CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler writes: “The Muslim Brotherhood has always been exceptionally difficult to counter in the West. While there’s a clear track record of individuals connected to the Brotherhood’s network who later appeared in Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, the group has been strategically careful never to explicitly promote or call for violence in Western countries. This created a significant challenge: the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and direct violence has always been tactical and geographically limited. The organization has used violence in Türkiye, Syria, and Egypt, but deliberately avoided it in Europe and North America, allowing it to claim protection under freedom of religion and speech.”

The late Qaradawi served as spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and was best known, the Counter Extremism Project notes, for advocating “the murder of Americans, gay people, and Jews through his writings, speeches, and fatwas.” In 2022, Ibrahim posted on Twitter a video of him speaking with Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the U.S. designated terrorist group Hamas. Speaking in English, Ibrahim states that his own election victory is also a victory for the “Palestinians and the ummah” and pledged to “work together, inshallah, to redeem the lost image and also role of the ummah.” Ibrahim subsequently also spoke to Hamas’s political leader Khaled Meshal, former chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau.

According to Hans-Jakob Schindler of the research organization "Counter Extremism Project," Qaradawi was "generally regarded as the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood."

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: "On Thursday, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that it had added 19 individuals and entities to its “Local Terrorist List” for their links to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to reports by local media. In the UAE, the Brotherhood is a proscribed terror group. What is striking about this list is that eight of the “entities” listed are UK organisations. This means that, in effect, a Muslim country is sanctioning legal UK organisations for their affiliation with terrorism."

"Ian Acheson, a senior adviser to the Counter Extremism Project, a think tank, said the eight organisations were not breaking any British laws as the UK had not proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood even though it is banned in some countries including Syria and Austria."

CEP Strategic Advisor writes: "The rumblings began before the book was even published. When the book came out in January though, Bergeaud-Blackler, no stranger to sensitive subjects, could not have anticipated the response. The denunciations came thick and fast, some from Islamist sympathisers in the media and academic sphere, some from those who believed they were defending Muslims against a bigoted screed. The author’s conference at the Sorbonne was cancelled (since rescheduled) without a proper explanation. As the controversy grew, death threats arrived."

"The Brotherhood was founded in 1928 in Egypt by schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna. The organisation seeks to establish a global Islamic state governed by Islamic law called sharia, according to think tank Counter Extremism Project (CEP)."