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Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
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June 9, 2015
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Egypt
Summons U.S. Ambassador Over MB Visit
by John Rossomando • Jun 9, 2015
at 4:39 pm
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Egypt asked the U.S. ambassador in Cairo to account for the
Obama administration's allowing Muslim Brotherhood officials to visit
Washington for a private conference this week sponsored by the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID).
Egypt sought the recent meeting with Ambassador Stephen Beecroft to show
its displeasure with American policy toward the Brotherhood, which it
labels a terrorist organization.
Delegation members include Amr Darrag, whose handling of drafting and ratifying
Egypt's December 2012 constitution led to fears the Brotherhood aimed to
impose a theocracy; and Wael Haddara, a Canadian Brotherhood member who served
as an adviser to deposed President Mohamed Morsi.
The administration has no plans to meet with the delegation, State
Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said Tuesday. U.S. policy allowed for engagement with
people from across Egypt's political spectrum, he said Monday.
Emails obtained by Middle East Briefing, a publication of the
Dubai-based Orient Advisory Group, show that since 2010, Obama administration policy sought
to support the Muslim Brotherhood under Presidential Study Directive 11.
State Department and White House officials met in January with a Muslim Brotherhood delegation
whose trip had been partly funded by the Brotherhood-linked group Egyptian
Americans for Freedom and Justice (EAFJ). EAFJ leader Mahmoud El Sharkawy
is a member of the Brotherhood's international organization and serves as
liaison between his group and Brotherhood members exiled in Turkey, Egypt's
Al-Bawaba newspaper reported in April.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki downplayed the visit and denied it was a Brotherhood
delegation, saying it was a delegation of former Egyptian parliamentarians
which included members of the Freedom and Justice Party. Delegation member
Waleed Sharaby said in a February interview with Egypt's Mekameleen TV that the State
Department agreed with their position that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah
al-Sisi had not brought stability and that his removal would pave the way
for a transition to democracy.
Such calls for violence have been reflected in the Facebook accounts of
EAFJ members. El Sharkawy's Facebook page supports violence in Egypt in
posts such as a Feb. 10 communiqué from the Popular Resistance Movement (PRM) which has launched attacks against Egyptian police and other
targets. It features an image of a blood-red map of Egypt with a fist
superimposed over it and claims responsibility on behalf of the PRM for
targeting two police cars. It also stated the following motto in Arabic:
"God, martyrs, Revolution."
Other members of EAFJ such as board member Hani Elkadi, who identified himself as a Brotherhood member in a March 9
post, have posted similar images on Facebook.
Related Topics: John
Rossomando, Muslim
Brotherhood, U.S.
visits, State
Department, Stephen
Beecroft, Jen
Psaki, Jeff
Rathke, Amr
Darraq, Wael
Haddara, Center
for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Presidential
Study Directive 11, Egyptian
Americans for Freedom and Justice
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