EGYPT: OMAR SHARIFF (YES, OF DR. ZHIVAGO FAME) DEFENDS THE MOSLEM BROTHERHOOD

EGYPT: OMAR SHARIF DEFENDS MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

Cairo, 12 Oct. (AKI) - The Muslim Brotherhood does not represent a threat to freedom of expression, veteran actor Omar Sharif has told the organisers of the Cairo Cinema Festival of which he is president. Sharif, 74, an Egyptian Christian who converted to Islam in adulthood, has been the subject of threats by Islamist groups for his recent appearance in an Italian biblical TV epic playing St Peter. "I have know them for a long time and I remember that some members of the organisations in the 1950s were like me passionate about the avant garde in cinema and theatre" he said.

The Brotherhood, which is officially banned but tolerated, secured 88 out of 454 seats in last year's general election - running as independent - and is now the largest opposition force in parliament.

"The Muslim Brotherhood does not threaten artistic freedom and I don't think that in the areas of innovation and art there is anything to fear from their strong presence in parliament" Sharif said.

These accusations are levelled against the movment by people who are ignorant of their ideology and seek to denigrate them, Sharif said, adding that in his view "their victory at the last parliamentary elections is not a negative thing."

Born Michael Demitri Shalhoub in Alexandria in 1932, he later converted to Islam and took the name Omar el-Sharif before marrying Egyptian star Faten Hamama in 1955.

He shot to international stardom in the classic Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and with the title role of Doctor Zhivago (1965).

Sharif is currently starring in another biblical epic charting the life of the Old Testament figure Esther - in his first cinema reunion with Peter O'Toole since they starred in "Lawrence of Arabia."

Now, just a little bit about The Muslim Brotherhood and how "innocuous" it really is, NOT:

The Muslim Brotherhood, Nazis and Al-Qaeda

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The Muslim Brotherhood began to expand in scope and influence during World War II. They even had a Palestinian section headed by the grand Mufti of Jerusalem, one of the great bigots of all time. Here, too, was a man -- The grand Mufti of Jerusalem was the Muslim Brotherhood representative for Palestine. These were undoubtedly Arab Nazis. The Grand Mufti, for example, went to Germany during the war and helped recruit an international SS division of Arab Nazis. They based it in Croatia and called it the “Handjar” Muslim Division, but it was to become the core of Hitler's new army of Arab fascists that would conquer the Arab peninsula from then on to Africa -- grand dreams.

At the end of World War II, the Muslim Brotherhood was wanted for war crimes. Their German intelligence handlers were captured in Cairo. The whole net was rolled up by the British Secret Service. Then a horrible thing happened.

Instead of prosecuting the Nazis -- the Muslim Brotherhood -- the British government hired them. They brought all the fugitive Nazi war criminals of Arab and Muslim descent into Egypt, and for three years they were trained on a special mission. The British Secret Service wanted to use the fascists of the Muslim Brotherhood to strike down the infant state of Israel in 1948. Only a few people in the Mossad know this, but many of the members of the Arab Armies and terrorist groups that tried to strangle the infant State of Israel were the Arab Nazis of the Muslim Brotherhood.

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And

Ban the Brotherhood

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On October 28, 2005, President George W. Bush denounced IslamoFascist movements which call for a “violent and political vision: the establishment, by terrorism, subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom.”

The violent version of this vision is the heart of the MB’s ideology and was promoted publicly until 9/11. But true to its strategy, the MB, the parent of all Sunni terrorist groups, is using its “flexibility” to deflect attention.

Egypt served as the laboratory for the MB’s strategy. In the decades since it was established in 1928, it worked under the doctrine of “concealment” (kitman) towards the “Islamization” of the country’s institutions and populace. During that time, it periodically engaged in direct action. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, the MB collaborated with the Nazis. Later they engaged in many forms of civil disturbance, from rioting to the takeover of a police station, to an attempted coup d’etat, as with the October 1981 assassination of the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. More recently, MB splinter groups, such as Gama'a al-Islamiya and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, using suicide bombings, have focused attacks on Western tourists, killing hundreds of innocent visitors and Egyptian bystanders over the last decade alone.

Pragmatic, like the Communists, the MB uses many other names and democratic slogans to mislead the public. In the recent elections in Egypt, the MB claimed that it is now striving to Islamize society through peaceful means. However, on its website, the movement statement remains the same: it seeks to install a worldwide Caliphate, through stages that will accomplish the Islamization of the targeted nations by whichever means. When those stages are completed, the MB intends to overthrow its host societies and implement Islamic law (shariah).
The MB is the fountainhead from which Sunni terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gamaat Islamiyyah, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, and the Abu Sayyaf group have sprung. Their ties to the MB are clearly evident from their identical strategic agenda.

