This is the latest in our series in the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe and the 4th in Italy. It comes in the form of an interview by the Italian daily, Il Tempo, with Giovanno Giocalone, an Italian expert on Islamism and terrorism and a researcher at the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF). The interview comes in the wake of last week's US midterm elections that resulted in a Democratic landslide featuring the election of the first Muslim senator in US history, Abdul El-Sayed (D-MI), which many consider a victory for Islamism in the US since El-Sayed is considered by those same observers as an ally of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In this interview, Giacalone sees the election of El-Sayed as a warning sign from the US to Italy given the current trends in Italy. The way I see it, the trends in both countries are the same. In both nations, we see associations with figures tied to the Brotherhood establishing themselves as representing Muslim communities and gradually working their way into acceptance into the political systems, while establishing links principally with the far-left.
The article is translated by Fousesquawk.
Interview
Giovanni Giacalone: "Islamism is running from the USA to Italy. But there is still time to stop it"
-By Alessio Buzzelli
November 7, 2026 at 15:07
"The United States is showing us in advance the dangerous consequences of the welding of political Islam and the left. Italy, from my point of view still has time to reverse the tide: but it needs to have the capacity and the political will to be able to do it. The first exists. The second, we will see." From the USA to Italy, the consequences of the access of political Islam to the West explained by Giovanni Giacalone, analyst and expert in Islamic extremism and terrorism and member of the IDSF Institute.
-Doctor Giacalone, for many observers of the election of Abdul El-Sayed in the US midterms, the first Muslim senator in history is emblematic of the union between one part of political Islam and the Western left. Is that true?
- "Yes, of course: It is a classic example and also a huge alarm bell of the red-green alliance that is gaining a foothold within Western politics. It is evident if, on the one hand, the left, in a crisis of consensus, aims for the vote of the Muslims, on the other hand, the Islamists, or that entire area tied ideologically to the Muslim Brotherhood, is taking advantage of this opening to the left to insert itself into the electoral mechanism."
-What are these objectives?
-"The principal objective clearly is that of inserting itself and taking control of the establishment, of the decision making, of the political, institutional, and governmental apparatus, in order to then influence both internal and external policy. Obviously, in anti-Western (ways) and in favor of Islamist regimes and certain organizations tied to them."
-And in what ways are these aims pursued?
"For better or worse, the modus operandi is always the same and has been since the birth of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt: Infiltrate themselves, first from the bottom and then rise. It involves initial penetrations in local institutions and on the periphery. That means that the Islamists try and succeed, alas, in building privileged relations with the various administrations and various politicians in the local sphere, presenting themselves as official points of contact of the Islamic communities. Then they use a series of umbrella associations and organizations. This (system of) association brings together more dimensions: They can be cultural associations, which are often really and truly mosques, but also religious schools, female associations, and even sports (associations). And through these umbrella organizations, they make networks, they make a certain type of lobbying both to influence both the Islamic communities, attempting a hegemony, and constructing relations with local politicians. Then gradually move up to the next level until they arrive at the government (level), that which we have seen happen in the United States.
-Let's talk about Italy. Here, we have no El-Sayed yet, but there have been more than a few warnings, especially with the recent marches and the affair involving Youssef Sehir.
- "I came up with this idea: I believe that there is a network that has been active for some time. But there is also a problem that revolves around the Brotherhood. I am not talking only about the people that are close to Sehir, but I am talking more in general about the entire Islamist, pro-Brotherhood network in Italy. For too long, this has been considered a point of contact, institutional even, with the pretext that it was yes, an extremist organization, but not a terrorist one. To say such a thing means to understand nothing about how extremism or terrorism function."
-Could it have been predicted and prevented?
-"For too long we have focused on jihadism, ignoring the problem linked to this Islamist network, which in the meantime, has been infiltrating on multiple levels, also in the streets. Then with post October 7, everything became clear, becoming more evident. But it's not that it didn't exist before: It did and it was known. But what, perhaps, needed to be done, was not done."
-Do you mean to say that on the part of the Italian managerial class, there has been an underestimation of the phenomenon?
- "From my point of view, I would say yes because notwithstanding the critical situation, I do not see energetic responses. Surely, taking into consideration all the difficulties there may be, but I believe that it is necessary to throw on the brakes and begin to do what needs to be done, both at the level of funding controls, and at the level of cultural and ideological conflict. Because the Islamism professed by these groups is incompatible with a whole series of European and Italian principles. The resolution recently approved in the European Parliament on the Muslim Brotherhood is a first step. And even if it is not equivalent to an automatic ban, it is a good start."
-The values of the left and those of Islam are in many ways opposed. Won't this knot come to a head sooner or later?
"But it's obvious. Sooner or later, they will clash, and in my opinion, it is the left that will get hurt. And we are seeing it in the USA, which is offering us in advance the overview of what we are risking happening here in the near future. Italy, from my point of view still has time to reverse course, but it needs the capacity and the political will to be able to do it. The first exists. As to the second, we will see."
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