A Muslim-Friendly President In France?

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A French politician, Vincent Peillon, has come under fire for proposing that what Muslims in France are facing presently is similar to what Jews  faced during the holocaust. The anger is coming mainly from the Jewish community who say his remarks were tantamount to denying the holocaust. Peillon, who has a Jewish mother is running in the Socialist party primaries ahead of the French presidential election in April. The Frenchman who was speaking in an interview aired by France 2 television said, ““If some want to use laicite, as has been done in the past, against certain populations … Forty years ago it was the Jews who put on yellow stars. Today, some of our Muslim countrymen are often portrayed as radical Islamists. It is intolerable.” Laicite is a French term referring to the separation of religion and state. Refusing to apologize for his remarks, Peillon wrote on his website, “I wanted to denounce the strategy of the far right, which always used the words of the French Republic or social issues to turn them against the population. It is doing so today with laicite against the Muslims.” Peillon has signed a petition by the Jcall group supporting Palestinian statehood. Last summer, Peillon opposed the ban on the burkini (a Muslim women’s swim suit). France is not known to have had an Islam-tolerant leader in recent history.