Muslim Brotherhood Egypt Seeking Ties With Hezbollah

Muslim Brotherhood Egypt Seeking Ties With Hezbollah

By Daniel Greenfield


Aside from the Shiite vs. Sunni thing they do have a lot in common. They’re both Islamist terrorists and they both want to destroy Israel.

Egypt’s ambassador to Lebanon said his country will pursue a relationship with Hezbollah, a “real political and military force,” The Daily Star reported Saturday. If implemented, the decision would constitute a dramatic policy shift from that of the former Hosni Mubarak administration.

Egypt’s relations with Hezbollah, a Shi’ite Islamic group that is considered a terror organization by the United States, have been strained, in large part, by Cairo’s 1979 peace accord with Israel. The ambassador’s comments on a possible Hezbollah-Egyptian rapprochement came on the heels of the passage of the controversial Muslim Brotherhood-backed constitution by President Mohammed Morsi last week.

“In discussions we said we want Hezbollah to remain as a political force in Lebanon acting in the interests of the Lebanese first and not others,” Hamdy continued. “Resistance in the sense of defending Lebanese territory … That’s their primary role. We … think that as a resistance movement they have done a good job defending Lebanese territory, and trying to regain land occupied by Israel is legal and legitimate.”

He warned, however, of mixing the “legitimate” goals of resistance with the Lebanese political process — something Egypt and other Arab countries wouldn’t welcome, he said. Elections and a democratic process are imperative for Lebanon, he added.

Touching on Hezbollah’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, Hamdy stated: “We want to keep all the parties in Lebanon away from what is happening in Syria. Not only Hezbollah.”

This is a not so complicated way of saying that

1. Egypt’s new government is perfectly fine with Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel

2. It is not fine with Hezbollah fighting in the Sunni-Shiite Civil War

3. It is not crazy about Hezbollah as a political party and would rather that Hezbollah just shelled Israel instead of working with Iran and Syria while trying to take over Lebanon.

Agreement is easiest on the first point, tricky on the second point and absolutely hopeless on the third point. Hezbollah is not interested in being the Shiite version of the Palestinian militias with no other function than to hang around trying to kill Israelis. For things to get that bad, Hezbollah would have to lose not only its Syrian lifeline, but also its Iranian lifeline.

If Assad falls and Iran’s regime also falls, not entirely impossible, then Hezbollah will be hard up for cash, but they will still have the drug business. It will however make it much easier to outflank Hezbollah using Sunni militias and Qatari cash, along with the dubious loyalty of some of the Kurdish and Christian interests, and at that point Hezbollah may have to take the deal that the Muslim Brotherhood is currently offering it.

But that day isn’t here yet.

For now this is a reminder that Sunnis may hate Shiites, but all Islamists hate Jews even more. Egypt has announced that it supports Hezbollah terrorism against Israel. The Brotherhood and Hezbollah may be killing each other in Syria, but they agree on Israel as a common enemy.

 http://frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/muslim-brotherhood-egypt-seeking-ties-with-hezbollah/