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France’s Double Battle: Facing Islamist Threats at Home, Undermining Allies Abroad

French President Emmanuel Macron is seen at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Photo: Reuters/Martial Trezzini

France’s recent crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood marks a long-overdue defense of Western liberalism. A leaked intelligence report exposing the Brotherhood’s covert penetration of French institutions reflects a serious governmental shift — one that rightly sees this Islamist movement not as a misunderstood religious organization, but as a subversive ideological force bent on eroding secular democratic norms from within.

For nations like the United States and Israel, this is a welcome change. Yet France’s simultaneous drift toward antagonizing Israel exposes a deep contradiction in its foreign policy — one that threatens both the coherence of Western alliances and the broader struggle against political Islamism.

The French report highlights how the Brotherhood operates through “entryism” — embedding within institutions like schools, local governments, and NGOs — to reshape society along Islamist lines. This is not religious practice; it is political infiltration, designed to weaken the secular state and replace it with one governed by Islamic law. France’s determination to confront this head-on deserves credit. But the fight against Islamism cannot be confined to domestic policy — it must also inform international posture, particularly toward those democracies on the front lines of this ideological conflict.

France’s increasingly hostile stance toward Israel is deeply problematic. Even as Israel defends itself against Hamas — a direct offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood — France has escalated its rhetoric, threatened sanctions, and backed premature recognition of a Palestinian state. This is not principled diplomacy; it is a strategic blunder. It undermines a key democratic ally battling the same forces France claims to resist, and it emboldens the very actors seeking to dismantle the Western order from within and without.

The context matters. In the wake of Hamas’ October 7 atrocities — an unprovoked terrorist onslaught targeting civilians — Israel launched a necessary and lawful campaign to dismantle the group’s military and political infrastructure in Gaza. Yet rather than standing unequivocally with a fellow democracy under siege, French President Emmanuel Macron responded by warning of punitive measures unless Israel altered its military approach. Such moral equivalence dangerously misconstrues the nature of the conflict. Hamas embeds itself in civilian areas precisely to manufacture these dilemmas. To pressure Israel instead of condemning Hamas’ tactics outright is to reward terrorism and punish self-defense.

Moreover, Macron’s push for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, co-sponsored with Saudi Arabia at the UN, sidelines the only sustainable path to peace: direct negotiations. Statehood cannot be imposed through diplomatic fiat. It must be earned through renunciation of violence, institutional reform, and mutual recognition. France’s proposal bypasses all of this, incentivizing Palestinian intransigence while further isolating Israel in multilateral forums.

This imbalance raises a troubling question: why does France, so quick to sound the alarm over Islamist subversion at home, tolerate and even empower radical Islam’s most virulent expressions abroad? If the Muslim Brotherhood poses a threat to the secular French Republic, how can its ideological twin — Hamas — be treated as a legitimate political actor or representative of Palestinian aspirations? The contradiction reveals a failure to apply France’s newfound clarity consistently.

This inconsistency also weakens the broader Western effort to counter political Islamism. Israel is not just another Middle Eastern actor — it is the region’s only liberal democracy, a frontline state confronting threats that extend far beyond its borders. As Brotherhood-inspired movements gain ground across Europe, from radicalized suburbs to university campuses, their international legitimacy is often buoyed by diplomatic gestures like those France now champions. The message is clear: ideological extremism may be denounced domestically, but rewarded diplomatically.

France’s position also threatens to erode its credibility among allies. Israel, already wary of rising antisemitism and radicalization in Europe, sees in these developments not just diplomatic friction, but strategic abandonment. The demonstrations sweeping across French and other European cities in support of Hamas, often laced with virulent anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric, are no accident. They are the domestic fallout of decades of permissive attitudes toward Islamist activism — precisely the kind of threat France now claims to be confronting. A principled stand abroad must match the urgency at home.

To be clear, confronting political Islamism must never come at the expense of individual rights or religious freedom. Discrimination against Muslims is unacceptable. But there is a profound difference between protecting believers and tolerating movements that seek to replace liberal democracy with theocracy. France, through its doctrine of laïcité, upholds one of the clearest boundaries between faith and state. That clarity must extend beyond the domestic sphere if it is to be meaningful.

If France is serious about safeguarding Western values, it must rethink its posture toward Israel. Constructive diplomacy — one that prioritizes the hostages’ release, Israeli security, and a negotiated end to conflict — must replace coercive measures and inflammatory declarations. Hamas, not Israel, is the obstacle to peace. Recognizing this is not only a moral imperative; it is a strategic necessity.

Amine Ayoub, a fellow at the Middle East Forum, is a policy analyst and writer based in Morocco. Follow him on X: @amineayoubx

The post France’s Double Battle: Facing Islamist Threats at Home, Undermining Allies Abroad first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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