European Muslim Brotherhood Youth Group Holds Anti-Islamophobia Event With Top EU Officials

A Euro­pean Mus­lim Broth­er­hood women’s group has report­ed on an online event titled “Tack­ling Gen­dered Islam­o­pho­bia in Europe” host­ed on 21 Sep­tem­ber by the Fed­er­a­tion of Mus­lim Youth and Stu­dent Orga­ni­za­tions (FEMYSO). Accord­ing to the Euro­pean Forum of Mus­lim Women (EFOMW) report, the event was co-host­ed by the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment Inter­group on Anti-Racism and Diver­si­ty (ARDI) and mod­er­at­ed by the EFOMW. Speak­ers included:

• Hele­na Dal­li – Euro­pean Com­mis­sion­er for Equality

• Michael O’Flaherty – Direc­tor, Euro­pean Union Agency for Fun­da­men­tal Rights

• Evin Incir MEP – Co-Pres­i­dent, ARDI

• Sami­ra Rafela MEP – Co-Pres­i­dent, ARDI

• Hande Tan­er – Coun­cil of Europe Advi­so­ry Coun­cil on Youth Mem­ber, FEMYSO

In their respec­tive speech­es, the speak­ers empha­sized their con­cerns over the rise of Islam­o­pho­bia and addressed the means to tack­le dis­crim­i­na­tion against Mus­lim women. The new­ly released EU Anti Racism Action Plan 2020–2025 was intro­duced, which, accord­ing to the EFOMW web­site, is the “result of fruit­ful dis­cus­sion between EU Com­mis­sion, EU par­lia­ment inclu­sive ARDI and civ­il soci­ety organ­i­sa­tions work­ing against racism.”

The Forum of Mus­lim Youth and Stu­dent Orga­ni­za­tions (FEMYSO) is the youth/student arm of the Fed­er­a­tion of Islam­ic Orga­ni­za­tions in Europe (FIOE) and is reg­is­tered as an NGO in Brus­sels. FEMYSO has devel­oped rela­tion­ships with the Coun­cil of Europe, the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion, and many oth­er sig­nif­i­cant orga­ni­za­tions at the Euro­pean and inter­na­tion­al lev­el. One of the impor­tant lead­ers of FEMYSO over the years has been Ger­man Mus­lim Broth­er­hood leader Ibrahim El-Zay­at. In recent times, its lead­er­ship has been drawn from the fam­i­ly of impor­tant Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood lead­ers, includ­ing the daugh­ter of Rachid Ghan­nouchi. Cur­rent FEMYSO Pres­i­dent Abdel­rah­man Rizk is a for­mer Vice Pres­i­dent of the Fed­er­a­tion of Stu­dent Islam­ic Soci­eties (FOSIS).

The Euro­pean Forum of Mus­lim Women (EFOMW) is affil­i­at­ed with the Fed­er­a­tion of Islam­ic Orga­ni­za­tions in Europe (FIOE), the umbrel­la group rep­re­sent­ing the Euro­pean Mus­lim Broth­er­hood. The his­tory of the EFOMW pro­vid­ed on the organization’s web­site obscures this back­ground but a cur­so­ry exam­i­na­tion of the group’s mem­ber orga­nizations and its cur­rent leadership con­tin­ues to show many links to FIOE and the Euro­pean Mus­lim Broth­er­hood. Sev­er­al of EFOMW’s cur­rent and for­mer offi­cers are the wives or rel­a­tives of lead­ing FIOE offi­cers, such as for­mer EFOMW Pres­i­dent Noura Jabal­lah (wife of Ahmed Jabal­lah), Nadia Kar­mous (wife of Mohamed Kar­mous) or Hiba Tara­ji (sis­ter of Houai­da Tara­ji). 

The Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood Dai­ly Watch (GMBDW) has report­ed on attempts by the Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood to dom­i­nate the Euro­pean dis­course on Islamophobia:

• In Sep­tem­ber 2019, the GMBDW report­ed on the cre­ation of a “Euro­pean coali­tion against Islam­o­pho­bia,” which was most­ly com­prised of orga­ni­za­tions tied to the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood in Europe.

• In March 2016, the GMBDW report­ed that the Euro­pean Forum of Mus­lim Women had orga­nized a hear­ing at the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment on the impact of Islam­o­pho­bia on Mus­lim women.

• In May 2015, the GMBDW report­ed that FEMYSO held an Islam­o­pho­bia event in a facil­i­ty of the Coun­cil of Europe.

• In Novem­ber 2013, the GMBDW report­ed that the “UK Islam­o­pho­bia Aware­ness Month” was con­trolled by the UK Mus­lim Brotherhood.

• In May 2011, the GMBDW report­ed that a coali­tion of UK Mus­lim Broth­er­hood groups held a con­fer­ence on Islamophobia.