A Jordanian newspaper report seems to establish an ongoing relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Hamas terrorist group. Hamas was created as an offshoot of the Brotherhood, which was established in Egypt in 1928 with the goal of establishing an Islamic Caliphate governed by Shari'ah, or Islamic law.

But Brotherhood leaders claim Hamas broke away into an independent entity.

The August 27 edition of the Jordanian Arabic newspaper al-Ghad carries an article by reporter Taiseer Neimat stating that Hamam Saeed, an official in Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood branch, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), is also a member of the Hamas al-Shura (governing) council and two other IAF executive office officials also serve on the Hamas al-Shura council. This establishes a clear, current and direct senior operational link between the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

There has long been a close relationship between the IAF and Hamas, and some of those links have reached into the United States. But we now have statements in Middle East media identifying specific IAF officials who are concurrently serving in senior Hamas positions.

In recent years, there has been debate concerning the radical and dangerous nature of the MB. Within that debate, even as some senior US Government officials have urged "outreach" to the Brotherhood, there has been speculation the MB established an armed wing. In addition to Hamas, Islamic terrorist organizations such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and even al-Qaeda have roots in the MB, though the public posture of Brotherhood leadership, especially for Western audiences, claims to eschew violence.

This is a long-term objective to be realized through a methodical plan that includes preaching, charitable work and a commitment to jihad. Many major U.S. Muslim organizations have roots in, or links to, the Brotherhood, including the Muslim Students Association (MSA), the Muslim American Society (MAS), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

ISNA and CAIR already have been linked to a Hamas-support network. If the Brotherhood and Hamas continue to exist under one mother ship, the terrorist linkage of these Brotherhood-connected groups becomes even more apparent.