{"id":10576,"date":"2026-08-19T19:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T17:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fokusisrael.ch\/nicht-kategorisiert\/switzerland-as-a-hub-for-the-radical-islamic-muslim-brotherhood\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T11:33:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T09:33:15","slug":"switzerland-as-a-hub-for-the-radical-islamic-muslim-brotherhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fokusisrael.ch\/en\/news-en\/switzerland-as-a-hub-for-the-radical-islamic-muslim-brotherhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Switzerland as a Hub for the Radical Islamic Muslim Brotherhood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While Islamists commit brutal murders in Germany or France, the Muslim Brotherhood in Switzerland is carrying out a silent march through the institutions. Their goal is to transform our Western society. Switzerland serves as a hub in Europe for this radical Islamic organization, which is banned in many Arab countries. The Swiss authorities are letting the Muslim Brotherhood have its way because they are criminally underestimating the danger it poses. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

By Thomas Zweifel i<\/a><\/p>\n\n

The latest terrorist attack in Berlin shows how Islamism can strike again and again. This also applies to Switzerland. After an Islamist stabbed three passersby in Winterthur at the end of May and shouted \u201cAllahu akbar!\u201d (Allah is greater!), the news portal \u201c20 Minuten\u201d interviewed Ahmed Ajil, a terrorism expert at the University of Lucerne, about the perpetrator. The Turkish-Swiss knife attacker was, in fact, not an isolated incident: As early as 2020, four suspected terrorists with ties to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State were arrested in Fribourg, and 70 trials involving 600 to 700 terrorism suspects were pending in Swiss courts. <\/p>\n\n

Ahmed Ajil, who also worked as a criminal analyst at the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol), does indeed distance himself from the violence of the Islamic State (IS). But following the October 7 massacre, he spoke out against banning Hamas in Switzerland. \u201cIf we ban Hamas,\u201d he said, \u201cthen we are effectively banning armed resistance against what the Palestinian civilian population has been enduring for decades.\u201d Ajil confirmed this statement when asked. <\/p>\n\n

The goal of long-term infiltration of the West \u2026<\/h2>\n\n

According to recent investigations by European intelligence agencies, Hamas is not content with \u201cresistance\u201d or terrorism in Israel, but has also been planning attacks in Europe for years. In February 2023\u2014eight months before October 7\u2014the German Hamas cell received orders from Lebanon to smuggle weapons into Germany and prepare a large-scale terrorist attack there\u2014similar in style to the massacre in Israel. According to investigators, the cell conducted reconnaissance of the U.S. military base at Ramstein, the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, and Tempelhofer Feld, a park in the capital. <\/p>\n\n

Hamas was founded in 1987 as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. In Europe\u2014and especially in Switzerland\u2014the Muslim Brotherhood, on the other hand, relies on the doctrine of \u201cTamkeen\u201d \u2014\u201cinstitutional anchoring\u201d or \u201csettlement\u201d\u2014through a multigenerational program. As early as 2001, during a raid on the home of Youssef Nada, then director of the Al-Taqwa Bank in Lugano, the document titled \u201cThe Project\u201d was seized. It outlined a 100-year plan that experts view as an attempt to transform Western civilization from within by \u201csabotaging\u201d its institutions. <\/p>\n\n

“Legalistic Islamism” operates strictly within Western laws in order to undermine their foundations. Another key document, the\u201cExplanatory Memorandum\u201d<\/em>of 1991, describes this work as the \u201cgreat jihad to destroy Western civilization,\u201d carried out by the \u201cinfidels\u201d themselves. <\/p>\n\n

Security experts therefore view the Muslim Brotherhood as a wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing: Behind the facade of a \u201cmoderate Islam\u201d operates a highly efficient \u201cnetwork of networks\u201d that systematically turns the West\u2019s democratic freedoms\u2014and even progressive terminology such as \u201cdiversity, justice, and inclusivity\u201d\u2014against the West itself. The goal is not rapid overthrow, but rather the long-term \u201ccivilizational-jihadist\u201d infiltration of all areas of society. <\/p>\n\n

\u2026 and the screenplay works<\/h2>\n\n

There are no figures available for Switzerland, but this strategy is already taking hold in Germany. According to the Motra study, funded by the federal government and published last March, 45.1 percent of all Muslims under 40 in Germany are overt or latent Islamists\u2014twice as many as five years ago. 23.8 percent of all Muslims in Germany consider \u201can Islamic theocracy to be the best form of government.\u201d 25.1 percent stated: \u201cThe rules of the Quran are more important to me than the laws in Germany.\u201d Even if such attitudes are difficult to measure and should therefore be viewed with caution, the trend is clear. <\/p>\n\n

The Muslim Brotherhood acts as a \u201cconveyor belt\u201d for radicalization, laying an intellectual and ideological foundation for terrorist groups such as ISIS and providing the core narratives for the ultimate goal of establishing a global theocratic state governed by Sharia law.<\/p>\n\n

