In a professional lapse, Agence France-Presse attacks Abdel Rahim Ali, accuses him of anti-Semitism

In a clear violation of professional values ​​and internationally recognized press codes, Agence France-Presse published a report containing an attack on Abdel Rahim Ali, a member of the Egyptian House of Representatives and President of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Paris, after a press conference held at the National Assembly (French parliament), with the participation of the leader of the National Front and former presidential candidate Marin Le Pen, to talk about the post-Daesh and sources of financing terrorism.

The agency charged MP Abdel Rahim Ali with anti-Semitism and fabricated his statements about Jews during the press conference.

The AFP report did not include Ali’s statements in this regard where he said, "The Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Paris (CEMO), its head of research on the affairs of Islamic movements, and the member of the Egyptian parliament, Dr. Abdel Rahim Ali, were surprised by the tendency of some French media to give credibility to the false news circulated on social media network sites by a controversial person known for his close ties to terrorist circles called Romain Caillet," Abdel Rahim Ali said in a statement.

"The attack by some French media outlets was based entirely and exclusively on the slanderous and defamatory tweets of Romain Caillet, without investigating and verifying these allegations," the report went on.

"This kind of lightness that some media outlets have dealt with the issue is surprising, especially since Romain Caillet cannot be a reliable source:" he said. "For many months, he has been claiming to be an expert in the study of jihadist movements before the media, which opened its studios to him in May 2016, discovered that he was on the French list of terrorism because of his links to terrorist movements and, in the past, to the Muslim Brotherhood. Was not he expelled in February 2015 from Lebanon where he used to live since 2010 because of his connections with extremist jihadist groups? Did not he stay in Egypt in 2005, under the pretext of learning the Arabic language where he lived with a number of radical Islamists, including "Fabienne Klein", who adopted in the name of Daesh Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015?

Dr. Abdel Rahim Ali, and his Center for Middle East Studies, stressed that they do not adopt any anti-Semitic ideas, attack Jews as a people or Judaism as a religion, and if he has criticized certain aspects of Israeli politics, he denies being obsessed with the "Zionist conspiracy". He also mentioned that he is a member of the Egyptian parliament which is the legislative institution that ensures respect for the international obligations of the Egyptian state, including the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, which has been in effect for more than 40 years.

The statement added, "The Center for Middle East Studies in Paris is a research institution specialized exclusively in the study of Islamic movement, which carries a message opposing Islamic extremism from human intellectual backgrounds that cannot be denied. This is why the Center is particularly concerned about" the dangers of the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology and jihadist movements on Western civilizational values. This was the title of one of the last publications of the Center. For this reason, the Center is constantly attacked by the Islamic movements and its sponsors from the Qataris and the Turks, the movements of which Romain Caillet is associated with in suspicious relations. That undoubtedly explains his recent campaign against the center and its head.