US senators introduce bill to designate Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organisation

Ted Cruz accuses group of funding Hamas

US Senator Ted Cruz said the Muslim Brotherhood is 'committed to the overthrow and destruction of America'. AFP

A group of US senators has introduced a bill to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said on Wednesday the Muslim Brotherhood was an "acute threat" to US national security interests and accused the organisation of funding Hamas.

"They are committed to the overthrow and destruction of America and other non-Islamist governments across the world," he said. "American allies in the Middle East and Europe have already labelled the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, and the United States should do the same and do so expeditiously.”

The movement was founded in Egypt in the 1920s and its members originally believed violence was permissible to achieve political change, though its main branch ultimately renounced this belief in the 1970s. The Brotherhood rose to power in Egypt following the Arab uprisings of 2011 but was outlawed only a few years later after mass protests and the intervention of the military.

Several countries have designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Russia.

"The Muslim Brotherhood preaches death to Israel, the United States, and other western governments," Senator Tom Cotton said in support of the bill. "These are the statements of a terrorist group and they should be labelled as such.”

A similar bill was introduced last month in the House of Representatives. Introducing a bill in both chambers at around the same time is often aimed at expediting the legislative process.

The legislation comes after France began a crackdown on groups linked to the Brotherhood after an Interior Ministry report mapped out political Islam's influence on French and European civil society. Jordan banned the organisation in April after an alleged armed plot against the kingdom.

This is the fifth time Mr Cruz has attempted to have the group designated a terrorist organisation. But with Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress, and with animosity towards Hamas high as Israel's war in Gaza continues, the sixth time could be the charm.