Furthermore, there is an upsurge in reports of violent movements in Egyptthat could be tied to the MB, the most prominent of which is the Revolutionary Retribution Movement. This movement, which emerged in advance of the fourth anniversary of Egypt's January 25 revolution and now has branches in provinces across Egypt, calls for armed revolution against the Al-Sisi regime and has taken credit for a large number of attacks and violent incidents in Egypt carried out in the last week of January 2015; Egyptian authorities have attributed these attacks to the MB. While the MB has denied any connection to the movement, pro-MB television channels and social media indicate the existence of such a link.
This report will review calls by the MB and other organizations for jihad and for assassinating President Al-Sisi, and MB threats to carry out terrorist attacks in Egypt.
Clerics on MB-Linked TV Channels Call for Assassinating Al-Sisi, Journalists Close to Him
On January 10, 2015, the cleric Salama 'Abd Al-Qawi received thunderous applause from the studio audience on a program on the Turkey-based MB-linked Rabea TV channel, when he said that it would not be at all bad if someone were to assassinate President Al-Sisi. He added that anyone who did so would be doing "a good deed" that brings him "closer to Allah," and that if he died in the process, he would be considered a martyr. He further said that this also applies to anyone who assassinates other "criminal leaders," because, he explained, this is a tenet of Islam.
Wagdi Ghoneim, a preacher close to the MB, appeared on the Turkey-based MB-linked Misr Alan TV on January 26, 2015, saying that anyone who produces the severed heads of journalists close to the Egyptian regime – journalists whom he called "dogs" and "Hell-dwellers" – would be rewarded by Allah. An analyst on the channel claimed that journalists who support the Al-Sisi regime are accessories to all the crimes that it commits, and that their punishment should be execution – which Al-Sisi and his gang also deserve.
For a MEMRI TV video clip of excerpts of this program, click here.
MB TV Channel Threatens Terrorist Attacks against Foreign Nationals and Diplomats
On January 29, 2015, a broadcaster on the Turkey-based MB-linked channel Rabea TV read out "Communiqué No. 7 From the Leadership of the Revolution Youth," which called on Arab and Western foreign nationals to leave Egypt immediately and stated that those who are not gone by February 11, 2015 could become a target of attacks by the revolutionary retribution movements. The statement also called on all foreign firms to finish their work in the country and leave by February 20, 2015, and on all diplomats and ambassadors to leave by February 28, 2015, lest they be targeted by the rebels. In addition, it notified all tourists planning on visiting Egypt to cancel their plans, claiming that they were currently unwelcome there. The statement urged countries that supported the "coup" to cease their support within a month at most, otherwise all their interests in the Middle East would be targeted.
For a MEMRI TV video clip of excerpts of this statement, click here.
MB Communique: We Should Prepare Ourselves for Lengthy Jihad, Hunger for Martyr's Death
Another manifestation of the escalation of the MB's rhetoric and violence is a communique posted on the movement's Arabic-language website on January 27, 2015. The communique, released against the backdrop of the upsurge in protests and violent incidents surrounding the fourth anniversary of the fall of the Mubarak regime, called on MB supporters to prepare for lengthy jihad and the use of force.
The heading of the communiqué, which is titled "Letter to the Revolutionary Ranks: Prepare," features the movement's emblem, in which the word "prepare" is situated between two crossed swords and refers to Koran 8:60: "Prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and other besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of Allah will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged."