Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the State of Florida is designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) by executive order this week, effective immediately.
"Florida agencies are hereby directed to undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these organizations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support," DeSantis wrote.
According to the Executive Order, the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has long engaged in and supported violence, political assassinations, and terror attacks with the intention of creating an Islamic caliphate across the world, including in the United States.
Moreover, the order linked the Brotherhood to helping create and fund Hamas, which has called for the destruction of Israel and the elimination of Jews in Judea and Samaria. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas murdered over 1,200 men, women, and children in Israel in the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
It also noted the Brotherhood's active fundraising arm with Hamas in the U.S, with funds going back to support its attacks in the Middle East.
Furthermore, the order described the Brotherhood's ideology as "irreconcilable" with America's principles of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, including the right to religious freedom and equal protection under the law.
Notably, Gov. DeSantis's Executive Order follows a similar move by the Trump administration to begin "a process by which certain chapters or other subdivisions of the Muslim Brotherhood shall be considered for designation as a foreign terrorist organization" in 2024.
Gov. DeSantis also designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, as an FTO. CAIR was founded by the Palestinian Committee in the United States in 1994 and is connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.
CAIR was also designated as a co-conspirator by the United States government in U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation in 2009. In that case, the court found "ample evidence" to link CAIR with terrorist organizations, including its associates, which provided or conspired to provide material support to FTOs.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also celebrated the news on social media, saying he was ready to support DeSantis's efforts. The state's move follows a similar order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as FTOs last month.
