Ilhan Omar pushes for release of jailed Muslim Brotherhood leader

Rep. Ilhan Omar — whose short tenure in Congress thus far has been rife with controversy — made a shocking appeal Tuesday, openly pushing for the release of a senior member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB).

Omar took to Twitter Tuesday evening demanding that “Trump” call for the release of Hoda Abdelmonem, a senior member in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s women’s affiliate.

I quickly confirmed that this was the same Abdelmonem who has for years been a member of the MB, which advocates for Islamist takeover of Egypt.

Abdelmonem remains an influential figure and a senior leader in the Islamist outfit, and the campaign for her release has been a top priority item for Muslim Brotherhood-aligned individuals, groups, and governments. Muslim Brotherhood-tied media networks such as Middle East Eye, Middle East Monitor, and Al Jazeera have dedicated nonstop coverage to this issue, often falsely portraying the Islamist activist as a human rights advocate. Muslim Brotherhood-tied campaigners in the U.S. have continued a full-court press for Abdelmonem’s release.

Additionally, these same entities all remain fiercely opposed to the rule of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who in 2013 ousted Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated former president in Cairo. So convincing the president to call for the release of their Islamist ally would arguably chip away at el-Sisi’s legitimacy.

After posting a photo of her meeting with pro-Muslim Brotherhood campaigners, Omar then doubled down on her push, retweeting this post linking to an Al Jazeera video that calls for Abdelmonem’s release:

Al Jazeera is the state-controlled, Islamistpromoting media network of the Qatari government, which uses slave labor and funds terrorist organizations throughout the Middle East. Al Jazeera regularly promotes Muslim Brotherhood leaders and groups, which seek to overthrow stable U.S. allies and install Islamist theocracies in their stead. 

Since entering Congress, Rep. Omar has continued to show a preference for antagonistic U.S. adversaries and throwback Islamist leaders and groups, as opposed to U.S.-friendly Middle East nations and peaceful reform movements worldwide. She has become a regular on the CAIR speaking circuit. The terror-tied Islamist group raised mountains of cash for her congressional campaign.

The Muslim Brotherhood is classified as a terrorist organization in several nations, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Russia, Egypt, and Bahrain. The group has spawned the likes of deceased Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS. Republicans in Congress continue to push legislation and directly appeal to President Trump to classify the MB as a foreign terrorist organization, given its tendency for violence and the group’s extremist, anti-American philosophy.

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