Le Pen: "Islamic fundamentalism is spreading throughout France"

Le Pen: "Islamic fundamentalism is spreading throughout France"

In an exclusive interview with Channel 2 News, the right wing leader Marine Le Pen stated: "France should regain control of its borders."  Jan 14, 2015, 11:30AM | Ami Streit

In a conversation about the tragic terrorist attacks that have recently befallen France, the leader of France's National Front Marine Le Pen stated: "It's time for France to regain control of its borders.  Freedom of movement is a crazy idea.  We must be free to decide who comes in and out of our country. Eliminating borders is like saying 'take down the doors to protect us from thieves'."  

Le Pen spoke about the French government's need to not skirt the issue and to have a clear message: "France is defending itself against the war that is being waged by Islamist fundamentalists. I am very concerned about our governments overt decision to not address the terrorism issue by its name and skirting the real issues. This will only exacerbate the problem and potentially invite even more of these terrorist acts at our doorstep. We need to address terrorism by referring to the term Islamist fundamentalism.  The mere term "terrorism" appeared to me to be totally inadequate. The term "terrorism" refers to the means, but behind the terrorism there is an ideology and that ideology is Islamist fundamentalism."  

In response to accusations that she is perceived as Islamophobic, Le Pen said: "It is a total misperception.  I am able to differentiate between Islam as a religious faith and Islamic fundamentalism, which aims to create fear and threatens the liberty and safety of our citizens." When asked about her aspirations to become president, she said "that she sees herself as a candidate, one that will be able to provide security and defend the identity of the French people. Every nation has a right to defend itself and this is what I intend to do as president. This is the reason why I entered politics."

Thousands of people attended the funerals in Jerusalem yesterday for the Paris Hyper Kacher grocery terror victims. The funerals were held at the Har Hamenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem.  The ceremony, broadcast live on all Israeli TV channels, turned into a nationwide expression of mourning and solidarity. Relatives of each terror victim spoke briefly and lit a torch in memory of their loved ones before stepping off the stage with a huge Israeli flag in the background to embrace Israel's President and Prime Minister. The ceremony concluded with Israel's national anthem. The four victims — Yohan Cohen, Yoav Hattab, Philipe Braham and Francois-Michel Saada — were murdered last Friday during a tense hostage standoff at a kosher supermarket on the eastern edge of Paris. They were among 17 people killed in three days of terror attacks last week by terrorists claiming allegiance to Islamic State and Al Qaeda.

Marine Le Pen is a French politician and the president of the Front National (FN), the third-largest political party in France, since 16 January 2011. A lawyer by profession, she is the youngest daughter of longtime FN leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. She is the aunt of Marion Maréchal-Le Pen.  She joined the FN in 1986, its Executive Committee in 2000 and was a vice-president of the FN for eight years (2003–2011). She currently is an ex officio member of the FN Executive Office, Executive Committee and Central Committee.  She has been a regional councillor since 1998 (Île-de-France: 2004–2010, Nord-Pas-de-Calais: 1998–2004, 2010–present), a Member of the European Parliament since 2004 (Île-de-France: 2004–2009, North-West France: 2009–present) and was a municipal councillor in Hénin-Beaumont, Pas-de-Calais for three years (2008–2011).  She is described as a significantly more democratic and republican presence than her nationalist father; she wants to considerably reduce immigration, while her father wanted to abolish it. However, like her father, she strongly opposes euthanasia. On 21 April 2011, she was ranked the 71st most influential person in the 2011 Time 100.  She was a candidate in the 2012 French presidential election. On 22 April 2012, she polled 17.90% (6,421,426 votes) in the first round and finished in third position behind François Hollande and the then incumbent president Nicolas Sarkozy.