This claim to absolute power is deeply rooted in the history of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hassan al-Banna founded the organization in Egypt in 1928. He viewed \u201cIslam as a way of life\u201d; the religion was meant to govern all aspects of life. After his shooting in broad daylight in 1949\u2014a murder that was never solved but attributed to the then-Egyptian King Farouk\u2014he became a martyr, and the Brotherhood spread to over 70 countries. <\/p>\n\n

Intellectual radicalization took place in the 1940s under the leadership of the chief ideologist Sayyid Qutb, who bridged the gap between Islam and terrorism by legitimizing offensive jihad as a form of physical warfare. Qutb was convinced that only Islam could eliminate all of society\u2019s ills. Today, his works are presented\u2014uncritically\u2014in Swiss institutions such as the Islam Museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds. <\/p>\n\n

This ideology was later cemented by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, whose program \u201cSharia and Life\u201d on Al Jazeera reached up to 60 million viewers. He laid out clear rules: The man is the head of the family and may strike his wife in the event of \u201crebellion.\u201d Homosexuality, he claimed, was a \u201cperversion\u201d that could be punished by death in order to \u201ckeep society pure.\u201d Al-Qaradawi left no doubt about his goal of \u201cconverting Europe to Islam.\u201d He praised Adolf Hitler as \u201cdivine punishment\u201d for the Jews. <\/p>\n\n

Switzerland and England as the most important European centers<\/h2>\n\n

Switzerland has served as a key safe haven for the Muslim Brotherhood since Sa\u00efd Ramadan\u2019s arrival in 1961. At that time, the personal secretary and son-in-law of the founder, Hassan al-Banna, succeeded in portraying political Islam as a bulwark against communism, while intelligence agencies classified him as a \u201cfascist type\u201d and his organization as \u201cconspiratorial.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

According to security experts, Switzerland is now\u2014after England\u2014the second-most important hub for the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. The organizations based here are dominated by certain clans: the Ramadans in Geneva, the Kermous in Neuch\u00e2tel and Vaud, and the Nadas and Himmats in Ticino and Zurich. <\/p>\n\n

The Ramadan dynasty in Geneva is said to carry on the legacy of the founder, Hassan al-Banna, and heads the Islamic Center of Geneva. Al-Banna\u2019s grandson, Tariq Ramadan, was a best-selling author who spread the ideas of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout Europe. But then, in 2024, the Geneva Cantonal Court found Ramadan guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a woman. The Federal Supreme Court upheld this verdict a year ago. (Last March, a criminal court in Paris also sentenced Ramadan to 18 years in prison and a lifetime ban from entering the country for raping three women.) Yet 12 months after the Federal Supreme Court\u2019s ruling in Lausanne, the Swiss Islamist remains at large. One plaintiff said she had the impression that the \u201cpredator\u201d was being \u201cexcessively protected\u201d in Switzerland. <\/p>\n\n

The Kermous clan, centered around Mohamed and Nadia Kermous in Neuch\u00e2tel and Vaud, has founded more than a dozen organizations intended to promote activism and pro-Qatari lobbying\u2014including the Ligue des Musulmans de Suisse<\/em>, which investigators say has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.<\/p>\n\n

Youssef Nada and Ali Ghaleb Himmat established offices in Lugano and Zurich that, according to information from security sources, serve as financial hubs for the Muslim Brotherhood. Himmat\u2019s son, Youssef, now heads the pan-European youth organization Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations. <\/p>\n\n

Members of one clan often serve on the board of another family\u2019s organization. For example, Tariq Ramadan\u2019s brother, Hani Ramadan, sits on the board of trustees of the Wakef-SuisseFoundation, which is headed by Mohamed Kermous\u2014who, in turn, is married to the director of the Museum of Islam, serves on the boards of organizations affiliated with the Himmat family in Ticino, and is described by French intelligence as the \u201ctreasurer\u201d within the Muslim Brotherhood network. The result is an opaque web of organizations. <\/p>\n\n

Infiltration in Switzerland has long been a reality<\/h2>\n\n

Recent cases of \u201centrism\u201d\u2014that is, the covert infiltration of Western organizations\u2014demonstrate just how deeply these networks have already penetrated Swiss institutions. Nida-Errahmen Ajmi, also known by her pseudonym Nidonite, was appointed Switzerland\u2019s first Muslim military chaplain in 2024. What was celebrated as a victory for integration is seen by critics as an example of the growing influence of Islamist organizations, even within the state. This is because Ajmi\u2019s father, the Geneva lawyer Ridha Ajmi, is, according to experts, a central figure in the Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood and once explicitly placed loyalty to the religious community (Umma<\/em>) above the state\u2019s legal order when he defended an alleged jihadist terrorist. <\/p>\n\n

