Today is Friday. It's cartoon day.
Today's cartoon comes from Israel. it's about France.
Why should an Israeli be concerned about France? Because both countries share a common threat: Islam.
Earlier this week (Sunday May 7, 2017), France elected a new President, Emmanuel Macron. He's considered to be a 'centrist'. He trounced his opposition, the far-right Marine Le Pen by a reported 66%-34% margin (Angelique Chrisafis, "Emmanuel Macron vows unity after winning French presidential election", guardian, May 8, 2017).
Macron is young, just 39. He is also incredibly inexperienced. He could have difficulty leading the world's sixth-largest economy (Vivienne Wall, "Macron has won a historic French election. Now the hard work begins", time, May 8, 2017).
Yes, he's been the country's current (before the election) Minister of the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs. That would suggest he's got important experience, at least in the economic arena. But he's been called the architect of the country's current, failed economic policies (Guy Milliere, "French elections: Emmanuel Macron, a disaster", gatestoneinstitute, May 1, 2017).
Does that bode well for France?
Some say he is so inexperienced, he hasn't a clue how to handle Islam in France ( Milliere, ibid). Worse, some see him as nothing more than a useful infidel for the Islamic movement in France (Yves Mamou, "France: Emmanuel Macron, useful idiot of Islamism", gatestoneinstitute, May 7, 2017).
Apparently, Macron doesn't support terrorism or Islamism (ibid). He's worse. He doesn't see either terror or Islam as a threat to France (ibid).
For many, Islam has been threatening France's Western culture for years (Michel Gurfinkiel, "Islam in France: the French way of life is in danger", The Middle East Quarterly, meforum, March 1997, volume 4, Number 1). But in 2017, Emmanuel Macron tried to give France hope. He declared, "no religion is a problem in France today" (Shafik Mandhai, "Emmanuel Macron struggles to impress French Muslims", aljazeera, February 19, 2017).
Does that bode well for France?
No one knows what Macron will do about Islam in France. No one knows much about how he'll handle anything else: his main campaign tactic appears to have been 'be vague' (Lara Marlowe, "Emmanuel Macron and the French politics of ambiguity", irishtimes, February 14, 2017). But here are two headlines about Macron and Islam that might be predictive:
-"Paris main mosque says Macron election gives hope to French Muslims", reuters, May 7, 2017;
-Robert Spencer, "France chooses national suicide, elects Macron in landslide", jihadwatch, May 7, 2017.
Macron is a risk. No one knows how he'll lead France into the future. That's where today's cartoon comes in: it shows you what the future of France under Macron might look like:
dirogue in arutzsheva, May 7-8, 2017
The symbol on the Left represents Islam.
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