Emmanuel Macron: Is his battle with Islam or with “political Islam”...

• Media Follow-up Section
• BBC

Arab newspapers and websites discussed reactions to the statements made by French President Emmanuel Macron during the memorial service for teacher Samuel Patti, who was beheaded in a street in Paris because of the display of cartoons insulting to the Prophet Muhammad to his students.

Macron said, “We will not abandon drawings and caricatures, even if some retreat,” which sparked a new wave of anger and calls for a boycott of French products.

The book condemned what they described as “Macron’s abuse of Islam” and “childishness”, while others understood the challenges facing France represented by the goals of “political Islam groups”.

The continuous reactions to Macron’s statements made headlines in Arab newspapers and websites.

The Jordanian “constitution” says: “The Gulf Cooperation Council: Macron’s abuse of Islam” increases the culture of hatred ‛”.

“Because of Macron’s insult to Islam, protests outside the home of the French ambassador to Israel,” says the Egyptian “Echo of the Country”.

Abdullah al-Majali believes in the Jordanian “Al-Sabeel” that “when the president of the French state leads the campaign to return the offensive cartoons of the Messenger Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and he knows that the Messenger has a special religious status with more than a billion and a half billion Muslims on the face of the globe, then he is really a president in need. To a test to ensure the health of his mental powers, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

And the writer adds: “These offensive cartoons may be the cause of the killing of the French teacher, but that crime cannot cover the crime of offensive cartoons and make it a state policy, so its president launches a campaign to spread it and provoke Muslims all over the world. Countries that claim civilization and their presidents should not act Crying, malevolence and childish reactions. “

Under the heading “The liberalism of France that we seek”, the Kuwaiti “Al-Qabas” says in its editorial: “The behavior may be justified when the French society is angry at the horror of this heinous crime, as well as the anger of the entire global civil society, but the danger that we must stop at is that this extremism is transmitted. Al-Asabia reached the French political leadership, whose nation’s national slogan was ‘Freedom … Equality … Brotherhood’, until this extremism reached the head of the French state, its President Emmanuel Macron himself, to deal with the extremism of a handful, claiming that it represents Islam with greater extremism, led by a superpower, Against the entire Islamic peoples. “

The newspaper adds: “Treating ‘Islamic extremism’ with ‘European right-wing extremism’ will only result in more violence, and will perpetuate hatred and develop aggression. Therefore, we hope that a great country like France will not resort to an exclusionary approach that will weaken its liberal values ​​and the country that it was A pioneer in the enlightenment movement. “

Khaled Al-Sulaiman said in “Okaz” Saudi Arabia: “Although I am against the acts of violence that take place in protest against the offensive behavior of the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, in the fact that their harm is greater than their benefit, and they are always used to distort the image of Muslims and attack them, in addition to my belief that the Prophet’s position is upon him. Prayer and peace is higher, higher and higher than a human being touched, and it did not harm him in his life and would not harm him in his death, except that I cannot understand the Western laws ignoring the causes of violence, fueling feelings, and creating enmities and conflicts in the name of freedom of expression.

And the writer continues: “Freedom of expression on the moral and rational level in Western regimes is not absolute in many cases in which freedoms are suppressed as a result of the harm that results from them, such as calls for violence, incitement to murder, and support for Nazism and fascism!”

Abd al-Basit Seda points out in the London-based “Al-Quds Al-Arabi” that “it is very necessary for thinkers and political leaders to think well, and to adopt the objective caution required in the use of expressions and terms, in order to prevent any abuse of people’s beliefs and feelings, and to prevent stirring up any strong reactions that are often “It is transformed into a new material in the operations of exploitation practiced by the corrupt regimes and extremist movements. They are the processes that benefit the media machines and the slogan campaigns of the extreme right-wing forces in many Western societies, and even in Eastern European countries that attribute Islamic extremism to Islam.”

On the other hand, Al-Hashemi Nouira understands the French position, and asks in the Emirati “statement”: “What is the future of political Islam in Western countries?”

He points out that the incident of the French teacher’s killing provoked: “very violent official and societal reactions, as for the first time, political and partisan parties and civil organizations, with their various intellectual and political orientations, met in France on one opinion and position, which is condemning the terrorist operation without any reservation, as well as There was consensus to point the finger of accusation at political Islam groups, and everyone demanded that it be eradicated from its roots, by preventing it and the NGOs that finance its activities.

And the writer adds: “Perhaps it is the first time that these groups have lost the political support that they were receiving from partisan and political parties, especially the left. This bond has protected their activity over recent years and proved their existence, which enabled them to locate in a number of neighborhoods in various French cities and countryside. , Which is witnessing a dense population of Muslims. “

Sawsan Al-Shaer in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat goes to a similar opinion, saying: “The beheading of the French history teacher sparked a new battle within French society between the left supporting religious groups and the opposition right, so the media launched an attack against religious groups that the right took advantage of in its political battle.”

And she continues: “Recent incidents may push the left-wing parties to reconsider their strategy in support of Islamic religious groups, and the next European battle will be against ‘groups’, not against Islam, so let us pay attention to the sects.”