(JNS) For years, policymakers in Israel and across Europe have tried to separate the Muslim Brotherhood’s political facade from its extremist foundation. They hoped that engaging with the Brotherhood’s “moderate” vocabulary could foster stability, integrate Muslim communities and serve as a firewall against violent radicalism.
But events unfolding in Europe—supported by multiple intelligence reports from France, Belgium and the European Parliament—now expose this strategy as dangerously misguided. The Brotherhood is not an alternative to extremism. It is the ideological engine that drives it.
See: Muslim Brotherhood’s 100-year plan to undermine America reaches dangerous midpoint
On Nov. 23, more than 70 European and international experts gathered in front of the International Criminal Court in The Hague to deliver a unified message: that the Muslim Brotherhood represents a global threat to peace and security. Their warning was grounded not in speculation but in hard intelligence and the experience of European cities that have faced waves of radicalization, antisemitism and terror.
For Israel and Europe alike, the danger is not theoretical; it is urgent and evolving. To understand the threat, one must first understand the Brotherhood’s worldview.
It is built on a single premise: that Islam is not merely a religion, but is a political system destined to replace all others. Its long-term objective—articulated openly by senior officials and documented in European intelligence memos—is to reshape societies from within through a “civilizational-jihadist process,” as noted by former Dutch politician Henry Van Bommel.
This process is neither violent nor spectacular. It is slow, bureaucratic and strategic. It operates through: community organizations, student groups, religious institutions, NGOs and political lobbying networks
The Brotherhood’s genius—and its danger—lies in its ability to use democratic tools to advance an anti-democratic ideology. As Ramon Rahangmetan emphasized at The Hague: “This is not about Islam or Muslim communities. It is about a political movement identified as a structural, ideological threat to democratic cohesion.”
Europe’s struggle with parallel societies, extremist enclaves and radicalized youth is inseparable from the Brotherhood’s influence. For Israel, the threat is even more direct. Hamas, which is responsible for massacres, mass rapes, torture, mutilation, burnings, kidnappings and rocket wars, is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood does not merely justify Hamas’s violence; it provides the ideological legitimacy that sustains it. From textbooks and sermons to online propaganda and diplomatic narratives, the Brotherhood works tirelessly to demonize Israel, delegitimize Jewish self-determination and mobilize support for the “resistance”—a euphemism for terrorism.
The Oct. 7 atrocities were not an aberration. They were the physical expression of a doctrine the Brotherhood helped craft over decades. This ideology spills into Europe as well—through demonstrations where Jewish communities are threatened, slogans glorify terror and the boundaries between political protest and antisemitic incitement disappear. European authorities themselves have confirmed that Brotherhood-linked organizations are driving radical messaging that fuels street unrest and societal division.
The Brotherhood’s danger does not lie only in ideology, but in infrastructure. European intelligence agencies warn that the organization receives foreign funding routed through charities and NGOs; uses taxpayer-funded grants to advance political Islam; recruits youth for conflicts abroad (Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh); undermines integration policies; intimidates dissidents within Muslim communities; and infiltrates municipal and national political systems.
At The Hague, Julio Levit Koldorf bluntly described the paradox gripping Europe: Left-wing activists, unaware of the Brotherhood’s totalitarian roots, “blindly defend a movement that opposes democracy, human rights, gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights and secular governance.”
In other words, the Brotherhood disguises itself as a victim of racism while promoting an ideology that seeks to dismantle the very freedoms that protect minorities. Europe cannot afford this contradiction. Neither can Israel.
Importantly, calls to confront the Brotherhood are not attacks on Islam. Every speaker at The Hague stressed this distinction. As Iranian Belgian activist Fahimeh Il Ghami stated: “Our objective is not to target any community or faith. But when an organization engages in covert financing, intimidation or extremism, the law must respond.”
This is a defense of Muslim communities, not an attack on them. The first victims of the Muslim Brotherhood are often Muslims themselves: women, dissidents, secular reformers, minorities and anyone who rejects political Islam.
For Israel, Europe’s handling of the Muslim Brotherhood will shape the continent’s future security. A Europe infiltrated by Islamist networks becomes a Europe less safe for its Jewish citizens, more hostile toward Israel and more vulnerable to foreign manipulation by Iran, Qatar and Turkey—states that historically support Brotherhood branches for geopolitical leverage.
For Europe, Israel’s experience offers a warning: ignoring the ideological roots of extremism is not tolerance; it is negligence. The Brotherhood’s threat is transnational. The response must be, as well.
European governments are now beginning to act. Austria, France and Belgium have taken steps to restrict Brotherhood-linked activities. The European Parliament’s latest report exposes the movement’s financing patterns. Civil society coalitions are calling for the Brotherhood’s designation as a terrorist organization, aligning with the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
But action remains fragmented. The Brotherhood thrives in the gaps. Unless Europe and Israel coordinate policy—sharing intelligence, restricting funding channels, monitoring front organizations and treating the movement as an ideological security threat—the Brotherhood will continue to exploit democratic systems to undermine them.
The question is no longer whether the Muslim Brotherhood is dangerous. It is whether free societies will find the courage to defend themselves.
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