Washington has designated four Brotherhood chapters; Europe still cannot say what it would be banning

Executive Order 14362, signed 24 November 2025, designated nothing. It instructed the Secretaries of State and Treasury to assess specific chapters, including Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan. The first tranche landed on 13 January 2026: State listed the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood as an FTO and SDGT and its leader Muhammad Fawzi Taqqosh as an SDGT, while Treasury designated the Egyptian and Jordanian chapters as SDGTs for material support to Hamas — “a first step,” State said. The Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood followed on 9 March, with FTO listing effective 16 March. The operative machinery is not the label but the ownership rule: under Executive Order 13224 and the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, blocking reaches any entity a designated body owns fifty percent or more, which is what pushes European banks to de-risk long before European parliaments legislate. On 23 July OFAC designated Mahmoud al-Abyari, described as a United Kingdom-based senior Egyptian Brotherhood figure and Secretary General of the Muslim Brotherhood General Secretariat, for supporting fundraising for Filistin Vakfi and Hayat Yolu.

European legislatures have moved on resolutions rather than instruments. On 22 January the French National Assembly endorsed a call for the EU to list the Brotherhood, 157 votes to 101; Les Républicains leader Laurent Wauquiez called it “the beginning of the fight.” In March a Dutch motion for a ban drew 76 MPs, with the CDA arguing a ban would be legally difficult and the AIVD stating it does not consider the Brotherhood a structured organisation in the Netherlands. That vote followed attacks on a Rotterdam synagogue and an Amsterdam Jewish school, with no link to the Brotherhood established. Jordan, which banned the group in April 2025 after the GID accused members of manufacturing rockets and drones, still permits the Islamic Action Front to operate — a distinction Aaron Magid argued in the Atlantic Council on 3 February helps explain the Brotherhood’s restraint towards King Abdullah.

Assessment: The gap between Washington’s instruments and Europe’s motions is not squeamishness; it is a drafting problem. American designation attaches to named persons and entities and works through banks. A European ban must attach to a legal object, and the AIVD has said on the record that in its jurisdiction no such object exists. That is the sentence Vienna’s drafters will have to answer. Note also what nobody has answered: we found no UK government response to a designated Brotherhood secretary general reported living in Britain, and no EU Council follow-up to the French resolution eight months on. Separately, a Townhall item of 5 September, citing the New York Post, attributes remarks on Mamdani to IUMS secretary-general Ali al-Qaradaghi; we could not locate the Arabic original, venue or date. It is fuel for a Washington campaign, not evidence.