Like these Islamist terror organizations, the MB publicly states its Modus Operandi: “Preparing the society is achieved through plans for: spreading the Islamic culture, the possible media means, mosques, and Da’awa [inviting others to Islam, an obligatory duty for Muslims], work in public organizations such as syndicates, parliaments, student unions.” Thus, members of the Muslim Brotherhood, like those in al-Qaeda and HAMAS, provide theoretical and material support to new recruits in universities, mosques, madrassas and Islamic “Cultural Centers.”

The MB states that the “movement is flexible enough to allow working under the "Ikhwan" name, under other names, or working according to every country's circumstances.” Allowing MB groups such leeway illustrates the fundamentally covert nature of the organization, as was demonstrated in the latest development in Egypt. The MB’s long-term strategy to undermine and overthrow governments that do not adhere to Islamic law is now underway in that country.

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And

The Muslim Brotherhood "Project"

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Rather than focusing on terrorism as the sole method of group action, as is the case with Al-Qaeda, in perfect postmodern fashion the use of terror falls into a multiplicity of options available to progressively infiltrate, confront, and eventually establish Islamic domination over the West. The following tactics and techniques are among the many recommendations made in The Project:

1. Networking and coordinating actions between likeminded Islamist organizations;
2. Avoiding open alliances with known terrorist organizations and individuals to maintain the appearance of “moderation”;
3. Infiltrating and taking over existing Muslim organizations to realign them towards the Muslim Brotherhood’s collective goals;
4. Using deception to mask the intended goals of Islamist actions, as long as it doesn’t conflict with shari’a law;
5. Avoiding social conflicts with Westerners locally, nationally or globally, that might damage the long-term ability to expand the Islamist powerbase in the West or provoke a lash back against Muslims;
6. Establishing financial networks to fund the work of conversion of the West, including the support of full-time administrators and workers;
7. Conducting surveillance, obtaining data, and establishing collection and data storage capabilities;
8. Putting into place a watchdog system for monitoring Western media to warn Muslims of “international plots fomented against them”;
9. Cultivating an Islamist intellectual community, including the establishment of think-tanks and advocacy groups, and publishing “academic” studies, to legitimize Islamist positions and to chronicle the history of Islamist movements;
10. Developing a comprehensive 100-year plan to advance Islamist ideology throughout the world;
11. Balancing international objectives with local flexibility;
12. Building extensive social networks of schools, hospitals and charitable organizations dedicated to Islamist ideals so that contact with the movement for Muslims in the West is constant;
13. Involving ideologically committed Muslims in democratically-elected institutions on all levels in the West, including government, NGOs, private organizations and labor unions;
14. Instrumentally using existing Western institutions until they can be converted and put into service of Islam;
15. Drafting Islamic constitutions, laws and policies for eventual implementation;
16. Avoiding conflict within the Islamist movements on all levels, including the development of processes for conflict resolution;
17. Instituting alliances with Western “progressive” organizations that share similar goals;
18. Creating autonomous “security forces” to protect Muslims in the West;
19. Inflaming violence and keeping Muslims living in the West “in a jihad frame of mind”;
20. Supporting jihad movements across the Muslim world through preaching, propaganda, personnel, funding, and technical and operational support;
21. Making the Palestinian cause a global wedge issue for Muslims;
22. Adopting the total liberation of Palestine from Israel and the creation of an Islamic state as a keystone in the plan for global Islamic domination;
23. Instigating a constant campaign to incite hatred by Muslims against Jews and rejecting any discussions of conciliation or coexistence with them;
24. Actively creating jihad terror cells within Palestine;
25. Linking the terrorist activities in Palestine with the global terror movement;
26. Collecting sufficient funds to indefinitely perpetuate and support jihad around the world;


In reading The Project, it should be kept in mind that it was drafted in 1982 when current tensions and terrorist activities in the Middle East were still very nascent.

In many respects, The Project is extremely prescient for outlining the bulk of Islamist action, whether by “moderate” Islamist organizations or outright terror groups, over the past two decades.

There are many more articles about The Muslim Brotherhood and you don't have to go far to find them, you may go to FrontPageMag.com, do a quick search for "Muslim Brotherhood" and you will have plenty of reading materials to keep you reading for days if not weeks.

Pertinent Links:

1) The Muslim Brotherhood, Nazis and Al-Qaeda

2) Ban the Brotherhood

3) The Muslim Brotherhood "Project"

4) FrontPageMag