Photo, above: Supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi chant slogans during a demonstration in Dalga Village, in upper Egypt, Friday, Aug. 30, 2013 / AP
By Thomas Madison
Egyptian President al-Sisi has been a secular leader, accepting of all faiths. He is the first Egyptian president to visit a Christian church. In the video below the spirited applause he receives from Christians, as he visits their church, is spontaneous and sincere.
President al-Sisi is opposed by the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian government has named a terrorist organization, as have other key Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia. President al-Sisi has adamantly and consistently spoken of the needed reformation of Islam, purging it of the extremist violence which is causing terror, death, and destruction around the world.
It is not inconsequential that Obama’s State Department met with representatives of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood this week. Also, while not surprising it is beyond disgusting and very telling that the Obama administration has refused to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who represents our closest ally and the freest and truest democracy in the Middle East, yet is perfectly willing to host a known Islamic terrorist organization.
God help us all!
Muslim Brotherhood-Aligned Leaders Hosted at State Department
The State Department hosted a delegation of Muslim Brotherhood-aligned leaders this week for a meeting about their ongoing efforts to oppose the current government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, who rose to power following the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, an ally of the Brotherhood, in 2013.
One member of the delegation, a Brotherhood-aligned judge in Egypt, posed for a picture while at Foggy Bottom in which he held up the Islamic group’s notorious four-finger Rabia symbol, according to his Facebook page.
That delegation member, Waleed Sharaby, is a secretary-general of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council and a spokesman for Judges for Egypt, a group reported to have close ties to the Brotherhood.
The delegation also includes Gamal Heshmat, a leading member of the Brotherhood, and Abdel Mawgoud al-Dardery, a Brotherhood member who served as a parliamentarian from Luxor.
Sharaby, the Brotherhood-aligned judge, flashed the Islamist group’s popular symbol in his picture at the State Department and wrote in a caption: “Now in the U.S. State Department. Your steadfastness impresses everyone,” according to an independent translation of the Arabic.
Another member of the delegation, Maha Azzam, confirmed during an event hosted Tuesday by the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID)—another group accused of having close ties to the Brotherhood—that the delegation had “fruitful” talks with the State Department.
“Maha Azzam confirms that ‘anti-coup’ delegation, which includes 2 top [Muslim Brothers], had ‘fruitful’ conversations at State Dept,” Egypt expert Eric Tragertweeted.
Assam also said that the department expressed openness to engagement, according to one person who attended the event.
Trager, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), told the Washington Free Beacon that the State Department is interested in maintaining a dialogue with the Brotherhood due to its continued role in the Egyptian political scene.
“The State Department continues to speak with Muslim Brothers on the assumption that Egyptian politics are unpredictable, and the Brotherhood still has some support in Egypt,” he said. “But when pro-Brotherhood delegations then post photos of themselves making pro-Brotherhood gestures in front of the State Department logo, it creates an embarrassment for the State Department.”
– See more at: http://freebeacon.com/national-security/muslim-brotherhood-leaders-hosted-at-state-department/#sthash.NNEL1dip.dpuf
