After riots broke out in several parts of France, U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both targeted immigrants and extreme Islamism. French President Emmanuel Macron subsequently criticized some foreign leaders for using the situation in France to promote their own elections.
On October 21 local time, during his visit to Qatar, Emmanuel Macron told reporters that after the French unrest, there was "foreign manipulation of information," as well as false content generated by AI. Some foreign leaders therefore made "inacceptable and stupid statements."
Macron did not directly mention Trump or Netanyahu, but when asked by reporters, he admitted that Trump was also one of the targets of his criticism.
On October 17th, protests took place in several areas of France, expressing dissatisfaction with high living costs, rising fuel prices, and deteriorating educational conditions. Serious riots occurred in some regions afterward.
Trump attributed the riots to immigration issues, claiming that the unrest in France was "not a problem of schools at all," but rather due to people who entered these countries and hated them.
Facing the upcoming mid-term elections in the United States, Trump also used the French unrest as an opportunity to attack the Democratic Party, warning American voters that if they supported the Democrats, the United States might face similar chaos.
Netanyahu also stated on the 20th that France is facing an "invasion by extreme Islamism".
"On this point, Macron refuted by saying: 'It is entirely false that we have been invaded by a 'mass migration and Islamic extremists'.”
He pointed out that there were some false images generated by artificial intelligence on the internet, showing scenes that never happened in France at all.
"When I saw some political leaders in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic who were holding elections, and sometimes even believed content generated by artificial intelligence and propagated it... They were using us as campaign tools." Macron criticized.
At this very moment, you can see who likes France and who doesn't. Macron said, "All those people now spreading negativity about us don't like our country."
