UAE Foreign Minister Backs Macron in Fight with Extremism

French President Emmanuel Macron, under fire in recent days from Muslim leaders across the world, received some friendly support from a surprising source on Monday. Anwar Gargash, minister of state for foreign affairs for the United Arab Emirates, implored Muslims the world over to “listen carefully to what Macron said. … He doesn’t want to isolate Muslims in the West, and he is totally right.” Gargash added that Muslims “need to be integrated in a better way” in the Western world, stating: “The French state has the right to search for ways to achieve this in parallel with combating extremism and societal closure.” Macron has signaled he will not back down in his latest battle with what he identified as “Islamist extremism” threatening France’s freedoms. Many heads of state, including those of Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and others, condemned his words, while millions of Muslims have called for boycotting French products. The fracas was ignited two weeks ago when a French teacher was beheaded outside of Paris after he displayed a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in his class on freedom of speech.