Israel praises Saudi for labeling Muslim Brotherhood as a "terrorist" organization

Israel, on Sunday, hailed the statement of the Saudi Council of Senior Scholars (CSS) which labeled Muslim Brotherhood— al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn—as a terrorist organization.

"We are happy in Israel to see such approach that stands against exploitation of religion for incitement and sedition," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on its Arabic Twitter handle.

"Undoubtedly, all the monotheistic religions came to cultivate love and intimacy among people; we are in bad need for a discourse that calls for tolerance and mutual cooperation for the advancement of the entire region. God bless you Al-Ifta," the tweet further read.

Al-Ifta the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta (also the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta) of Saudi Arabia, on November 12, called the Muslim Brotherhood issued a "deviant group" which gave birth "to extremist terrorist groups that wreaked havoc on the country and the people," in one of its statements.

Meanwhile, Muslim Brotherhood, however, has criticized the Saudi Scholars' group for calling the organization a terrorist group". Talat Fehmi, a spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood, while criticizing the statement has said that "the Brotherhood is not terrorist but an inviting and reformist organization."

"The Brotherhood, which was established in Egypt in 1928, is far from violence, terror and tearing apart the ummah. Since its establishment, it has been calling people to Allah with good advice," Turkish agency Anadolu quoted Fehmi.

Muslim Brotherhood is religio-political organization founded in 1928 in Egypt, by Hassan al-Banna, the organization, having a membership of over 400,000 people was instrumental in dethroning Hosni Mubarak— military and political leader who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. The organization's political wing, Freedom and Justice Party won the 2012 Egyptian presidential elections with Mohammad Morsi being the president. However, in July 2013, following massive demonstrations against his rule, Morsi was removed from the presidency by a military action and the Muslim Brotherhood was blacklisted in Egypt.

Israel's statement in support of Saudis can be linked to the counter of Hamas—Palestinian armed militant group which has a functional government in Gaza.