I meant to get this post up on Sunday, but I went down a rabbit hole of research of the guest of this Hannity episode, Brigitte Gabriel and her organization, American Congress for Truth. She and her organization truly frightened me in its scope of irrational hatred of Islam. What can you say about a woman so self-loathing that even as a teen she refused to speak Arabic in her native Lebanon and still refers to herself as a "Phoenician" instead of acknowledging her Arab blood? A "terrorism expert" who has been quoted as saying “every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim.” So obviously, who better to comment on the ongoing upheaval in Egypt on Fox News than a woman who has created a cottage industry sowing the seeds of hatred against the one billion Muslims in the world?
There's no question that the official Fox News memo came down from on Ailes demanding that the hosts spend as much time as possible focusing the "scary terrists" taking over Egypt and turning everything into an Islamicist threat. Democracy? Nah...this is the Muslim Brotherhood taking over the entire country.
HANNITY: Brigitte, you know as I'm watching this here, it seems to me that the Muslim Brotherhood has pretty much taken this over. Seems to me that radical groups now see this as an opportunity and they're weighing in and offering their support. You know, I was thinking about this earlier today. I can't think of any democratic revolution that's taken hold in Arab countries. The only real democracy I can think of is in Iraq now.
GABRIEL: That's right. And the radicals are smelling blood basically. This is their opportunity. They have seen what Hamas did in Gaza and by the way, Hamas was a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas was democratically elected for the Palestinian people, by the Palestinian people. Look at Hezbollah in Lebanon. They practically elected themselves into the government and now took over the government. The Egyptians are smelling the same thing. This is their opportunity.
Uh yeah. I'm going to pass on commenting about Hannity's ridiculous notion that Iraq is the only real democracy in the Middle East because that's just part and parcel of the disinformation that Fox is known for and frankly, I'm not sure that Hannity would know a functioning democracy if it smacked him upside the head. But the fear-mongering over the Muslim Brotherhood? Would you be surprised to hear that there's not one "iota of reality" to it? In the words of El Baradei:
This is a myth that was sold by the Mabarak regime, that it’s either us — the ruthless dictators — or a Muslim al-Qaeda type. The Muslim Brotherhood has nothing to do with the Iranian movement, has nothing to do with extremism as we have seen it in Afghanistan and other places. The Muslim Brotherhood is a religiously conservative group. They are a minority in Egypt. They are not a majority of the Egyptian people, but they have a lot of credibility because of liberal parties have been a struggle for thirty years. They are in favor of a secular state. they are of –they are in favor of an institution that have bread lines, they are in favor that every Egyptian have the same rights, that the state is in no way a state based on religion. And I have been reaching out to them. We need to include them. They are as much a part of society as the markets that started here. I think this is a myth that has been perpetuated and sold by the regime and has no iota of reality.
But hey, let's not let little things like facts and tolerance get in the way of a good Muslim fear-monger session.
Partial transcripts below the fold
HANNITY: Brigitte, you know as I'm watching this here, it seems to me that the Muslim Brotherhood has pretty much taken this over. Seems to me that radical groups now see this as an opportunity and they're weighing in and offering their support. You know, I was thinking about this earlier today. I can't think of any democratic revolution that's taken hold in Arab countries. The only real democracy I can think of is in Iraq now.
GABRIEL: That's right. And the radicals are smelling blood basically. This is their opportunity. They have seen what Hamas did in Gaza and by the way, Hamas was a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas was democratically elected for the Palestinian people, by the Palestinian people. Look at Hezbollah in Lebanon. They practically elected themselves into the government and now took over the government. The Egyptians are smelling the same thing. This is their opportunity.
Ayatollah Khatami in Iran in his private service said we are seeing the rise of a new Islamic era in the Middle East. So they feel empowered. They feel this is their opportunity. And what's happened in Tunisia a couple of weeks ago is completely different than what's happening in Egypt right now. The majority of Tunisians are moderate, they are educated, they are literate people. In Egypt we are looking at a majority population that is illiterate, that is looking for something that is thriving through Islamic justice, not just democracy, but democracy according to the Islamic way of life and that's what's very dangerous.
HANNITY: But their long term goal has always been to establish an Islamic Caliphate, using Sharia and Islamic law. That's what they've wanted from the beginning. They've always been committed to jihad.
GABRIEL: Exactly.
HANNITY: They were formed in Egypt in 1928. They took responsibility in part for assassinating former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Their original leaders and their writings influenced Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden and it was, even though it was banned by the Mubarak government, members ran for parliament and in 2005 they got 20% of the seats then. So obviously there is a very strong, there's a big stronghold of Islamic extremists that may very well take over Egypt.
GABRIEL: A very strong hold. Listen, Ayman al-Zawahiri was a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, imprisoned by the Egyptian government and this is exactly why Mubarak today cut off the Internet. He knows that Ayman al-Zawahiri will do appeals in Arabic so he's based in Egypt. He will be a welcomed hero back into his own country. Now he is living in exile.
We are going to see another replay of Iran happening in Egypt like what we saw with Ayatollah Khatami in '79.
HANNITY: Yeah.
GABRIEL: We're going to what people like Ayman al-Zawahiri and others in Egypt.
HANNITY: How much is this about Israel Brigitte?
GABRIEL: Uh... this is not really much about Israel. They despise Israel. Now remember, Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel as well as Jordan and both countries right now are experiencing demonstrations in the streets.
HANNITY: Yeah.
GABRIEL: They despise the Jews and that's very dangerous for Israel right now. Israel is surrounded with volcanoes about to explode.
