French Prime Minister’s Proposal to Ban Hijabs for Minors Sparks Controversy

Gabriel Attal is facing criticism from the centrist senator of Orne. The proposals to fight against Islamist "entrism" that he formulated on Tuesday, on the eve of the submission of a report on the Muslim Brotherhood, are not to Nathalie Goulet’s liking. One of the proposals relates to banning the wearing of the veil in public spaces for minors under 15 years old. "It’s completely idiotic," the centrist senator of Orne, a specialist in issues related to the Muslim Brotherhood, lashes out on franceinfo. "It makes no sense, are you going to ask for their ID cards in the street?" And she ironically adds: "Is he going to ban babouches too?"

The centrist proposes, instead, to better control involvement in associations or their funding. It is necessary to "prevent them from being conditioned, avoid entrism in associations." She explains that the Muslim Brotherhood is "not constituted as a party or an association," and this "creates a difficulty if we wanted to ban them or put them on the list of terrorist organizations." She continues: "The problem is funding that conditions behavior," especially when it comes from abroad. The senator also points out the responsibility of "European funding for associations with proven links to the Muslim Brotherhood."

For Goulet, the only way to "prevent extremists who want to infiltrate society from nibbling away at it" is to "take concrete and effective measures, and not use this subject for personal and political purposes."