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UAE Joins Gulf-Wide Crackdown on MB, Hamas
The Muslim Brotherhood is down to one Arab state sponsor: Qatar. In recent weeks, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and, now, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have branded it a terrorist group. Hamas, the Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch, is also facing punishment from its former friends.
The UAE has enthusiastically endorsed Saudi Arabia’s decision to ban the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and two Al-Qaeda-type groups in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS). The Saudis also banned Brotherhood texts from a book fair and King Abdullah announced prison sentences for Saudis who fight in foreign conflicts, giving them 15 days to come home.
The UAE may not have technically banned the Brotherhood and these other groups as terrorists, but it pledged full cooperation with the Saudis in prosecuting them.
“The UAE will not spare any effort to bolster the cooperation with brothers in Saudi Arabia to tackle those terrorist groups through liquidating all forms of material and moral support in all circumstances,” the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The UAE has been prosecuting members of Al-Islah, the Brotherhood branch in its country. It recently sentenced three people, including a Qatari citizen. Earlier this year, 30 members were sentenced. The UAE led the way in assembling a Gulf coalition against the Brotherhood and Iran.
The U.S. considers Hamas to be a terrorist group and its parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, as “moderate.” These Arab countries know better and see the inconsistency of that policy.
An Egyptian court banned Hamas as a terrorist group last week, following that country’s designation of the Brotherhood as terrorists. It is also more closely supervising mosques. The UAE has cut funding for the construction of a facility for released prisoners in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
As the Clarion Project reported last week, Qatar’s Arab neighbors are out of patience for its support for the Brotherhood and Hamas. The U.S. still considers Qatar an ally and the other major supporter of the Brotherhood/Hamas is Turkey, a member of NATO.
It’s a sad testament to the state of American foreign policy when Saudi Arabia and the UAE have tougher records on the Muslim Brotherhood than the U.S.
