أرشيف الوسم : France

By Dennis Gruending – the rabble.ca The celebrated Canadian political philosopher Charles Taylor made headlines recently when he said that the prime minister’s critical comments about Muslim women wearing the niqab (a partial face covering) were both “dumb” and a boon for terrorist recruiters such as the Islamic State. Taylor’s point was that the prime minister is fuelling anti-Muslim sentiment …

By Ramzy Baroud Francois Hollande is not a popular president. No matter how hard the ‘socialist’ leader tries to impress, there never seems to be a no solid constituency that backs him. He attempted to mask his initial lack of experience in foreign affairs with a war in Mali, after his country enthusiastically took on Libya. While he succeeded at …

By Jonathan Cook Israel has been having its own internal debate about the significance of the Paris killings this month, with concerns quite separate from those being expressed in Europe. While Europeans are mired in debates about free speech and the role of Islam in secular societies, Israelis generally – and their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in particular – view …

by John Chuckman We hear much about bloody events in Paris being an attack upon western traditions and freedom of the press, and I am sorry but such claims are close to laughable, even though there is nothing remotely funny about mass murder. It certainly is not part of the best western tradition to insult the revered figures of major …

By Jessica Purkiss – MIDDLE EAST MOINTOR On Wednesday two gunmen attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, killing eight of the publication’s journalists, including its chief editor, along with four other people, including a maintenance worker, a visitor and two police officers. Paris is mourning the tragic incident, and condolences have flooded in from across the …

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the French parliament would be making a “grave mistake” if it chooses to recognize the state of Palestine when it votes on the matter on December 2nd. “Do they have nothing better to do at a time of beheadings across the Middle East, including that of a French citizen?” he said, …

French lawmakers are planning to submit a motion to their parliament, asking their government to recognize the state of Palestine, weeks after British parliamentarians successfully passed a similar vote. The move follows the collapse of the peace process between Palestine and Israel after the conflict in Gaza, in which over 2,000 Palestinians were killed. “The (lower house National) Assembly asks …

A local councilor belonging to France’s far-right Front National party seemingly embarrassed his colleagues by announcing that he had converted to Islam and urging others to join him. Twenty-two-year-old Maxence Buttey councilor, in the Parisian suburb of Noisy-le-Grand, reportedly embarrassed members of his anti-immigration party by sending a video in which he praises the “visionary” virtues of the Koran and …

On Monday, France urged French citizens living in or travelling to certain countries to exercise “utmost caution” after extremist group Islamic State (IS) called on Muslims all over the world to kill citizens of countries whose government are a part of the coalition against the group. The French Foreign Ministry said sent a warning to its embassies “in around 30 …

On Friday, French President Francois Hollande spoke to press personnel after his meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in Paris,and said that a “solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis will be presented to the UN Security Council. “We will have a resolution, to be presented to the Security Council, that will say very clearly what we …