ISGAP’s investigation “exposes and examines the Muslim Brotherhood’s comprehensive, multigenerational strategic campaign to transform Western society (especially the United States) from within, through what its own internal documents describe as “civilizational struggle” (jihad).” The findings indicate that “what has often been dismissed as a conspiracy theory or misunderstood as legitimate religious advocacy actually constitutes a coherent, strategically sophisticated program of civilizational transformation operating simultaneously across political, legal, institutional, and cultural domains.”
While ISGAP highlights Islamism as a maligned foreign influence across various aspects of American society, the report mentions that universities constitute an “important strategic arena” for the Muslim Brotherhood and its efforts to establish student organizations that expand Islamism “through student networks that advance the settlement mission.” The report documents how student organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Muslim Student Association (MSA), as well as the capture of academic disciplines and departments, are instruments in the Muslim Brotherhood’s efforts to transform existing Western institutions and norms.
The National Association of Scholars (NAS) has documented the role of foreign actors such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia in corrupting academic freedom and institutions such as Middle East Study Centers, as well as how groups such as the SJP are connected to anti-Western radicalization and anti-Semitism connected to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
To safeguard higher education’s integrity and Western values from Islamist influence, we recommend the following:
- Designate the entirety of the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliated organizations as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). We commend President Trump’s recent order to begin the process of examining specific Brotherhood chapters as terrorist organizations, but urge the President to complete this designation and expand it to include all aspects of the Muslim Brotherhood’s network abroad and within the United States.
- We also recommend that private foundations and American universities interested in traditional Western values and academic excellence to begin the process of creating Abrahamic Studies Centers that would include institutions from higher education in Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Such centers can create alternative influences that build on the new and emerging Middle East and serve as interdisciplinary hubs that connect American students with Israeli and Emirati counterparts in disciplines ranging from theology, language, and the humanities to business, advanced sciences, and international economics. Abrahamic Studies Centers would serve to replace corrupted and outdated Middle East Studies Centers.
- To help eradicate campus anti-Semitism from college campuses, we recommend that the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security implement social media screenings of incoming foreign students to American colleges and universities for evidence of anti-American and anti-Semitic sentiment and activism. We furthermore urge regular visa reviews and deportation of foreign students and professors who are involved in anti-Semitic intimidation or the propagation of pro-terrorism ideology.
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