Macron: France fights extremism, but respects Islam

Nahla Abdelmonem

France was the scene of a number of terrorist attacks in the past weeks after cartoons mocking Prophet Muhammad resurfaced in the European state.

Exacerbating the attacks was the political exploitation of the cartoons, amid growing hate speech against France and French citizens and calls for boycotting French goods.

This forced French President Emmanuel Macron to clarify his point of his in this regard and address the Islamic world.

Bloody escalation

Events started taking a violent turn in France after an extremist stabbed two French citizens on September 25, near the headquarters of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo which republished the offending cartoons.

The attack coincided with the trial by a French court of people involved in a 2015 attack on the magazine, against the background of the cartoons’ publication.

Things became even worse when a history teacher showed his pupils the same cartoons during a class on free speech.

A Chechen extremist used the event in slaughtering the teacher on October 16, an event that was condemned everywhere in the world, including in predominantly Islamic states.

President Macron defended the freedom to draw cartoons during a mourning ceremony of the teacher. However, this was interpreted as a challenge against Muslims and an offence against their prophet.

Turkey used the ensuing anger in inciting Muslims against France, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made his most cherished sketch, namely this of a world leader defending the Islamic religion.

This evolved into a boycott campaign against French goods. Some people even called for substituting French goods with Turkish ones with the aim of putting pressure on Macron.

Macron at the center

Macron gave an interview to the Qatari news channel al-Jazeera, in which he said that his remarks were purposely misinterpreted to serve the interests of some rival states.

France, he said, has no problem with religions. The French president added that Muslims practice their faith in full freedom in France.

My basic massage is one of peaceful coexistence among all humans, regardless of which religion they follow, Macron said.