Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) reintroduced a bill last Thursday to designate the radical Muslim Brotherhood as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO),” just as the Biden administration is accused of boosting the extremist group in the Middle East.
The move would also require the State Department to report to Congress over the possibility that the Muslim Brotherhood — whose motto declares, “The Koran is our law, jihad is our way, dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope,” — meets the “legal criteria for designation” of a terrorist organization, thereby enabling the U.S. to “take action that could stifle the funding they receive to promote their malign activities.”
“It’s high time we join our allies in the Arab world in formally recognizing the Muslim Brotherhood for what they truly are — a terrorist organization,” Cruz stated. “So today, I’m proud to reintroduce this bill to urge the Biden administration to designate them as such, and advance our nation’s fight against radical Islamic terrorism.
“We have a duty to hold the Muslim Brotherhood accountable for their role in financing and promoting terrorism across the Middle East,” he continued.
“The Muslim Brotherhood continues to instigate acts of terrorism and supports other terrorist organizations responsible for horrific acts of violence around the world,” added Rep. Diaz-Balart. “Designating it a foreign terrorist organization would impose tough sanctions that would restrict its ability to raise revenue used to cause harm and spread hate-filled ideology around the world.”
The bill comes as the Biden administration recently conditioned security assistance to Egypt on dropping of charges against extremists, as a broader push by Democrats seeks to pressure Egypt to release extremists, including Muslim Brotherhood members.