CEMO denounces failings of major French paper

PARIS – The Center for Middle East Studies (CEMO) and its head Abdul Rahim Ali, a researcher in dynamic Islam, were stunned that esteemed French newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, had believed without verification rumors circulated on social media by a controversial person known to have close contacts with Islamist jihadists, namely Romain Caillet.

The site of the newspaper ran an article, titled "Marine Le Pen invites to parliament a person obsessed with the Zionist plot", totally depending on tweets made by Caillet, only with the aim of smearing Ali.

The newspaper did not take the time or make effort to verify the claims made by this person.

Treating such claims lightly is astonishing on the part of the newspaper, given the fact that Caillet cannot be a credible person.

For months in the past, Caillet introduced himself to the media as an "expert on jihadist movements", before he turned out to be on a list of extremist figures released earlier by French authorities. He was included in the list because of his ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

In February 2015, Lebanese authorities kicked Caillet out of Lebanon, where he lived since 2010, for having ties with radical jihadist groups. The same man lived in Egypt in 2005, ostensibly for learning the Arabic language. He lived in the same place with radical Islamists, including Fabien Clain who read out the audio in which Daesh claimed responsibility for staging the November 2015 attacks in Paris.

Ali and the CEMO here reiterate their condemnation of anti-Semitic ideas and all attacks against Jewish people and Judaism as a religion. True, Ali criticizes some Israeli policies, but he is not obsessed with the so-called "Zionist plot" in any manner.

Ali needs to remind everybody that he is a member of the Egyptian parliament, the legislative body that works day and night to safeguard the international obligations of the Egyptian state, including the peace treaty with Israel, which has been in effect for 40 years now.

The CEMO is a research entity specialized in dynamic Islamic. The center works to counter Islamist radicalism, depending on human backgrounds that cannot be denied or challenged.

This is why the center is especially focused on the dangers the thinking of the Muslim Brotherhood and jihadist groups pose on the values of the Western civilization. This is actually the title of one of the center's latest publications.

This is why the center has come recently at the heart of repeated attacks by Islamist movements and their Qatari sponsors.

Caillet is linked to the same movements, which explains his latest campaign against the center and its head.