Brussels, March 01: A senior Israeli official is suggesting the Muslim Brotherhood should be banned from standing in Egyptian elections because it is an extremist organization.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on Monday Israel would object to the Brotherhood being part of a future government “on the merit of their agenda … and their policies.”
The Brotherhood, which has renounced violence, is Egypt’s largest and best-organized opposition group. It was banned during the rule of recently ousted President Hosni Mubarak. But it has been implicitly recognized by Egypt’s ruling generals, and plans to field candidates in the next elections.
Ayalon said it’s normal for democracies to ban extremist parties and noted that Israel itself banned an anti-Arab party in the past. He said Israel is not asking “the Muslim world anything we do not ask for ourselves.” ap
–Agencies