The Saudi Arabian religious body’s current assertion designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group could have been a political determination made on the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), an knowledgeable has stated.
Ismail Numan Telci, an affiliate professor at Sakarya University and the vp on the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (ORSAM), advised Anadolu Agency (AA) that MBS has largely taken management of the Council of Senior Scholars (CSS), one of an important pillars of the Saudi state.
“The CSS’ current determination reveals that Salman can now totally use this religious establishment consistent with his political objectives,” Telci stated, underlining that the CSS is not any extra a professional establishment, as many of its members have been imprisoned and changed by these working straight underneath Salman’s orders.
Under regular circumstances, it could not be potential for the council – the very best religious physique within the nation – to make such a call towards the Muslim Brotherhood, which has a big supporter base within the Muslim world.
According to Telci, the result of the 2020 U.S. presidential election might be one of the elements behind the CSS determination.
The Saudi administration apprehended that after President-elect Joe Biden assumes workplace, the U.S. administration could change its angle towards the Muslim Brotherhood. The U.S. might not be as harsh as it was throughout the Donald Trump period, stated Telci.
Despite all its makes an attempt, Riyadh has not been capable of persuade the U.S. to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group but, he added. He highlighted that in a last transfer, Saudi Arabia remains to be making an attempt to place stress on Trump to designate the Brotherhood as a terrorist group earlier than he leaves workplace. The transfer additionally explains Saudi Arabia’s regional priorities.
The knowledgeable identified that the choice implies that the Saudi authorities will proceed to assist Israel’s insurance policies towards the Brotherhood within the area. The determination can also be geared toward international locations like Turkey and Qatar to rethink their average angle in the direction of the motion.
On Nov. 10, the CSS issued an announcement designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, accusing it of being a destabilizing issue within the area. Israel welcomed the choice after 5 days.
“We are glad in Israel to see such strategy that stands towards exploitation of faith for incitement and sedition,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry stated on Twitter. “We are in dangerous want of a discourse that requires tolerance and cooperation within the area,” the assertion added.
In May this yr, Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry had formally designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group.
The CSS assertion has evoked sharp reactions within the Arab and Muslim world with the Muslim Brotherhood saying it has at all times been a sufferer of violence and dictatorial regimes.
Saudi-Israeli cooperation
Israel’s assist for Saudi Arabia’s determination towards Muslim Brotherhood reveals that it has change into one of the necessary dimensions of the implicit cooperation between the 2 international locations, stated Telci.
Israel sees the Saudi assertion as backing its crackdown towards the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, which is seen nearer to the Muslim Brotherhood in ideas.
Israel launched three main army offensives towards Hamas within the Gaza Strip in 2008, 2012, and 2014, and nonetheless imposes a good blockade on the Palestinian territory, dominated by Hamas.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Talat Fehmi, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, stated it isn’t a terrorist however a reformist group.
Founded in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood was blacklisted by Egyptian authorities in 2013 following the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, in a army coup led by then army basic Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
Following the transition of energy, the Egyptian army crushed the Muslim Brotherhood in a significant crackdown, arresting Morsi and lots of of the group’s different leaders, who’ve been in jail present process a number of trials ever because the coup, drawing condemnation from the United Nations.
Egyptian authorities have killed a whole bunch of Muslim Brotherhood supporters and despatched hundreds to jail accusing them of inciting violence. Activists contemplate the repression the worst in Egypt’s trendy historical past.
On Sunday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited Saudi Arabia and met MBS, marking the primary recognized encounter between senior Israeli and Saudi officers. A member of Netanyahu’s cupboard and Likud get together confirmed Israeli media stories that the prime minister had held a gathering in Saudi Arabia, calling it an “superb achievement.”
However, Saudi Arabia denied Israeli media stories of talks. “I’ve seen press stories a couple of purported assembly between HRH the Crown Prince and Israeli officers throughout the current go to by @SecPompeo,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan stated in a tweet, denying the claims.
Riyadh has up to now declined to normalize ties with Israel, saying Palestinian statehood objectives must be addressed first. But the Saudis have allowed Israeli airliners to overfly their territory to newly out there Gulf locations and to Asia.
The Palestinians have condemned the Abraham Accords as “a stab within the again,” urging Arab states to carry agency till Israel ends its occupation of Palestinian territory and agrees to the creation of a Palestinian state.
