Al-Azhar, Egyptian observers and activists divided over boycotting French products
Egypt’s Al-Azhar, along with social media activists from Egypt and the Arab world, launched harsh campaigns against the French government for supporting the cartoons that offended the Prophet Muhammad.
Despite the crisis between Arab and Muslim countries and France over the cartoons of Charlie Hebdo newspaper, which offended the Prophet Muhammad, news agencies reported Nov. 3 that the Egyptian and the French navies executed joint naval drills in the Mediterranean.
The news of the joint drills angered some Egyptian, Arab and Muslim social media activists, especially those who launched Oct. 25 a campaign to boycott French products.
Calls for a boycott spread on social media against the backdrop of French President Emmanuel Macron's statements Oct. 21, saying that French teacher Samuel Paty was killed Oct. 16 by Islamists for showing to students in a school the cartoons of Charlie Hebdo.
“Paty was killed because he embodies secular and democratic values of the French Republic, so we are not going to give up cartoons,” he added.
