitions of the Institut de Chateau Chinon were also distributed.

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Jemaa Islamiyya and Tawassoul (Mauritania)

13.04.2015 La rédaction

In the 1980s, the Muslim Brotherhood recruited families fleeing the countryside.

The first association that claimed to follow the Muslim Brotherhood is Jemaa Islamiyya.

In August 2007, the current Muslim Brotherhood grouped itself into an authorized political party known as National Rally for Reform and Development (Tawassoul).

The leader of the Islamist party, Mohamed Jemil Mansour, has long lived in exile, in Belgium. He then explained to his Egyptian colleagues that the situation is peculiar and that he will not make the error of his elders – which was commented by Cridem blog as follows:

“Indeed, in such overly secular and open States, it is next to impossible to establish an Islamist regime advocating Sharia as a fundamental law, due to the deep-rooted Western culture in which societies resemble, in all aspects of their life, to those of libertine countries”.

Tawassoul signed cooperation agreements in 2011 with several political parties, notably with the Syrian Baath Party and with Hezbollah. To those astonished at this alliance, let us remind them that some members of the Muslim Brotherhood are favorable to the Mullahs regime and great admirers of Hezbollah. As for the Baath party, before the Syrian revolution and the Baath denunciation by Youssef Al Qardhawi, it has long supported Muslim Brotherhood branches abroad.

Mohamed Jemil Mansour, like many Muslim Brothers, is very skilled with words when explaining the relationship of his movement with the Muslim Brotherhood.

“We do have things in common with the Muslim Brothers of Egypt, but we are different from the Salafist currents. We are a political party, which is active in the field of politics. We are certainly inspired by successful models such as the Turkish model, Morocco PJD, or other political and Islamic parties with an open-minded experience respectful of Islamic principles, yet open to modernism, politics and people aspirations”.

In 2012, Tawassoul received the support of Rached Ghannouchi who came to support MB candidates at their conference. He was received as a head of state by the government.

A coalition of democratic parties demanded in 2012 the departure of President Aziz, and all these movements agreed to boycott the elections. All, except Tawassoul.

A position that was justified by Jemil Mansour:

“A revolution is the outcome of a situation. If conditions are met, no one can prevent the revolution. If they are not, this revolution cannot be forcibly imposed”.

Taking advantage of this situation, the Muslim Brotherhood now appears as the second strongest party of the country.

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The Islamic Egyptian Society of NSW

09.04.2015 L a rédaction

The Islamic Egyptian Society of NSW is the main group in Australia. Its members have long allowed some uncertainty about their affiliation. But in the aftermath of Morsi fall, and as journalists began to take an interest in the Brothers’ supports, the Islamic Egyptian Society admitted being part of the organization.

The Islamic Egyptian Society has existed since the early seventies and claims to represent the majority of Muslims in Australia. It was founded by Islamist opponents of the Egyptian regime.

In 1986, the Australian Muslim Brotherhood established an Arkana College school.

They also created a council of Imams: the Australian National Imams Council that elects the Mufti of Australia

The Islamic Egyptian Society boasts excellent relations with Al-Azhar University as well as the organization of some theologians’ trip during the month of Ramadan. A magazine, Ahoda was published until 2006.

In May 2006, while Egypt was fighting the Muslim Brotherhood under Mubarak regime, they were received with pomp and ceremony at the Embassy in Canberra. In their magazine, the Brothers published photos and thanked Ambassador Mohamed Tawfiq, his wife and all the embassy staff.

“All, young and old, have enjoyed the party, as if they had been brought back to their homeland, Egypt” (Alhoda, May 2006)

A few months later, the company bought a piece of land for AUD 900,000 (€ 650,000). It raised the money fast enough, but had to abandon the project as it had problems to bring it up to standard.

Several presidents have succeeded one another since the organization creation:

• Ibrahim Elsayed,
• Samir Hamed,
• Faisal Ramadan,
• Elsadawy Elbatoory,
• Safwat Elkateb,
• Ali Elgohary,
• Mohammed Helal,
• Ossama AbdelMeguid,
• Nayer Abdelfattah,
• Essam Khalil,
• Aladdin Matter,
• Essam Mohamed,
• Mohamed Helmy Abdelwahab,
• Hany Mohamed Amer

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Launching of Rabia TV Channels

06.04.2015 La rédaction

Yusuf al-Qaradawi, President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, recently inaugurated the “Rabia” satellite channel.

He insisted on the importance of resistance against the military coup and called on all Egyptians, Arabs, Muslims and free people around the world to work on banning injustice and aggression.

“These words are directed to our brothers who launched the “Al-Rabi’a’Adawiyya” channel. We call on our brothers around the world to be by their side, support them, protect them, and assist them in what they are doing. We ask God to bring everyone around guidance, bring together hearts around piety, and souls around love. We wish that all efforts are made to achieve good and good works”.

