Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya MP Imad Hout in an undated photo. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Lebanon's al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, a party represented in Parliament by MP Imad Hout, issued a statement Tuesday in response to the United States' decision to designate the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
The party emphasized the "political and administrative" nature of this decision and insisted that it has "no legal effect in Lebanon."
"The only reference in Lebanon remains the Constitution, the laws in force, and the institutions of the Lebanese state," the statement said. It added that the decision came as part of a "well-known regional political context," which the party says aims to "serve the interests of Israel" and "sow confusion and distort the image of active Lebanese political and social groups."
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya reiterated that it is "a legally authorized Lebanese political and social component, operating within the law."
"No Lebanese judicial ruling has condemned or criminalized us," the text asserted.
The party further reaffirmed its "total rejection of terrorism and all forms of violence."
"We have never participated, and will never participate, in violent acts in Lebanon or in activities targeting the security of another state," the statement specified, underscoring that "the stability of Lebanon and civil peace are supreme national priorities."
The party concluded by expressing its "openness to any transparent dialogue aimed at clarifying facts and dispelling misunderstandings."
The U.S. State Department announced on Tuesday that it had designated the Muslim Brotherhood's Egyptian, Lebanese and Jordanian branches as "foreign terrorist organizations," answering a long-standing request from its Arab allies.
Founded in 1928 in Egypt, the pan-Islamist Sunni movement once had influence throughout the Arab world but has seen setbacks in recent years under pressure from major Arab powers.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement relayed by the Associated Press.
“The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Egypt welcomed the American decision, calling it a "decisive step" in the fight against "extremism." In a statement, Egypt’s foreign affairs ministry said the move reflected "the danger posed by this group and its extremist ideology, as well as the direct threat it represents to regional and international security and stability."
'Alignment'
Classification as a "foreign terrorist organization" allows, in addition to political pressure, a series of financial and administrative measures: asset freezes, transaction bans, denial of entry into the United States, among others.
The U.S. Treasury said the Egyptian and Jordanian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood maintain ties with the Hamas, which launched attack on Oct. 7, 2023, against southern Israel, America's number one ally in the region, to which Israel responded with a genocidal campaign that killed more than 71,400 people in Gaza.
Hamas was established in 1987 by a group of Islamist militants claiming allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood and has itself long been designated as a "terrorist organization" by the United States.
The State Department said its designation of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya was due in part because of the party's actions against Israel during the Israel-Hezbollah war that ran alongside the Gaza war until November 2024.
In April 2025, Jordan banned the Muslim Brotherhood, blaming it for "activities likely to destabilize the country," notably the manufacture and storage of rockets and explosives, thus ending a long and ambivalent relationship between the authorities and the influential group.
Founded in 1945, the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood was the oldest and most influential Islamic organization in the country.
The Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational organization established, long remained the main opposition movement in Egypt — where it also hold a "terrorist organization" designation — despite decades of repression. It was erased from the political landscape after the brief one-year presidency (2012-2013) of one of its own, then-president Mohamed Morsi, who died in prison in 2019.
The Brotherhood, which has been banned in several other countries, including Saudi Arabia, advocates for conservative political Islam.
The United States had long refrained from making this designation so as not to compromise relations with Turkey, whose president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, maintains an ideological affinity with the Muslim Brotherhood.
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