Responding to the Trump administration’s possible plans to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, Jonathan Schanzer urges a careful approach that takes into account the differences among the group’s various branches:
Some Brotherhood branches belong on [the State Department’s official list of terrorist groups]; some don’t—and making the distinction will help President Trump more effectively fight the war on terror. . . . Once some Brotherhood branches are so designated, it may become easier to target others. When certain branches or even leaders of the Brotherhood are caught providing financial, technical, or material support to listed entities, they immediately become candidates for designation.
Meanwhile, there will be opportunities to take further action at home. According to an official Treasury Department report submitted in December, “The U.S. has not designated a domestic U.S.-based charity since . . . 2009.” In other words, it appears that the Obama administration placed an unknown number of terrorist-financing cases on hold at the Department of Justice over the last eight years. President Trump should instruct the Justice Department to reopen them. . . .
Finally, the Trump administration has one last crucial point of leverage to undermine the financing of the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar and Turkey, two countries typically viewed as U.S. allies, are the top financial and logistical supporters of the Brotherhood worldwide. They also serve as financiers and headquarters to the Brotherhood’s most violent branch: Hamas.
The administration should call upon Qatar and Turkey to end support for Hamas. They should also be warned about their support for Brotherhood branches that appear to be engaged in violent activity or even simply spreading extremist rhetoric.
Read more on New York Post: http://nypost.com/2017/02/12/the-careful-way-to-go-after-muslim-brotherhood-radicals/