#3 In Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood leadership for years moved in lockstep with the Grand Mufti. The influence of Hitler and Mussolini was already pervasive by the mid-nineteen thirties, both within the Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian army. Several Ikhwan (including the young officer Anwar Sadat) cooperated with the Nazis, and many Brotherhood and military officers continued their support through World War II. Following its close, the Egyptian crown, influenced by the Brotherhood and its anti-colonialist message, worked with French intelligence to assist the Grand Mufti to escape Europe. Offered a home in Cairo, the anti-semitic poison he had spewed on the Nazi radio during World War II would continue in the Middle East. As noted in the article, the result was evidenced in the 2 November 1945 Cairo riots that marked the anniversary of the 1917 Balfour Declaration. Cairo's Jewish quarter was attacked by the Young Egypt (Misr al-Fatah) Society "Green Shirts", a fascist paramilitary group founded in 1933 and whose leaders worked in
partnership with the Brotherhood. A similar assault occurred in Libya where the Brotherhood led an attack on the Jewish community in that country. Ironically, the riots predated by only a few days the Nuremberg War Crime Trials that opened on 20 November 1945. |
