The Predicament Of The Brotherhood's
Support
03 December 2012
By Tariq Alhomayed
Our region has witnessed and is witnessing several
tremors over a brief period. There is the battle for
the state in Egypt between the Muslim Brotherhood and
the general public, the repercussions of the eight-day
war in Gaza, the international recognition of the
Palestinian state - if only as an observer – and the
fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime taking shape.
Each story on its own can be considered a tremor, but
let us stop to consider the one that has struck the
supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region, or
shall we call them the Brotherhood's cheerleaders!
They seem to have lost their senses judging by their
responses to all those who disagree with them. Of
course there are a number of reasons why many disagree
with them, including the Brotherhood's coup in Egypt,
which is impossible to defend, as well as the
eight-day war in Gaza and the manner in which it
ended. In the wake of the end of the Gaza war, where
the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are now
acting as guarantors of a ceasefire, we now hear their
leaders insisting that all factions must respect the
truce with Israel. Furthermore, Khaled Mishal recently
acknowledged the 1967 borders, which means that there
is now no difference between Hamas and the Palestinian
Authority. In the wake of the Gaza truce, a strong
tremor occurred within the ranks of the Brotherhood's
supporters, where they labeled any Arab who claimed
the result not to be a victory for Hamas as
"Zionists", "agents" and "traitors". The question here
is: Traitors against whom? Agents of whom? How can
they be Zionists when the Gaza truce is sponsored
exclusively by the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian
President and Hamas? Praise for the Egyptian Muslim
Brotherhood's role came from the leaders of Israel and
America, and even Time Magazine described President
Mursi as currently the most important man in the
Middle East after the Gaza agreement, which ended on
the same terms as previous agreements signed by the
Mubarak regime in 2005.
The issue, or the predicament, does not stop here.
Some say that it is the provocation of the liberal
media against the Brotherhood that pushed them to
seize power, and the question here is: Was this not
the same excuse used during the emergence of al-Qaeda
terrorism in Saudi Arabia? Let us stop here for a
moment, for what is coming is even more dangerous. The
world is currently warning Bashar al-Assad against
using chemical weapons, with condemnation coming from
America, Europe, NATO and of course Israel, and here
lies the real predicament for the Brotherhood
cheerleaders. Prime Minister Netanyahu has come out to
say that his country is closely following the issue of
chemical weapons in Syria, saying: "I heard President
Obama's important remarks on the subject and we see
things the same way", i.e. with regards to
intervention in Syria! And the question here is: what
if we woke up and found Israel had attacked the al-Assad
regime and destroyed its chemical weapons, would the
Brotherhood cheerleaders then side with al-Assad,
despite him killing more than 40,000 Syrians, merely
because Israel had intervened? Or would they remain
silent? If they choose the latter, then the question
that must be asked is: what about the decades of
Brotherhood provocation against the peace process and
Israel?
This genuine predicament tells us that no one should
involve religion in politics. Politics cannot be
transformed into black and white through the pulpits
or by issuing insults, for the matter is more
complicated than that. This is the predicament in
which the Brotherhood's cheerleaders find themselves
in today, particularly as they have failed to notice
that the Brotherhood is America's friend. In fact, we
can add Israel to this list now, whilst the
Brotherhood is no friend of moderate states or the
liberals. Evidence of this can be seen in the Gaza
truce, and the West's silence towards the Brotherhood
coup in Egypt, and therefore the Brotherhood and its
cheerleaders are in a predicament, and the worst is
yet to come!
Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat,
the youngest person to be appointed that position. He
holds a BA degree in Media studies from King Abdul
Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also completed his
Introductory courses towards a Master's degree from
George Washington University in Washington D.C. He is
based in London.
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