A window on the muslim brotherhood in america

RYAN MAURO: A WINDOW ON THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IN AMERICA

An Annotated Interview with DHS Advisor Mohamed Elibiary

Elibiary granted me an exclusive, extensive and substantive interview via severallengthy email exchanges about the topic of the US Muslim Brotherhood, his personalassociations and opinions. In our five-part interview, Elibiary made clear he speaks on­ly for himself and not as a representative of the US government or any organization.The full text of the emails that constituted this interview appear at the Appendix. The annotations that accompany quotes from our interview by Elibiary (which are indented throughout) are mine.

At the outset, Elibiary establishes himself as a senior DHS advisor who:

1. 
   Began as a teenager a tight friendship with a self-described Islamist named Shukri Abu Baker, who later was convicted of financing Hamas through hisUS Muslim Brotherhood entity, the Holy Land Foundation;
   
2. 
   Donated to the Holy Land Foundation monthly since his first encounterwith Baker until the Foundation was shut down by the US government;
   
3. 
   Defends the innocence of this Hamas financier and depicts his prosecutionas a case of political persecution;
   
4. 
   Opposes the largest terrorism-financing prosecution in US history and theoverall targeting of the US Muslim Brotherhood network;
   
5. 
   Admits knowing the Muslim Brotherhood “social network” (as he calls it) in a “much more personal manner than the Average White Guy…”
   
6. 
   Supports a partnership with Islamists, particularly the Muslim Brother­hood, in the US and abroad.
   

1. Elibiary and the Holy Land Foundation

We began by discussing the Holy Land Foundation, a US Muslim Brotherhoodentity that was shut down for financing Hamas. Five of its officials, including its leader,Shukri Abu Baker, were convicted. This was the largest terrorism-financing trial in UShistory, making it central to any discussion of the US Muslim Brotherhood. It was dur­ing this trial that the 1991 US Muslim Brotherhood strategic plan written by a topMuslim Brother, Mohamed Akhram, was introduced into evidence. It was entitled The Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal of the Group in North Ameri­ca⁸ and had as an attachment a list of twenty-nine of the Brotherhood’s “organizations and the organizations of our friends.”

The Justice Department’s roster of unindicted co-conspirators⁹ in the Holy Landcase included many individuals and organizations associated with the Muslim Brother-

Center for Security Policy Occasional Paper Series