07 07 2025
A symposium hosted by TRENDS Research & Advisory in collaboration with French Senator Nathalie Goulet has urged European and Arab nations to form a unified strategy to curb cross-border financing that supports the Muslim Brotherhood and its networks The event titled Toward Concerted Efforts to Stop the Financing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe Challenges and Opportunities was held in Salle Monory at the French Senate in the Palais du Luxembourg and featured prominent elites experts academics and officials from Europe and Arab countries Opening the event Dr Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ali, CEO of TRENDS described the financing of extremist groups as one of the most serious challenges facing modern societies He explained that TRENDS has long prioritised understanding the Muslim Brotherhood concealed economic architecture arguing that deciphering its financial mechanisms is essential to halting its ideological spread Dr Al-Ali presented insights from an earlier TRENDS seminar in Abu Dhabi which concluded that cutting financial support is key to shielding European societies from organisational and ideological penetration He explained that the symposium aimed to deepen this effort through expanded European participation from security economic and intellectual specialists Senator Nathalie Goulet expressed concern over the misuse of research funding allocated to Islamic studies in Europe She warned that some of these resources are exploited to promote extremism and sanitise its image which undermines both domestic and international counter-extremism efforts She called for an overhaul of current funding mechanisms related to political Islam research Dr Wael Saleh Political Islam Affairs Advisor and Director of TRENDS Canada office moderated the workshop first panel on the challenges of stemming cross-border financial flows He urged ongoing collaboration between European and Arab institutions especially among specialised research centres and think tanks stressing the need for sustained unified political will over piecemeal approaches Olivier Vial Director of the University Centre for Studies and Research highlighted how Brotherhood-affiliated media influences immigrant youth and marginalised communities He also warned of a growing alliance between extremist organisations and certain Western social movements Strategic Perspectives on Financial Complexity Dr Khalifa Mubarak Al Dhaheri Chancellor of Mohamed Bin Zayed University for Humanities delivered a presentation titled Lessons from the Arab Experience where he outlined the UAE approach to dismantling the Muslim Brotherhood and promoting moderate religious discourse He explained that Islam is a religion of love mercy and morality rather than a political project or system of government and linked the Brotherhood development to violent movements that seek to impose change by force under the slogan of changing the abominable In a working paper Hamad Al Hosani Head of the Political Islam Studies Section at TRENDS argued that the Muslim Brotherhood relies on a centralised and sustainable financial model based on individual subscriptions donations and economic networks operating across Europe Canada and Switzerland He pointed out that the organisation uses non-traditional tools to bypass legal restrictions TRENDS researchers Shamsa Al Qubaisi and Shaikha Al Nuaimi highlighted the role of think tanks in tracking extremist financing Citing the Europol TE-SAT report they revealed that more than €140 million is suspected of being channelled into terrorist financing The symposium concluded with a call to build a joint European-Arab coalition across political research and media domains to develop a shared understanding of the nature of extremist financing cut off the financial roots of terrorism and establish a unified strategy to combat the Muslim Brotherhood and its networks