RYAN MAURO: A WINDOW ON THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IN AMERICA
An Annotated Interview with DHS Advisor Mohamed Elibiary
This is, of course, a myth. Charitable organizations associated with any group are
encouraged to operate freely, so long as they do not run afoul of US counter-terror
statutes or other laws. For Elibiary, that is precisely the problem.
Elibiary (cont’d):I found that all the truly security-related concerns theUS government or other American communities had stemming fromcounterterrorism trials like HLF were resolvable without destroying the American-Muslim community’s charitable nonprofit infrastructure.
Next, in discussing the reception his ideas have received with the Brotherhood itself, he uses the phrase, “Islamic movement leaders.” In their internal and external communications—most dramatically in their own Explanatory Memorandum—the Brotherhood and its offshoots like Hamas routinely identify themselves as part of the“Islamic Movement.”
Mauro: What kind of reaction did you receive for voicing a differentcourse of handling the US Muslim Brotherhood concerns stemmingfrom the HLF trial?
Elibiary: Naturally, the alternative approach I outlined in my op-ed waswelcomed by some and demonized by others as either too naïve of how truly evil the Muslim Brotherhood was or as too soft on fighting terror.
Those that welcomed it included many Islamic movement leaders andthe Muslim Brotherhood’s official website itself, IkhwanWeb, republished my Dallas Morning News op-ed on their own without contactingme. Similarly there were folks, within different parts of the US government, who privately let me know they thought my recommended coursewas the best thing for the country.
There were also two protagonist constituencies who naturally did notwelcome my middle-of-the-road compromise offer to turn the page.There were material support to terrorism prosecution hawks, both insidethe US government and outside in conservative networks, who viewed my public messaging with suspicion.
Similarly, there was a camp within my own Muslim community thatviewed my recognition, even if implicit, of wrongdoing by Muslimcommunity members in an attempt to turn the page with the US government (which many viewed as at war with Islam and/or too pro-Zionist) as a betrayal of Islam and the Palestinian cause. With both camps I have, over the years, spent many hours privately discussing and
