Citing what it calls the Muslim Brotherhood’s “non-violent” nature, the White House has rejected a petition with more than 200,000 signatures calling on the Obama administration to declare the group a terrorist organization.

The petition was posted on “We the People,” a White House web portal, on July 7, 2013. It says the Muslim Brotherhood has shown “that it is willing to engage in violence and killing of innocent civilians in order to invoke fear in the hearts of its opponents.”

“This is terrorism,” the petitioners say.

Within 30 days, the petition had garnered 100,000 signatures — the required threshold for an official response, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

But the White House did not respond until Monday, when it rejected the petition. By Monday evening, the petition had 213,000-plus signatures.

“We have not seen credible evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood has renounced its decades-long commitment to non-violence,” the White House said.

The statement adds that the United States “is committed to thwarting terrorist groups that pose a threat to U.S. interests and those of our partners.”

But according to the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), the Muslim Brotherhood — founded in 1928 and active in more than 70 countries — has a long history of supporting violence and terrorism.

That history “includes collaboration with Nazi Germany, calls for the destruction of Israel, and support for attacks against American troops,” IPT states.

Moreover, the group’s affiliates “include the terrorist organization Hamas, and its alumni include 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden’s terrorist mentor,” according to IPT.

Last month, the United Arab Emirates announced that the Muslim Brotherhood was considered a terrorist group and a security threat, along with about 80 other groups whose designation as a terrorist organization was approved by the UAE.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Muslim-Brotherhood-petition-White-House-terrorist-group/2014/12/01/id/610399/