Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group is all Egyptians' political dilemma, as its size in the streets and parliament makes it difficult for us to ignore it. However, in this era of monarchies and republics, it is a banned group for three reasons. Firstly, the group does not believe in the Egyptian modern state, which saw the light with the declaration of February 28, 1922 and is embodied by the 1923 Constitution and the subsequent constitutions. The MB rejects the modern state and prefers a theocratic one. Secondly, the group does not believe very much in the idea of a state with its constitutions, laws and rules in general. Instead, it has always preferred the term "nation", which extends from the shores of the Pacific in Indonesia to the Atlantic Ocean in the Maghreb. For this group, any country of this "nation" can rule Muslims. Within this context, Egypt is no more than drop in an ocean of groups, peoples and countries. Thirdly, the MB relies on Islamic and religious considerations that it considers above the Constitution. It also discriminates against women and non-Muslim minorities. These three reasons have never appeared in the MB's thought, as there is a need for great search and accountability to show the truth in frank statements calling for imposing the "tribute" on Christians. Therefore, it is not strange to see the MB in a political and security confrontation with regimes in all eras, as it would be illogical for a state to give security and political freedom to a "political" group that does not believe in its existence and legitimacy. However, this dilemma re-emerged once again after the MB won the last parliamentary elections. Some MB members tried to solve this dilemma by talking a lot about the civil state and about giving citizens equal rights and duties on the basis of "citizenship". Although the MB platform, which was issued in August 2007, had been a major setback in this direction, the group's "wise" members quickly disavowed it by saying that those were mere ideas for discussion and had been issued by a conservative wing that did not know much about the modern world. The recent crisis of Gaza was a great opportunity for the group to operate as a "legitimate" political movement in the practical meaning of the word by supporting the political leadership in a time of a difficult foreign crisis. This does not mean that the group should support the government's policies, otherwise it should give up its duties in the opposition. However, objecting to the government's policies has nothing to do with inciting the public opinion and calling on it to take to streets and demonstrate at a moment when foreign leaders were calling for the same thing. Instead of backing the Egyptian authorities, either it agreed or disagreed with them, the MB has fully supported Iran, Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas! Even when the demonstrators attacked the Egyptian embassies – which in this case represent Egypt – the group has not issued a single statement to denounce this. In addition, when Egyptian security forces were attacked on the border with Gaza, the MB immediately supported Hamas' version of the story and the group seemed to be paying no attention to the attack on the Egyptians.
All of this brings us to the same point, namely that the MB has squandered the chance to show a different position on the Egyptian "state" - and not the government or the political system. From a purely political perspective, the group had neither the courage nor the wisdom to compare between Egypt, which did everything from first aid till practical politics, and other countries that only came out with empty slogans on satellite channels.
