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.
