Amsterdam deals a new blow to the Muslim Brotherhood’s network in Europe

The Netherlands has dealt a fresh blow to the Muslim Brotherhood’s presence in Europe following a majority decision by the Dutch Parliament to ban the activities of the extremist group, along with all its closely affiliated entities and institutions.

The Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV) based its motion to officially ban the organization on French government reports and presidential decrees from the Élysée Palace targeting the Muslim Brotherhood and its expansionist agenda in Europe.

In its proposed resolution, the right-wing Dutch party asserted that “the Muslim Brotherhood in the Netherlands and its affiliated organizations are planning to expand and infiltrate society to establish an Islamic empire based on Islamic Sharia law, according to the group’s ideology.”

The PVV successfully convinced Dutch parliamentarians of the organization’s dangers by citing official French reports. This legislative victory comes after several previous failed attempts to raise awareness within the Dutch Parliament regarding the impact of the Brotherhood’s agenda in the Netherlands and across Europe.

Adopted by Majority

The Dutch Parliament adopted the resolution to ban the Muslim Brotherhood and its activities with a simple majority, securing 76 out of 150 votes. This marks a significant victory for the Party for Freedom in its primary initiative against the extremist organization’s expansion in Europe.

According to the Dutch news outlet NL Times, the resolution warned of “the secret infiltration relied upon by the Muslim Brotherhood to eventually seize control of Europe through the establishment of an Islamic state on European soil.”

French Warning

The Dutch Party for Freedom relied heavily on a French government report published last May, which revealed a “large-scale infiltration” by the Muslim Brotherhood within French society through a covert network of individuals and institutions.

The French newspaper Le Figaro had previously published a report titled “The Muslim Brotherhood and Political Islam in France.” The report—prepared by a French ambassador and a police official under the direct commission of the Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Defense—concluded that “the Muslim Brotherhood is undermining the French state from within through a vast network of elements and institutions deeply rooted in the country.”

According to the French report used by the Dutch party to justify the ban, the Brotherhood has utilized approximately 139 places of worship for French Muslims, transforming them into primary headquarters. This is in addition to 68 other headquarters belonging to closely associated institutions spread across 55 French departments. These represent 7% of the total 2,800 Islamic places of worship in France, and roughly 10% of those opened between 2010 and 2020.

The French report sounded the alarm over the Brotherhood’s influence on a significant segment of French society. It emphasized that the group—which is designated as a terrorist organization in several countries worldwide—has “280 affiliated associations active in diverse fields within France alone, covering religion, charity, education, as well as the professional, youth, and economic sectors.”

The government report was based on extensive discussions with intelligence agencies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and all departments tasked with analyzing and monitoring the phenomenon, alongside dozens of field visits across France and other European capitals.

Following interviews with approximately 45 French and international academics from various intellectual backgrounds, as well as national officials from the Muslim community in France, the French government warned European nations about the Brotherhood’s separatist ideologies aimed at subversion and destabilization.

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Muslim Brotherhood: “Terrorist Group” Designation

Meanwhile, the United States has gone beyond the European approach of merely banning activities. The US has designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization in various contexts, noting that the group infiltrates multiple countries in the Middle East and around the world under different guises.

On March 9th, the US State Department announced the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood branch in Sudan as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” (SDGT) entity, declaring the group a Foreign Terrorist Organization effective mid-month.

Washington confirmed through documented reports that “the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan uses excessive violence against civilians, actively works to undermine peace efforts in the country, and relies on spreading its extremist ideologies.” A State Department statement also highlighted that the Brotherhood has “carried out summary executions against civilians after receiving training and support from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”

Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, previously expressed his dismay over credible reports confirming that extremist groups carried out summary executions in March and April of last year in Khartoum State, following its takeover by the army and extremist Brotherhood militias, led by the “Al-Baraa bin Malik Battalion.”

The US State Department statement noted that the Al-Baraa bin Malik Battalion, affiliated with the Brotherhood network, “committed atrocities in Sudan’s brutal war, including field executions of civilians,” and announced its inclusion on terrorist lists as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan.