Dean of Paris Mosque Accuses French Media of Distorting His Words

After weeks of controversy over his provocative statement on the Palestinian resistance, which received a lot of criticism, the Dean of the Paris Mosque, Chemsdine Hafiz, came back to clear his name, blaming the French media, accusing them of distorting his words, which were broadcast on many audio and video platforms.
Chemsdine Hafiz said in an interview with the website “Latest Robur” and published by the Deanship of the Paris Mosque, in response to a journalist’s question about his stunning statement to the French TV channel “BFM”: “Yes, of course, my words were taken out of context and loaded with more than their meaning. My statements during… My statements during the aforementioned meeting with the French channel were taken out of context, and my answers to the question regarding the Hamas organization were interpreted far from their intended goals, and my answer was deliberately misinterpreted and distorted.”
Hafiz added and stated: “Coming back to this television interview, there was no hint in my words of what has been interpreted by some quarters, and this indicates that there is a despicable maneuver to distort my words. My position is clear and open, which is on the one hand to reject violence and the killing of innocent people, and on the other hand to support and back the Palestinian people so that they can live in peace and security in their independent state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.”
But what exactly did Hafiz say on the French Channel program, sitting next to the Chief Rabbi of France, Haim Korcih? “We must sympathize with the victims of October 7,” and the reference is clear, to those who died in the heroic attack of the Palestinian resistance, which swept away many people, from the Zionist settlements around the Gaza Strip, which he described as “horrible massacres”.
In this dialogue, the dean of the Paris mosque was led to lure the French journalist, who dragged him to condemn what the Palestinian resistance, which was defending land and honor, was doing in the occupied territories: “Here is our role,” and he talked about Islam’s prohibition of killing civilians and taking hostages, and the good treatment of prisoners. Ignoring the specificity of the crimes committed by the occupation in Palestine, including genocide, unjust imprisonment and brutal attacks on civilians, including the elderly, women, children and the aged.
Chemsdine Hafiz’s words on that day gave the impression that the Palestinian resistance was not defending the occupied land and that it was doing free work. His position was a scandal compared to the statement of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, who said from the podium of the United Nations that “what the Hamas movement did did not come out of a vacuum,” stressing that what the resistance did was a response to the brutal and criminal acts committed by the Zionist entity.
In fact, when Chemsdine Hafiz was asked if he considered the Hamas movement to be terrorist, he replied: “Of course we said that in the statement. I do not want to add fuel to the fire.” He even went so far as to refuse to support the leader of the Left Bloc and head of the “Proud France” party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had condemned the Zionist crimes against the Palestinians, citing his distance from politics.
It seems that the dean of the Paris mosque fell during his media outing on the BFM channel, a resounding fall that did not leave him the opportunity to rise through his patchwork attempts made on the basis of some media platforms, by examining the video circulating on social media.
In the face of the apparent popular and undeclared official anger, which was manifested by the visit of the Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments (Wakfs), Youcef Belmehdi, to Paris a few days ago, which is not unlikely to be related to what was issued by Hafiz, which contradicts the official positions of the Algerian state.