Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood Threatens Switzerland With Economic Retaliation Over Minaret Ban

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Jordanian media is reporting that the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood has threatened Switzerland with retaliation from Arab Gulf states over the decision to ban new minaret construction, According to a report in the Jordan Times:

Switzerland will jeopardise its relations with the Arab and Muslim worlds if it “continues to discriminate against Muslims”, a top Jordanian Islamist warned on Saturday.Describing the recent ban on building minarets in Switzerland as a “racist act”, Secretary General of the Islamic Action Front Ishaq Farhan expressed concern that the move would “entice violence against Muslims”. The remarks were made in a letter sent to the Swiss embassy in Amman, in which he urged the Swiss government to rescind the decision. “We hope your country will reconsider its position, considering that your country has strong ties with the Arab and Muslim worlds and has been a safe haven for investors for decades,” Farhan said. He warned that the fallout from the ban would “reverberate across the region” until a “point of escalation” if action is not taken to overturn it. “If Switzerland remains adamant to discriminate against Muslims, Muslim nations, particularly the oil-rich Arab Gulf states, will pressure their governments to take retaliatory measures, including economic sanctions,” he said. Farhan also urged the local community to make their voices heard “to show solidarity with other Muslims”. “Muslims in Switzerland are capable of raising their grievances and fighting back, but our duty as Muslims here forces us to show solidarity,” he told The Jordan Times. The Islamist leader said the Swiss government should not “heed to pressure” by extremist ideology and “consider the historic relations” between people from both religions.

The Islamic Action Front (IAF) is generally considered to be the political wing of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood.

IAF Secretary-General Farhan, only previously known to be a “caretaker” IAF leader, is a Jordanian of Palestinian origin. one of the three founders of the IAF, and a former education minister and senator. Mr. Farhan is also listed as a director of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), founded in the U.S. in 1980 by important members of the Global Muslim Brotherhood who wished to promote the “Islamization of Knowledge.” IIIT was associated with the now defunct SAAR Foundation, a network of Islamic organizations located in Northern Virginia that was raided by the Federal government in March 2002 in connection with the financing of terrorism. In 2000, Mr. Farhan was denied entry to the U.S. after having had his visa revoked in the prior year without informing him. The New York Times reported at that time that unidentified American diplomats called Mr. Farhan a “moderating force” and that he “as kept a distance from the vociferous opposition to peaceful relations with Israel.” However, in 2003 a media report said that the IAF had “declared a jihad in favor of Iraq and Palestine if the US attacks Iraq.”

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