In his most public support of militant Islamists, the leader of Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday called on Iraqis and Palestinians to step up their resistance against the United States and Israel. In a speech to hundreds of the movement's members and supporters, Mohammed Mahdi Akef urged the Muslim world to "provide all the necessary material and moral support" to the Iraqi insurgents. "We are with the Iraqi resistance as a righteous duty imposed by Sharia (Islamic law) and sanctioned by international laws," Akef said during an annual banquet his group hosts for supporters and the news media during the holy month of Ramadan. "The Iraqi resistance is the protective wall which defends us all," he said. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 and has spawned branches throughout the Muslim world. It was banned in 1954 for advocating violence to turn Egypt into an Islamist state. Today, still banned, the group says it supports peaceful means toward change and is generally tolerated by the state, with occasional crackdowns. Brotherhood members hold seats in Parliament, though they run as independents, not under the group's name.