French Muslim Council Files Complaint over Alleged Israeli Surveillance

On Friday, the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) announced it will file a complaint over alleged Israeli-linked surveillance of Muslims in France, calling on authorities to investigate accusations that two individuals gathered data on Muslims in France and passed it on to Israeli intelligence.

The claims emerged in a video shared on social media, where pro-Israel French consultant Didier Long asserted that, since early 2023, he has been carrying out research for the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) and several Jewish organizations in France, in collaboration with Dov Maimon, a senior fellow at the Israeli think tank Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI), who is said to work with Israel on matters concerning Islam and the security of Jewish communities in Europe. 

Long said “we met with people from the DGSI [French domestic intelligence service], analysts, former superintendents from Seine-Saint-Denis [in the Paris region], chief superintendents, people from the DRM [Directorate of Military Intelligence], as well as local politicians, security experts, intellectuals, etc.” He allegedly claimed that the data they gathered was compiled into a report and delivered to Israeli intelligence services. 

CFCM Urges Investigation over Claims of Census Data Passed on to Israeli Intelligence

The allegations have sparked intense controversy and heightened serious concerns over possible violations of privacy and religious freedom. "On what grounds, and why, could information concerning French citizens have been commissioned, collected and transmitted to foreign intelligence services? Under what conditions could French civil servants, presented as having been solicited, have contributed to such an undertaking?" the CFCM asked.

According to the CFCM, Long and Maimon view Muslims in France as a “threat” to the Jewish community in the country. Meanwhile, the organization condemned Long and his associate for "seemingly equating French Muslims with a threat to French Jews and implying that their investigation into French Muslims aimed to assess 'this threat' by acting as 'watchdogs and analysts'."

"For its part, the CFCM will immediately refer the matter to the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL), the body responsible for protecting personal data – particularly sensitive data, in the CNIL’s own terms, which include ethnic and religious data and statistics," the French organization said.

The CFCM called on administrative bodies, especially the Interior Ministry, to conduct a comprehensive and transparent investigation into the allegations. It further urged all entities cited by Long, along with the police and intelligence services, to break their silence and provide prompt clarification and explanations.

"CFCM is also considering, with its legal advisers, the racialization of French society, conflation and generalizations have no place in the Republic," it said.

Portraying Muslims as an “Internal Enemy”

In the video, Long stated that he "sounded the alarm" after his survey concluded that the Muslim population in France is significantly larger than the commonly cited estimate of about 5 million. He said “We cross-checked, analyzed and conducted interviews on the ground: there are currently 10 million people who eat halal in France, and of those 10 million, 7 million are Muslim. Since 80 percent of Muslims eat halal, we have roughly 9 million Muslims in reality." 

Furthermore, Long and Maimon relied on Muslim first names to estimate that Muslims make up 15 percent of France’s population, or roughly 9 million individuals. “Taking into account population growth, this figure will climb to 20-25 percent Muslims in France by 2050. This is certainly not a ‘great replacement’ but it’s significant.”

Long, together with Maimon, co-authored the book “The End of the Jews of France?”, which warns that "if nothing is done, there will be no more Jews in France by 2050.” In their book, the authors wrote: "Of the 440,000 French Jews we have counted in France today, with specific local situations, approximately 150,000 are in danger." They further alleged that 150,000 Jews face danger due to direct interactions with Arab, Turkish, or Pakistani Muslims, adding that in numerous French towns, Jewish communities are “surrounded” by Muslims.

The Surge of Hostility toward France’s Muslim Communities

The report highlights growing concerns over double standards and discriminatory practices against Muslims in Western countries, especially when such actions are backed by foreign actors, including the Israeli government.

On Sunday, the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) announced that an intruder had broken into a mosque in Le Puy-en-Velay, in south-central France, where copies of the Quran were torn and discarded on the floor. The council stated that the incident left Muslims in France “deeply shocked and hurt.”

In a statement on social media, the CFCM condemned the incident as a “serious Islamophobic act” targeting a sacred text within a place of worship. The council warned that such attacks risk increasing amid a “toxic climate” fueled by biased surveys, stigmatizing reports, and proposals perceived as discriminatory toward Muslims.

The desecration of the mosque comes on the heels of another incident earlier this week at the Montreal-la-Cluse Cultural Center, linked to the Turkish-Muslim umbrella organization DITIB. A bullet was allegedly discovered in the center’s mailbox, which the association denounced as an effort to disrupt social harmony. DITIB condemned the attack on its association, saying it targeted the Turkish community in Montreal-la-Cluse and the practice of coexistence.

