While he has not apologized for what he said (see: https://www.euro-islam.info/2009/09/11/france%e2%80%99s-interior-minister-accused-of-derogatory-comment-to-arab-man/), the French minister of the interior Brice Hortefeux explained at a breaking of fast with the CFCM (the French Council of the Muslim Faith or the Conseil français du culte musulman) that he regrets the unfair polemic that ensued following his comments last week. He noted that “Islamophobia cannot be accepted in our country” and that the French Republic must be “more than ever, a school of tolerance and dignity. It’s a daily combat that I will take up.”
Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the CFCM commented that Hortefeux is “an interlocuteur who has always been respectful of our community.”
