Hugh Scofield
BBC News in Paris
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President Macron called for a new proposal to submit to the security cabinet earlier next month.
Muslims are infiltrating the French Republican system, a threat to national unity, according to a report presented to President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday.
The report, prepared by two senior civil servants, claims to find evidence of a “invasionist” policy by the Muslim Brotherhood to public bodies such as schools and local governments.
After his meeting of security ministers, Macron asked the government to devise a “new proposal” by early next month, in light of the seriousness of the conclusions in the report.
Secularism is the core doctrine of France’s national identity.
According to records issued by Elissese officials, there is “a new phenomenon – entryism – that is different from separatism.”
Separatism implied Muslims living in parallel French society, but “entrism means being involved in Republican infrastructure, to change it from within.
In a copy of the report published in the Le Figaro newspaper, the author identified the French Muslim Federation (FMF) as the major divergence of the historic Muslim Brotherhood, established 100 years ago to promote a return to core Islamic values.
They said the FMF controls 139 places of worship in France, with a further 68 members. The organization also ran 280 associations in sports, education, charity and other fields, as well as 21 schools.
The purpose of this movement was to set up “ecosystems at the ecosystem level” and “build Muslim lives from birth to death.”
“[The movement’s] The officials, who are reinforced activists, enter into relationships with local governments…social norms – veils, beards, dress, fasting – are gradually imposed as the ecosystem solidifies,” the author writes.
“What happens is that religious practices become more strict, and there is a significant visible increase in the number of high-level girls wearing abaya (long robes) and young girls wearing Islamic scarves.
The federation angered, angerously rejecting it, saying that it was “related to claims that would link us to foreign political programs, or “invasionism” strategies.”
“Confusing Islam with political Islamism and extremism is not only dangerous, but it is counterproductive to the Republic itself,” the FMF said. “Behind these unfounded accusations are plans to condemn Islam and Muslims.”
The report was seized by supporters of the strict enforcement of French secular law. This aims to exclude all religions from public life.
Interior Minister Bruno Reciro, who was elected to lead the conservative Les Republis Party on Sunday, warned on Tuesday of “trying to infiltrate an institution intended to undermine French society as a whole under Sharia Law” and “Islamism under Radal.”
Local government elections are scheduled for next year in France, with Letterou gaining a reputation as a hardliner — says he is concerned about the potential Islamic list of candidates.
Left leader Jean Louc Melenchon warned that “Islamophobia has crossed the line,” and accused the president’s security cabinet of adopting the “delusional theory” of Reterro and the leader of the far-right national rally, Marine Le Pen.
The authors of the report, visiting 10 different regions of France and four other European countries, concluded that the Muslim Brotherhood had lost influence in the Middle East and North Africa, and that they were targeting Europe, supported by money from Turkey and Qatar.
“The Muslim Brotherhood, which gave ideology a Western look to move to Europe, attempts to abandon the roots of Middle Eastern traditions while hiding destructive fundamentalism,” they wrote.