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The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
(American Jewish Committee) Yehudit Barsky - The Muslim Brotherhood's goal is to eliminate all Western influence and create an Islamist state in Egypt and, ultimately, the world. Brotherhood founder Hassan Al-Banna prescribed a long-term course of indoctrinating the Muslim masses in the ideology of his movement, which would ultimately bring the establishment of an Islamist state, and it became a template for the Brotherhood's activities throughout its history. Today the Brotherhood claims branches in over 80 countries. The current General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Muhammad Badi, declared in April 2010, "Muslim leaders, Islam, to which you belong, advocates jihad as the only means for setting the Ummah's [nation's] situation aright." Badi further proclaimed that it is the "obligation" of Muslims to stop all negotiations with Israel and to "support all forms of resistance for the sake of liberating every occupied piece of land in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and all parts of our Muslim world." The writer is director of AJC's Division on Middle East and International Terrorism.