Tel-Chai Nation

Khaled abu Toameh writes on Hudson NY about the rather unsurprising rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Syria's anti-Assad revolution, which is also being stoked by the Muslim Brotherhood (Hat tip: Jihad Watch):

As Syrian dictator Bashar Assad continues to slaughter his people, there are growing indications that the Islamists are increasing their efforts to replace his regime.

What started as a secular Facebook revolution against the Assad regime is now beginning to look more like a jihad [holy war] led by Muslim fundamentalists.

The Muslim Brotherhood is clearly seeking to hijack the anti-Assad protests, in both the political and military fields.

In the past few months, there have been many signs of a "return to Islam" in Syrian society. Large banners urging women to wear the hijab have appeared in Damascus and other main cities and many restaurants and hotels have stopped serving alcohol in keeping with Islamic law. This is in addition to the fact that many of the daily anti-Assad demonstrations are being launched from mosques, especially after Friday prayers.

The Muslim Brotherhood is by no means a "moderate" organization. Its motto leaves no room for questions about its true intentions: "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Koran is our law. Jihad [holy war] is our way. Dying for the sake of Allah is our highest hope." Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader, Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi, has come out in favor of suicide bombings, which he called "evidence of God's justice;" the death penalty for homosexuals; the beating of women; a genocidal a hatred of Jews: "O Allah, do not spare a single one of them….kill them down to the very last one," as he put on al-Jazeera on January 9, 2009 [www.MEMRI.org]; and, as he said on April 14, 2004, boycotts of America and Israel: "Our duty is to make them as weak as we can."

If the Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood rise to power in Syria, then nothing's really been replaced at all, any more than in Egypt - it'll just be sadism as bad and even worse than Assad's own tyranny.

Labels: anti-semitism, Egypt, islam, Israel, jihad, misogyny, political corruption, syria