The new Cabinet of the recently elected French President Francois Hollande contains three Muslims, all of North African heritage.
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem has been appointed Minister for Women’s Rights. Born in 1977 in Bni Chiker, a village near Nador, Morocco, she migrated to France in 1982 with her mother and elder sister Fatiha to re-join her father, a French building worker, and grew up in Amiens.
She admits that she does not practise Islam or wear hijab. Nevertheless, the Israel lobby has criticised her for not supporting former president Nicholas Sarkozy’s ban on the niqab or burka.
Hollande is also against the niqab or burka in France.
The parents of Yamina Benguigui migrated to France from Algeria in the early 1950s and Yamina was born in Lille. She is a Junior Minister for French Nationals Abroad. She is a well-known director of films, especially on gender issues in the North African immigrant community in France.
She is married to a French-Algerian Jew.
Kader Arif was born in 1959 in Algiers. He has been appointed Junior Minister for Veterans. He is also a member of the European Parliament and has been vocal in blaming Israel for French foreign affairs problems.
Source: Mt Albert Islamic Trust, Auckland
The picture shows the new French Cabinet led by President Francois Hollande (front row, extreme right), with those circled from the Muslim Community. Among them are Yamina Benguigui (top row), Najat Vallaud-Belkacem (middle row), and Kader Arif (inset).