“Rabia, the chain of freedom” chain officially began broadcasting its programs from Turkey.

The Rabia, and its little yellow hand, have become a rallying cry for the Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters.

Beyond solidarity with victims of repression, the Rabia has a mystical meaning. Each finger of the Tamkeen hand represents a step in the taking of power.

Step 1 : Presentation of Islam.

 Step 2 : Selection of future “Muslim Brotherhood” members

 Step 3 : Confrontation and specialization

Step 4 : Domination and Tamkeen

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The Muslim Association of Sweden – Sveriges Muslimska Forbund (SMuF)

05.04.2015 La rédaction

The Muslim Association of Sweden claims to represent at least 70,000 Swedish Muslims, i.e. the majority of Muslims in Sweden. It further claims that it does not belong to the Muslim Brotherhood, but is only inspired by its values.

Mahmoud Aldebe has been for a long time one of the Association representatives.

In April 2006, he sent a letter to various Swedish political parties requesting that specific rights apply to Muslim students and that the Swedish Law of divorce do not apply to Muslims.

On 30 January 2009, Youssef Al Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Brotherhood, declared on Al Jazeera that Jews extermination by the Nazis is a “divine punishment” and that if “Allah wants it, the same thing will be done again by the hand of believers” (Al-Jazeera TV, 30 January 2009)

These statements caused a good deal of commotion in Scandinavia, and most religious leaders distanced themselves from these statements.

Except Mahmoud Aldebe who declared that “Muslims can see the difference between Muslims and Jews and Israel as a State.” (Dagens Nyheter, 16 February 2009).

An answer that has nothing to do with the polemic, but points to the absolute loyalty of Mahmoud Aldebe toward the spiritual leader of the Brotherhood

Since 2010, the new representative of the Association is Tahir Akan.

In November 2014, the United Arab Emirates included the Muslim Association of Sweden / Sveriges Muslimska Forbund (SMuF) on the list of terrorist organizations.

This post is also available in Français and العربية.

Alkarama Foundation

03.03.2015 La rédaction

Alkarama was established in July 2004 by Abdul Rahman Al-Naimi, Rachid Mesli and Abbas Aroua, with the objective of defending the Arab regime victims and victims of fight against terrorism before the UN Human Rights Council.

However, reality is quite different for the US administration:

“Al-Naimi is a terrorism financier established in Qatar. He has been providing funds and material support to Al-Qaeda in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen for the past ten years. (Together with Humayqani), he is at the heart of a network supporting and funding terrorism. “

In order to start the organization in 2007, the leaders sought the assistance of Mourad Dhina. At that time, the latter had just given up on militancy within the Islamic Salvation Front (Algeria FIS), which then appeared to him as “less active”. Several years earlier, Dhina had also been a member of the Islamic Front for Jihad (Fida), an organization responsible for killing hundreds of journalists, intellectuals, trade unionists and Algerian political figures.

A resident of Switzerland, Dhina was arrested on 16 January 2012 at the Orly airport, where he had just arrived to deliver his version of the 1992 coup. He was the subject of an international arrest warrant issued in 2003 by the Algerian authorities, accusing him of “committing terrorist acts in Zurich, Switzerland, between 1997 and 1999 “. Following a considerable support campaign led by the “Indigènes de la République” movement, and thanks to his defense lawyer, Antoine Comte, Dhina was not extradited to Algeria, but nevertheless spent six months in la Prison de la Santé in Paris.

In 2007, Alkarama began working with the United Nations treaty monitoring bodies, specifically with the UN Committee against Torture (CAT), the Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), developed by the newly created Human Rights Council (HRC), by relaying alternative information relating to the implementation, by the Arab States, of various relevant treaties, at each stage of their review process. In this context, Alkarama provided CAT/ EHRC experts as well as HRC members with access to civil society information along with real-life cases of violations of several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention against Torture and the Universal Charter on Civil and Political Rights.

Starting 2009, Alkarama launched an award for Human Rights defenders, which was mainly awarded to Islamic militants and their supporters. One of the most ambiguous beneficiaries of the award is AbdulElah Shyea, an admirer Al-Qaeda attacks in Europe.

According to the site Algerie Patriotique, Alkarama Foundation is funding three satellite TV channels “aimed at overthrowing the political regime in Algeria.” These channels are allegedly Al-Magharibia (managed by the son of Abassi Madani, who also owns a Qatari solar company), Al-Rachad (belonging to Rachad organization, which is managed by Mourad Dhina) and Al-Asr. Alkarama, which is self-funded according to its leaders including Qatari Al-Naimi, has spent, always according to Ennahar, more than one million Swiss francs in 2011 on what it is described as “humanitarian work”. It all suggests that the Islamic Salvation Front remaining members persist and consistently try to destabilize Algeria.

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