Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt on Brink of Collapse, Says Not Seeking Power

The National Cancer Institute Egypt in central Cairo is damaged after an attack blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood's Hasm group in 2019. (Reuters)
The National Cancer Institute Egypt in central Cairo is damaged after an attack blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood's Hasm group in 2019. (Reuters)
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Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt on Brink of Collapse, Says Not Seeking Power

The National Cancer Institute Egypt in central Cairo is damaged after an attack blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood's Hasm group in 2019. (Reuters)
The National Cancer Institute Egypt in central Cairo is damaged after an attack blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood's Hasm group in 2019. (Reuters)

After struggling with years of “fragmentation, division and conflicts,” the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt announced that it was not seeking power in the north African country.

Acting leader of the banned group, Ibrahim Munir declared: “We will not wage a new struggle for power in Egypt.”

He made the announcement as the London and Istanbul branches of the group vie for power.

The London branch had set up its own Shura council to replace the one in Istanbul, leading to a dispute.

Munir told Reuters on Friday: “We completely reject (violence) and we consider it outside the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood - not only the use of violence and arms, but to have a struggle for power in Egypt in any form.”

“We reject the struggle for power even between political parties through elections organized by the state. This is totally rejected by us,” he added, while acknowledging internal divisions within the Brotherhood.

“Definitely this time is tougher than previous times and previous ordeals,” he said.

Munir took the mantle of acting leader two years ago because the Brotherhood's general guide, or leader, has been in jail since the group lost power in 2013 and his initial successor was then detained in 2020.

Munir acknowledged that the Brotherhood had experienced internal division over how to respond to the crisis, and that a new leader would be chosen "when the situation stabilises".

Experts in Egypt interpreted Munir’s remarks as attempts to overcome the division, but they believe he is too late and won’t help the Brotherhood.

Extremist groups expert Ahmed Ban told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Brotherhood always makes its moves when it is already too late.

He explained that in 2011, calls were made for the Brotherhood to turn into a movement that could throw its support behind a political party and therefore, move towards political reform in Egypt at the time.

But the Brotherhood’s leaderships had set their sights on power at the time, and they waged political battles, which ended up costing the movement greatly, he added.

Another expert, Amr Abdul Moneim said the Brotherhood’s remarks do not reflect a change in ideology and approach.

They are just trying to improve their image, only confirming the extent of their internal divisions, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The Brotherhood is struggling with five different groups within it. They are the London and Istanbul branches, youth groups, sophisticated cells and defectors.

Just because the movement has declared that it wants to step away from power, doesn’t necessarily mean that it actually will, Abdul Moneim remarked.

The majority of Brotherhood leaders lie in jail in Egypt on charges of violence and murder. They were charged after the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, of the Brotherhood, in July 2013, amid popular protests. The group was shortly banned in Egypt and death and life sentences against its top leaders soon followed.

The Brotherhood has been excluded from the national dialogue called for by President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi earlier this year because of its violent past.

Munir said the political dialogue cannot be successful with the exclusion of the Brotherhood or any other party.



Israeli Military Raids Jenin in West Bank, Four Palestinians Reported Killed 

A child walks past a burnt vehicle in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Jenin on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
A child walks past a burnt vehicle in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Jenin on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Military Raids Jenin in West Bank, Four Palestinians Reported Killed 

A child walks past a burnt vehicle in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Jenin on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
A child walks past a burnt vehicle in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Jenin on January 17, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli security forces launched an operation in the volatile West Bank city of Jenin, killing at least four Palestinians, officials said on Tuesday.
Four Palestinians have been killed and around 35 injured in Israel's military offensive on Jenin, said the health ministry.

The military said soldiers, police and intelligence services had begun a counter-terrorism action in the city, giving no further details.

Prior to the Israeli action, Palestinian security forces had been conducting a weeks-long operation to reassert control in the city and the adjacent refugee camp, a major center of armed groups in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian health services said at least four Palestinians were killed and 35 wounded as the Israeli raid began in Jenin, where an Israeli air strike last week in the refugee camp killed at least three Palestinians and wounded scores more.

The move into Jenin, where the Israeli army has carried out multiple raids and large-scale incursions over recent years, comes only days after the start of a ceasefire in Gaza and underscores the threat of more violence in the West Bank.

Late on Monday, bands of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians, smashing cars and burning property, just as newly installed US President Donald Trump announced he was lifting sanctions on violent settlers.

The attack near the village of al-Funduq, in an area where three Israelis were killed in a shooting earlier this month, was the latest in a long sequence of incidents that have accelerated strongly since the start of the war in Gaza.

The military said it had opened an investigation into the incident, which it said involved dozens of Israeli civilians, some in masks.