Responsible governments cannot ignore Muslim Brotherhood subversion

Jordanian police stand outside the offices of the Islamic Action Front in Amman on Thursday. The Muslim Brotherhood-aligned party forms the biggest grouping in the country's parliament. Reuters

On Wednesday, as the Jordanian authorities banned activities carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood – a week after a dozen of its members were implicated in an alleged armed plot against the kingdom – Interior Minister Mazen Al Faraya described the group as “operating in the shadows”. It is an apt portrayal of a troubling organisation that specialises in subterfuge.

Details of the conspiracy should worry all those who value Jordan's vital and stabilising role in the Middle East. Mr Al Faraya said the authorities had found weapons and explosives stored in residential areas and smuggled across the country, as well as covert missile manufacturing facilities and "training and recruitment operations" linked to the group.

Although Jordan has faced terrorism before – police detonated illegal explosives uncovered in Amman last June, and a gunman injured three officers in an attack near the Israeli embassy in November – this is the first time in decades that a domestic group has been accused of orchestrating a scheme on this scale.

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Expressions of support for Jordan’s government from the UAE, Lebanon and other Arab states are clear signs that regional countries are aware of the threat posed by the Brotherhood, particularly at a time when the militants are keen to exploit genuine frustration over important regional issues like the continued occupation of Palestine.

However, the issue here is not anger at the death and destruction caused by Israeli forces in the beleaguered Palestinian enclave. Nor is it about shutting down discussion – Jordan has not banned the Brotherhood-aligned Islamic Action Party, whose MPs form the largest grouping in the country’s parliament. The real issue is subversion. Groups in countries such as Jordan and Lebanon are free to take part in the political process but organising secret armies is crossing a red line and something that no responsible government can ignore.

Groups in countries such as Jordan and Lebanon are free to take part in the political process but organising secret armies is crossing a red line

Although the Brotherhood continues to play a destructive rule in countries that are much more vulnerable than Jordan – war-torn Sudan, for example – the kingdom cannot afford to be complacent when conspirators put its stability at risk and challenge its sovereignty. The country’s security forces are already embroiled in a dangerous campaign to stamp out the cross-border smuggling of drugs and guns. At the same time, its economic issues have been compounded by newly imposed US tariffs. Suggestions from extremists that Palestinians be “cleaned out” and forcibly sent to Jordan and Egypt do little to ensure calm.

There is no doubt that the Middle East is going through a time of rapid and unpredictable change. Even as the Iran-backed "Axis of Resistance” has lost much of its ability to destabilise countries across the region, many underground groups regard this moment as an opportune time to impose their agenda on events. If there is one positive to be gleaned from events in Jordan, it is the fact that the Brotherhood’s aims and intentions have been brought out of the shadows and into the light.