Youssef Ibram, an imam at a mosque in Volketswil, has previously advocated stoning for women who commit adultery. The mosque belongs to the Association of Islamic Organizations in Zurich (VIOZ), which advocates for democracy, the rule of law, and equality. The VIOZ vigorously denies any connection to the Muslim Brotherhood. Nevertheless, it promoted events featuring the Islamologist Amir Zaidan, who, according to a ruling by the Wiesbaden Administrative Court, stated: \u201cI am not officially a member, but I represent the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.\u201d As a member of a religious council, Zaidan was involved in a ruling that determined how far a woman is allowed to travel from her home: no more than 81 kilometers\u2014the distance an average camel travels in a day. <\/p>\n\n

Arben Ademi, the founder of the perfume manufacturer Gisada, was not only the main sponsor of FC Basel but, according to a report by the Federal Criminal Police, is said to have supported the radical Quran-distribution campaign \u201cLies!\u201d with \u201csignificant sums of money.\u201d Although Ademi denied any extremist ideology, investigations by the Federal Criminal Police revealed that the German organization \u201cDie wahre Religion\u201d (The True Religion), the sponsor of \u201cLies!\u201d, supported radical preachers and facilitated recruitment for the Islamic State. The organization was banned in Germany; in Switzerland, \u201cLies!\u201d remained active. <\/p>\n\n

Khaldoun Dia-Eddine teaches at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), serves on the advisory board of the Center for Islamic Studies at the University of Fribourg, and is vice president of the Federation of Islamic Umbrella Organizations in Switzerland. However, he also served on the boards of organizations led by convicted leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, such as Ali Ghaleb Himmat, and headed the Geneva branch of the Kuwaiti Islamic aid organization IICO. According to various intelligence agencies, this organization has ties to Hamas. At the same time, Eddine regularly serves as a point of contact for federal authorities and trains police officers on the ban on face coverings. <\/p>\n\n

Billions from Qatar for Educational Projects and Lobbying in the West<\/h2>\n\n

The \u201centrism\u201d strategy is heavily supported by Qatar. The \u201cQatar Papers\u201d revealed that the emirate is investing millions in Swiss projects, such as the Museum of Islam and the Wakef Foundation. Worldwide, Qatar is investing billions in educational and lobbying projects in the West. Critics see this as an attempt to create a favorable environment for Islamist movements. The funds are virtually unlimited, and the time horizon is long-term\u2014the Brotherhood does not think in terms of quarters, but in terms of centuries. <\/p>\n\n

To shield its plans from opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood adapts its tactics to Western discourse. Criticism is systematically branded as \u201cIslamophobia\u201d\u2014for example, in the annual \u201cEuropean Islamophobia Report,\u201d which is funded by the EU and the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The term is a rhetorical weapon used to nip any substantive criticism of radical Islam and its proponents in the bud and to lead European politicians to believe that Muslim integration is a success. In reality, however, it is merely a clever tactical maneuver on the part of the Islamists. <\/p>\n\n

We need oversight instead of a naive “laissez-faire” policy<\/h2>\n\n

Western observers tend to misunderstand political Islam as a purely religious phenomenon. But it is an all-encompassing political system. Security experts compare the Muslim Brotherhood\u2019s strategy to a termite infestation: they eat away at the load-bearing wood from the inside out, while the residents believe the building is still intact\u2014until it collapses under its own weight. <\/p>\n\n

Countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kenya, and the United Arab Emirates have recognized this and have long since banned the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. This is not the case in Switzerland, and there is no general ban on the \u201cBrotherhood\u201d in other European countries either. <\/p>\n\n

That is reckless and naive. It is imperative that the Muslim Brotherhood be held accountable for its financing, that its front organizations be consistently banned, and that candidates for positions in sensitive areas\u2014such as the military and Fedpol\u2014be rigorously screened for ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. This does not constitute discrimination; rather, it is the necessary self-defense of our Western democracy. For a state governed by the rule of law that turns a blind eye to the networks operating behind the scenes ultimately loses the ability to protect its citizens. <\/p>\n\n

A more detailed version of this text appeared in *Schweizer Monat*: \u201cThe Invisible Siege: How the Muslim Brotherhood Is Spreading in Switzerland\u201d \u2013 *Schweizer Monat*<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Thomas Zweifel is a strategy consultant and author<\/p>\n\n

Another article on this topic: Why the Muslim Brotherhood Is a Threat to Israel and Europe – FokusIsrael<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Islamists commit brutal murders in Germany or France, the Muslim Brotherhood in Switzerland is carrying out a silent march through the institutions. Their goal is to transform our Western society. Switzerland serves as a hub in Europe for this radical Islamic organization, which is banned in many Arab countries. The Swiss authorities are letting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_socialbar":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[823],"tags":[5554,5555,665,5553],"class_list":["post-10576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-muslim-brotherhood","tag-op-ed","tag-switzerland","tag-thomas-zweifel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t