Britain’s Middle East minister James Cleverly had previously warned that the Muslim Brotherhood would capitalise on the hardships brought on by Covid-19 to broaden its influence. EPA
Britain’s Middle East minister James Cleverly had previously warned that the Muslim Brotherhood would capitalise on the hardships brought on by Covid-19 to broaden its influence. EPA
Britain’s Middle East minister James Cleverly had previously warned that the Muslim Brotherhood would capitalise on the hardships brought on by Covid-19 to broaden its influence. EPA
Britain’s Middle East minister James Cleverly had previously warned that the Muslim Brotherhood would capitalise on the hardships brought on by Covid-19 to broaden its influence. EPA

Europe's response to Islamist extremism is encouraging but not enough


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Europe has awakened to the challenges posed by networks of political Islamist movements within its social and political institutions. Country after country is moving to address the particular challenges of groups operating within the law but working steadily to challenge the common values underpinning the system.

In doing so, the policy makers are focusing beyond the threat of terrorism that has dominated global security responses for two decades. Instead, there is a wider issue at play. How does the state gain insight about, and ultimately sanction, groups that exert ideological control over segments of the population?

Since many of the people targeted by European groups are immigrants, or from migrant backgrounds, there is a longer-term calculation to make about how society is evolving. No nation wants to deal with a situation in which different communities live largely separate existences.

Yusuf Al Qaradawi is a leading Muslim Brotherhood figurehead based in Qatar. Reuters
Yusuf Al Qaradawi is a leading Muslim Brotherhood figurehead based in Qatar. Reuters

The most pressing concerns on the continent surround the Muslim Brotherhood, the Turkish state’s "consular" reach into its diaspora and Iran’s intelligence network there.

Last week the French government relaunched its state of the nation agenda around tackling Islamism. It has promised legislation to target activity directed against the republican traditions of the state. The Austrian government separately launched an observatory that has been tasked with monitoring Islamist activities within the public sphere. This month a committee of Dutch parliamentarians submitted an urgent report calling for an urgent official response to underground Brotherhood networks in the country.

There has been fierce pressure on the Swedish government to intervene to prevent exploitation of public schools and even kindergartens. Known Islamist extremists have been receiving state money to work as head teachers but are not providing recognised and standard Swedish education. Denmark's intelligence and security services have reported their concerns over ideological hostility to the kingdom within certain community organisations.

Last week a report from the Slovakia-based think tank Globsec Policy Institute noted that the Brotherhood's pan-European Federation of Islamic Organisations (FIOE) in Europe has set up a central and eastern Europe division. It echoed the concerns of Britain's Middle East minister James Cleverly, who said that the Brotherhood would capitalise on the hardships brought on by Covid-19 to broaden its influence.

The Brotherhood tops the list of groups that exert this kind of influence. Its mindset is a threat to social integration and cohesion in Europe.

Within Europe, the Doha-based chief ideologue Yusuf Al Qaradawi has directly instructed the chapters not to directly engage in terrorism – but only for the practical reason that he does not think it would prevail. In the eyes of many Europe intelligence agencies, however, the Brotherhood creates a fertile environment for other groups to build on for radicalisation purposes.

According to the researcher Lorenzo Vidino, European governments are defending their constitutional systems from Islamist influence. Getty Images
According to the researcher Lorenzo Vidino, European governments are defending their constitutional systems from Islamist influence. Getty Images

According to the leading researcher in the field, Lorenzo Vidino, author of the book The Closed Circle Joining and Leaving the Muslim Brotherhood in the West, European governments are increasingly going on the offensive to defend their constitutional systems from Islamist influence.

When the British-based Anas Al Tikriti appeared before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee in 2016, he claimed that the UK did not have a Muslim Brotherhood organisation. But Mr Al Tikriti, who runs an advisory group that supposedly aims to "bridge the gap of understanding between the Muslim world and the West”, conceded that the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) did espouse its basic tenets.

Mr Vidino’s book states that there is an extensive European Muslim Brotherhood that makes membership arduous to gain and even more traumatic to leave.

In a 2018 report, the influential French think tank Institut Montaigne profiled the spread of the Brotherhood. It said the programme of expansion was built on a militant logic and its definition of Muslim citizenship to which its adherents belonged. This has allowed activists to focus on issues of identity, education, inclusiveness and their own broadly drawn concepts of Islamophobia.

Anas Al Tikriti has conceded that the Muslim Association of Britain espouses the basic tenets of the Muslim Brotherhood. Getty Images
Anas Al Tikriti has conceded that the Muslim Association of Britain espouses the basic tenets of the Muslim Brotherhood. Getty Images

This has also allowed Brotherhood-controlled groups to have both a subversive agenda and to interpose as an interlocutor between the state and community groups. For this purpose, organisations such as the MAB, FIOE and others have become power brokers that influence politicians and the media. In France there is Union of Islamic Organisations of France and in Italy there is the Union of Islamic Communities and Organisations.

A common trait is the exploitation of charitable status by the organisations to advance their outreach. It was notable, for instance, that Qatar had made substantial contributions to the Italian branch of the Brotherhood as Rome struggled to contain its Covid-19 outbreak.

While it is encouraging that European governments have mobilised themselves to tackle the problem at home, that is only half the story. The Institut Montaigne makes the concluding point that it is also necessary for the European Commission and its member-states to set this policy at the heart of the continent's diplomatic agenda. Without broad recognition that Islamist extremism is a common threat, European foreign policy fails to distinguish between friend and foe in an appropriate way. That is the ultimate dividing line.

Damien McElroy is the London bureau chief of The National

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Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe

For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.

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Where, when and at what time Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday at 5pm (UAE time)

Arsenal line up (3-4-2-1) Petr Cech; Rob Holding, Per Mertesacker, Nacho Monreal; Hector Bellerin, Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain; Alex Iwobi, Danny Welbeck; Alexandre Lacazette

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Chelsea line up (3-4-2-1) Thibaut Courtois; Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Gary Cahill; Victor Moses, Cesc Fabregas, N'Golo Kante, Marcos Alonso; Willian, Pedro; Michy Batshuayi

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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers

Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.

It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.

The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.

Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.

Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.

He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”

A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.

Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.

Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.

Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.

By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.

Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.

In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”

Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.

She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.

Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.

Opening day UAE Premiership fixtures, Friday, September 22:

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Key findings of Jenkins report
  • Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
  • Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
  • Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
  • Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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Winner Hameem, Jose Santiago, Abdallah Al Hammadi.

6.30pm Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,600m

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7pm Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,800m

Winner Dalil Al Carrere, Fernando Jara, Mohamed Daggash.

7.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh70,000 (D) 1,000m

Winner Lahmoom, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.

8pm Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,000m

Winner Jayide Al Boraq, Bernardo Pinheiro, Khalifa Al Neyadi.

In The Heights

Directed by: Jon M. Chu

Stars: Anthony Ramos, Lin-Manual Miranda

Rating: ****