France asks Arab world to stop boycotting their products

TDT|Paris

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

The French foreign affairs ministry on Sunday said in a statement that the ongoing boycott of French products by some Arab and Middle East countries is baseless and should stop immediately. The statement comes at a time when an emotional outburst by some of the Islamic people is in place following the publication of satirical cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in France.

Following an unfortunate incident of a teacher displaying a satirical image of Prophet Mohammed, the teacher was beheaded in France and there were protests in a wide range of countries to both the incidents.

After French President Emmanuel Macron vowed the country would never give in to Islamic radicals in a tweet, there were widespread calls to boycott French products in countries like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, and Turkey.

The hashtags such as #BoycottFrenchProducts, #ExceptGodsMessenger were also popular on social media in recent days.

A hashtag calling for the boycott of French supermarket chain Carrefour was the second-most trending topic in Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's largest economy. Several co-ops visited cleared the shelves of items such as hair and beauty products made by French companies.

In Kuwait, the chairman and members of the board of directors of the Al-Naeem Cooperative Society decided to boycott all French products and to remove them from supermarket shelves.

According to some media reports, several Arab trade associations have also announced the boycott of French products, protesting the recent comments made by  Macron on Islam.

In Qatar, the Wajbah Dairy company announced a boycott of French products and pledged to provide alternatives, according to their Twitter account.

Al Meera Consumer Goods Company, a Qatari joint stock company, announced on Twitter: “We have immediately withdrawn French products from our shelves until further notice.”

“We affirm that as a national company, we work according to a vision consistent with our true religion, our established customs and traditions, and in a way that serves our country and our faith and meets the aspirations of our customers.”

Qatar University also joined the campaign. Its administration has postponed a French Cultural Week event indefinitely, citing the “deliberate abuse of Islam and its symbols”.

In a statement on Twitter, the university said any prejudice against Islamic belief, sanctities, and symbols is “totally unacceptable, as these offenses harm universal human values and the highest moral principles that contemporary societies highly regard”. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) described Macron’s statements as “irresponsible”, and said they are aimed at spreading a culture of hatred among peoples.