Muslim Brotherhood uses French NGOs to lobby Macron on radical Islam, investigation reveals

London, UK - The Muslim Brotherhood is using state-recognised NGOs in France to promote a dangerous brand of radical Islam in the country, an investigation today reveals.

A report by The Investigative Journal claims the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), an international Islamist movement, has infiltrated not-for-profit organisations by providing cash support and installing their own leaders into French community groups.

Under the guise of what appear to be NGOs representing the interests of French Muslims, the MB is then accused of promoting its own brand of fundamental Islam in the country.

The Brotherhood, which has been designated a terrorist group by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, has financial links to both national and regional Muslim community groups in France.

One of these organisations is the powerful French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) which serves as an official advisor to the French government in its managing of Islam in the country.

According to one expert, the outgoing leader of the CFCM Anouar Kbibech was a key figure in the MB, before taking his role at the French Muslim organisation, which worked closely with the government of Nicolas Sarkozy.

Another organisation with links to the MB which is active in France today is Musulmans de France (Muslims of France), or MDF.

At an MDF event attended by The Investigative Journal’s reporter Taha Siddiqui, artwork showing Marianne, the icon of the French Republic, wearing a headscarf was on sale next to literature by Yousef al Qaradawi, an Islamist preacher banned from entering the country.

Siddiqui’s report also reveals how the MDF has reincarnated itself, after being unmasked as a Muslim Brotherhood trojan horse.

Siddiqui writes: “MDF was not always known by this name.

“Until mid 2017 it was called UOIF (Union des Organisations Islamiques de France), the Union of Islamic Organisations of France.

“It changed its name after the United Arab Emirates designated it a terrorism-supporting organization due to its links to the Muslim Brotherhood6 and blacklisted its activities in the Middle Eastern state.

“One researcher at the 32,000-employee national think tank CNRS called the UOIF ‘incontestably’ the representative of the Muslim Brotherhood in France”.

The MDF has publicly distanced itself from the Muslim Brotherhood, but former officials say that it is linked to the group even today and is also a hub for spreading Islamic radicalization in France.

The Investigative Journal spoke Mohamed Louizi, a former MDF associate Mohamed Louizi who confirmed the connection between the two organisations, and claimed that the MDF was actively involved in promoting “the agenda” of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Louzi, who researches the activities of the MB since leaving, believes there is a long list of Muslim community groups across France which have now been infiltrated by the MB’s money and leaders.

He said: “According to my research, the organizations that have the Brotherhood influence and similar radical ideologies include the grand mosques in Bordeaux, Mulhouse, Reims, Le Havre, Décines-Charpieu, Grenoble and Marseille.

“France has seen the worst kind of Islamic terrorism in recent years, and therefore it is necessary that it deals with this issue on a priority basis.”

As part of his investigation, Siddiqi also interviewed Zineb El Rhazoui, an advisor to President Macron and survivor of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack of January 2015.

She believes the Muslim Brotherhood’s tactic of using NGOs as a trojan horse to influence French Culture must be brought into line.

Speaking to The Investigative Journal, she said: ““The Islamic organizations operating in France need to be monitored, especially when it comes to their financial sources, but currently they operate as non-governmental organizations and get away without any scrutiny about what is going inside them and who is funding them.

“Also, the French government needs to apply the law.

“No religious place can host a political meeting and many of these NGOs are violating that.”

Ms. El Rhazoui and a team of volunteers have recently started collecting information on radical speeches by Muslim thinkers in France and is sharing this information with the government.

The investigation will raise serious questions for the government of President Macron, which expressed the desire to better integrate Muslim groups in France.

CEO of The Investigative Journal and award-winning journalist Mohamed Fahmy urged the Élysée Palace to take note of the findings in the report put an end to the spread of extreme Islamist ideology in France.

Fahmy said: “This is a bombshell investigation which shows how deeply the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood runs in French society.

“It is time the French government woke up to the reality of what is happening in French Muslim communities.

“An Islamist Trojan Horse has rolled into towns, villages and cities across France, and if law-makers do not act soon, a new generation of home-grown terrorists will be ready to carry out more of the kinds of atrocities that have shocked the world and broken the hearts of French people.

“France must be steadfast in promoting its own brand of modern, inclusive Islam which can heal the wounds of the past and bring communities together.

“Expelling the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood will be the first step towards achieving this.”

READ TAHA SIDDIQI’S EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION AT THE LINK BELOW:

https://investigativejournal.org/the-fight-against-islamist-radicalization-in-france/