I'm John Batchel with my good colleagues, Bill Raggio, and Edmund Fitten Brown,

of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, reflecting on the terror outbreak these last days.

But in Australia, Edmund, you've educated me to understand the Muslim brothers are everywhere,

but they're not treated equally.

For example, some of the Muslim brother organizations in certain states are now on a foreign

terrorist. Others are not. Do we know anything about the Muslim brothers in Australia or South Asia,

Southeast Pacific? Because the ISIS claim comes up routinely.

But very rarely do I see any mention made of Muslim brothers when there's an incident?

Absolutely.

So the ISIS obviously is often the agency that is cited in an attack. And of course, ISIS is a recklessly violent organization. And people who sign up to ISIS or become affiliated with it are often looking to perpetrate acts of reckless violence,

extreme violence. And what people tend to forget is that the Muslim Brotherhood

is sort of creates the ocean in which the more violent extremists swim. And since the 7th October 2023, this has been particularly true.

Now, people used to try to draw a very distinct line between groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda

on the one hand, which were terrorist groups, and groups like the Muslim Brotherhood on the

other, which people would argue were

non-violent Islamist groups. But they are only non-violent as a tactic. They are violent where they can

get away with it. They're certainly violent in their Palestinian chapter, which of course is

better known as Hamas. And the same is true elsewhere, where they can get away with violence or get away with

a more anti-democratic face, then they will wear that face.

Whereas if you're in a place like Australia, where Muslims are a small minority, therefore they

know that if they behave like ISIS, they will be the subject of counter-terrorist attention.

They will be investigated, arrested, and prosecuted and put in jail.

...