Brotherhood and the West: Relationship governed by utility

Shaimaa Hefzy

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.