Among the enlisted names stand those of the founder of Hamas Sheikh Ahmad Yasin, Former Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority Ismail Haniyeh, Palestinian political leader and the head of the Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas Khaled Mashal, and the co-founder of the Palestinian movement Hamas Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi.
Citing a website named CEP, the Saudi Arabian newspaper claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood (Ekhvan-al-Moslemin) is in contact with terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda, ISIL, Al-Nusra, and etc.
The other names included in the list are those of the Spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Sayyid Qutb, the fifth President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi, and that of the head of the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood political movement Abdul Majeed al-Zindani.
The news piece was criticized widely in the social media. Here are some of the reactions:
“It is interesting that Abdul Majeed al-Zindani lives in Saudi Arabia, now,” an Arab activist wrote.
“You have the name of Sheikh Yasin (PBUH) on the list, the one praised by King Fahd. You call him a terrorist? Woe onto you,” Muhmmad said.
“As long as there is resistance against the terrorist Zionist regime, there is no terrorism in the world. You are terrorism,” another one wrote.
“There are some ones like those who murdered Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and dismembered him and the one who ordered this murder (bin Salman) besides his advisors Ahmad Asiri and Saoud Al Qahtani. Why didn’t you put their names on the terrorist list? Those who are influenced by Sahwa movement and etc. You are the biggest hypocrites,” a critic wrote.
According to New York Times, the White House is pushing to issue an order that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, bringing the weight of American sanctions against a storied and influential Islamist political movement with millions of members across the Middle East, according to officials familiar with the matter.
The White House directed national security and diplomatic officials to find a way to place sanctions on the group after a White House visit on April 9 by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, for whom the Brotherhood represents a source of political opposition. In a private meeting without reporters and photographers, el-Sisi urged Trump to take that step and join Egypt in branding the movement a terrorist organization.
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