The Brevity of Respectability

"Egypt was horrified from north to south by the hideous crime committed by the Muslim Brotherhood group. This was in context of dangerous escalation to violence against Egypt and Egyptians (and) a clear declaration by the Muslim Brotherhood group that it still knows nothing but violence.
"It's not possible for Egypt the state nor Egypt the people to submit to the Muslim Brotherhood terrorism."
Hossam Eissa, Egyptian minister of higher education

Egyptians attend the funeral of a dozen policeman and a civilian killed from an explosion at a police headquarters, in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013. A powerful blast tore through a police headquarters in an Egyptian Nile Delta city early Tuesday, killing more than a dozen, wounding more than 100 and leaving victims buried under rubble in the deadliest bombing yet in a months-long wave of violence blamed on Islamic militants. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, which came a day after an al-Qaida-inspired group called on police and army personnel to desert or face death at the hands of its fighters. (AP Photo/Ahmed Omar)

"This decision is as if it never happened. It has no value for us and is only worth the paper it is written on.
"It won't impact us from near and far. Ideas won't be impacted by false accusations. We uphold this call only for the sake of God."
Ibrahim El-sayed, Freedom and Justice Party, Muslim Brotherhood

The organization, once banned for many long years, which eventually also gave birth to Hamas, is now labelled as a terrorist group. Hamas has worn that label for quite awhile in countries of the West. Although the Muslim Brotherhood has latterly disavowed violence, it has aligned itself with Islamist terrorist groups. Under the presidency of Mohammed Morsi, Hamas was given state-to-state recognition, and overtures were made to the government of Iran, long held at a diplomatic distance.

The Muslim Brotherhood achieved their long-dreamed-of-goal of social acceptance and political ascendancy. They managed quite capably to insinuate themselves into the hearts and minds of the downtrodden all over the Middle East and North Africa, from their inception in 1929, finding useful conscripts through the long arm of their caring, social welfare network. Which never quite adequately screened their political ideology and religious fundamentalism.

Governing, however, appeared far too difficult for the party. Though it basked happily in that glory for a year. Its concerns, first and foremost, were to implement strict religious observance throughout the land, allowing the economy, trade, security, investment and social peace to languish. But it was the authoritarian menace of the new government that sufficiently outraged Egyptians toward a groundswell of protest and eventual removal.

The counter-protests were swift in their response. As was the targeting of vengeful Islamists of the Egyptian Christian Copt community. And the spiked-up violence in the Sinai spoke volumes of the Muslim Brotherhood's collaboration with Salafist Bedouin, al-Qaeda-affiliated groups and Hamas, in using them to wreak havoc on Egyptian police and military. The message was clear; return the Brotherhood to power.

The response has been equally clear, that there is no way for Egypt to once again, even for the space of another probationary year, that the country would submit to the menacing threat of fundamentalist Islam charting a future course for Egypt. The armed forces and the police have been given the legal right to proceed with entering universities to prevent protests for "protection to the students".

The minister of social solidarity, Ahmed el-Borai explained that "all activities of the Muslim Brotherhood group are -- banned including the demonstrations." Which coincided quite neatly with a response; a bomb exploding in a busy Cairo intersection Thursday, hitting a bus, wounding five people. This relatively innocuous blast has raised fears of a wider campaign of violence against civilians, not merely the police and the military.

The funds of over 1,000 non-government organizations linked to the Brotherhood will be frozen, draining the Brotherhood's finances. As well, the one hundred and more schools operated by the group will now be placed under government supervision. Draining, as it were, the grassroots tentacles of the Brotherhood, tellingly.

"The government should present strong evidence of the Muslim Brotherhood collaboration in terrorism and present it to courts in order to win a court ruling branding the group as a terrorist one", recommended Rifaat Laqoushah, a political analyst. Otherwise the decision is merely a "procedural" one, one that could be overturned by the courts.

The attack on the police headquarters in Mansoura represented revenge for the "shedding of innocent Muslim blood" at the hands of Egypt's "apostate regime", boasted Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the Champions of Jerusalem. This is the typical jihadi chant; revenge for 'shedding innocent Muslim blood' by shedding Muslim blood. Courtesy of the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates.