The Obama Administration on Wednesday signaled that it will reestablish official ties with Egypt's rising Islamist power, the Muslim Brotherhood.
When former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak was ousted earlier this year, the Obama Administration insisted that the Brotherhood was a fringe group, and that detractors were making too big a deal of the Islamists influence in Egyptian society.
But an unnamed White House official told Reuters that the administration has had to face facts and is now determined to "engage with all of the parties that are competing for parliament or the presidency" in Egypt.
The Muslim Brotherhood, while not actively involved in terrorism at present, has a very violent past and continues to support allied terror groups across the region. The Brotherhood also has a stated long-term goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate, first in Egypt, then stretching across the Middle East, and finally encompassing the whole world.
But first, the Muslim Brotherhood wants to see Egypt return to a state of war with Israel, an entity that it sees as a blight on the Muslim Middle East.
There is concern in Israel that if Washington can succumb to pressure to accept the Muslim Brotherhood, it may eventually open its arms to Hamas and Hizballah, too. After all, both of those groups also wield considerable political clout in their respective societies.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the weekend publicly announced the Obama Administration's desire to reestablish ties with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood responded this week by thanking Clinton, and issuing its first demand of its new American friends: drop support for the "Zionist regime."
In an email response quoted by Bloomberg, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan stated that if America wants solid relations with the group, it should "stop supporting the corrupt and tyrannical regimes, backing the Zionist occupation and using double standards."
It is important to remember that when the Muslim Brotherhood speaks of the "Zionist occupation" it does not mean only the Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria, the so-called "West Bank."
The Muslim Brotherhood sees all of Israel as a cancerous growth that must be eradicated. The group supports returning Egypt to a state of war with Israel, and wants to see the entirety of the region become an Islamic Caliphate.
Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by the Muslim Brotherhood for making peace with Israel.
The Muslim Brotherhood is today the most organized political force in Egypt, raising expectations that it will win control of the government when Egyptians go to the polls in September.
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Tags: Anwar, Brotherhood, Clinton, Egypt, Hillary, Israel, Judea, Muslim, Sadat, Samaria