The Egyptian government formally designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terror organization on Dec. 25. The government in Cairo made its decision days after a suicide bombing at a police headquarters in the Nile Delta region, which killed at least 14 people and wounded 130.
A group called Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis, believed to have ties with Palestinian militants in Gaza, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Muslim Brotherhood was quick to deny any involvement and to distance itself from the perpetrators (though it did not condemn them). Regardless, Cairo and much of the public nonetheless blame the Brotherhood for the mounting violence in Egypt. Outrage directed at the once popular Muslim Brotherhood has finally prompted the government to bow to pressure and issue the terror designation.
The Brotherhood has fallen far since 13 million Egyptians voted its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, into the presidency in June 2012. Since Mr. Morsi's ouster amid protests last summer, support for the Islamist group has continued to plunge and is estimated today to be down to a core base of about 500,000 people in a country of 90 million. The drastic drop in affection for the Brotherhood speaks volumes about their singular ineptitude during Mr. Morsi's year in office and their continued refusal to accept Egypt's current realities.
Even Egypt's more religiously conservative Salafis have distanced themselves from the Brotherhood. Mr. Morsi spent his brief tenure ignoring Egypt's economy and focusing almost solely on filling key government posts with Brotherhood cronies, excluding not only secular groups but other Islamist parties as well. Egyptians began protesting Mr. Morsi's leadership almost immediately. His November 2012 constitutional declaration, which effectively put him above the law, set off a series of public demonstrations that were brutally attacked by Brotherhood supporters.
Since Mr. Morsi's removal, the Brothers have held almost daily demonstrations—often violent and always disruptive of traffic and normal daily life. Meanwhile, Islamist militants have stepped up their assaults around Egypt, targeting both government security forces and civilians. In the past six months, more than 60 Coptic churches have been burned down and more than 1,000 Coptic homes destroyed.
The Brotherhood claims to preach nonviolence, but its ties to Hamas in Gaza (and, by extension, its militant factions) along with its thinly veiled threats of violence in the Egyptian media, undermine its avowals. Following Cairo's terror designation last month, students loyal to the Brotherhood have torched two buildings at Cairo's Al-Azhar University and called for an exam boycott.
The capital had largely been spared the out-and-out terror attacks—for instance, suicide bombings—that have plagued other parts of Egypt. But the day after Cairo's terror designation, a homemade bomb exploded on the street near Al-Azhar University, injuring several passing civilians. No group has claimed responsibility and the Brotherhood denies any involvement. Still, it's little wonder that Egyptians are fed up.
Now, for the first time in the Muslim Brotherhood's 80-year history, the group's struggle is not primarily with the state. During the Mubarak years, when the Brotherhood was banned and its leaders regularly detained, the majority of Egyptians sympathized with them as underdogs. These days, the Brotherhood's quarrel is with the average Egyptian citizen and the very people who once rooted for them. Cairo's move to outlaw the Brotherhood is indeed part of a crackdown, but one that was demanded by the public.
Predictably, the Egyptian government's announcement has drawn condemnation from the U.S. The Obama administration expressed "concern" and called for an "inclusive political process." But these now-familiar calls fall on increasingly indifferent ears. In the throes of mounting violence and Islamist attacks, Egyptians are struggling to maintain a semblance of normality in their daily lives. Difficult as this period is, they understand that appeasement in this region is perceived as weakness.
The Muslim Brotherhood will be reintegrated into politics and society only when it decides to operate within the context of a stable state. Until then, in Egyptians' eyes at least, the Brothers will remain pariahs.