The incidents follow a November 18 survey conducted by the Ifop polling institute on “the relationship of Muslims in France with Islam and Islamism.” However, it faced backlash for reportedly breaching neutrality and promoting anti-Muslim sentiment.

The survey — which claims there is "a phenomenon of ‘re-Islamisation’ that particularly affects younger generations and is accompanied by a worrying increase in adherence to Islamist ideology"— was denounced for “violating the principle of objectivity” and relying on “biased questions” to inject “the poison of hatred in the public sphere”, leading multiple Muslim organizations to file complaints.

However, the survey has received extensive coverage in French media and political circles, especially among conservatives, who interpreted it as evidence of Muslims seeking to position themselves against the republic and its laws.

In November, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez seemed to respond to the poll, emphasizing "the urgent need to launch phase three of the government’s action against the entryism of radical Islam", noting the creation of new legislative tools to combat "political Islam", including a new offense of "undermining national cohesion".

Far-right politician Marion Maréchal Le Pen, niece of Marine Le Pen, invoked what she called “terrifying figures,” warning that France "will find itself facing hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of radical Muslims who will want to implement sharia law."

Islamophobia and the Rising Influence of Israel Lobby Industries

According to a report published by Le Monde last March, "The French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party and its allied parties in Europe, such as that of Geert Wilders (Party for Freedom) in the Netherlands or Viktor Orban (Fidesz) in Hungary, share Likud’s a vision of a West struggling against "a form of international subversion, Islamist and Arab nationalist, and a domestic subversion," said political scientist Jean-Yves Camus, a specialist in the far right and a connoisseur of Jewish institutions, adding: "For Tel Aviv, the main enemy is Islamism and the far left." The war Israel has been waging in Gaza has, therefore, been presented as a defense of "Judeo-Christian civilization."

Furthermore, an article published by Le Monde Diplomatique last September reveals that “the pro-Israel lobby in France is a similarly broad coalition, including established organizations such as the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), which is aligned with Likud; parliamentary friendship groups and the France-Israel Association; community media organizations such as Radio J; figures sincerely committed to defending, at any cost, a state they view as a safe haven for Jews; and a looser network of media and public figures engaged in a struggle against Islam, who see Israel as being in the vanguard of their cause. In times of crisis, this whole galaxy becomes Tel Aviv’s mouthpiece.”

Recent research indicates that French coverage of the Israeli-Gaza war primarily relied on quoting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or the Israeli military without critical scrutiny. Such statements frequently served as the sole basis for news segments, defended under the banner of “journalistic objectivity.” French media watchdogs such as Acrimed, Les Mots Sont Importants (LMSI), Arrêt sur Image, and Blast have highlighted the strongly pro-Israel framing prevalent across major outlets. It concluded that all major French media outlets significantly downplayed Palestinian suffering or overlooked critical elements of Israel’s campaign against the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza. 

According to an article published by Middle East Eye, “the French media saturated their coverage with known Israeli propagandists and government officials.” Several media outlets were still allowed to freely repeat Israel’s debunked claims, including fabricated stories without scrutiny.

The Rising Influence of Islamophobic Movements on Western Societies

Although this activity appears to be confined to French territory, its repercussions could affect the situation of Muslims across Europe. The use of surveillance tools to target a religious group stands in direct contradiction to democratic and human rights values.

In an interview with Misbar, sociology researcher Yassine Bouchouar noted that the historical structures that produce negative stereotypes associated with immigrants in the West have evolved through successive shifts—initially linking immigrants to economic, social, and security risks, and later, at certain points, using anti-Semitism as a means of shaping perceptions of “the other.”

“Islamophobia became the most prevalent framework with the rise of Muslims' political and cultural presence in the West and the proliferation of violent extremism associated with immigrants of Islamic background,” he said.

Based on a study titled “Countering the Islamophobia Industry: Toward More Effective Strategies”, the author noted that “the intent of the Islamophobia/Israel lobby industry is to create an immutable impression of Arab and Muslim (including Palestinian) societies that are static, forever stuck in social and cultural fixity, and are therefore an exception to other societies that are assumed to be dynamic and constantly undergoing social change. According to this framing, Arab and Muslim societies are not only seen as being inherently and exceptionally incapable of changing from within but they are further defined as risking to never undergo social change if left to their own devices.”

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