Palestinian Islamic scholar Mraweh Nassar claimed in an interview with Turkish TV channel Qanat, and reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) in late October that there are three reasons behind France's "hostility" towards Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
Nassar, who is the Secretary-General of the Jerusalem Committee of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, explained that the first reason is "the fear of Islam spreading throughout Europe," as "scientific circles in the world predicted that "the number of Muslims in France has reached 10 million, and that France is slated to become an Islamic country in 2030."
"France and some other European countries have begun to fear that Islam is going to spread now. We can see that more than 350 mosques have been opened in what used to be churches," Nassar said.
"People are drawn to Islam's justice and logic. It is not a religion of terrorism, as they claim," he claimed.
However, he also added that "there are warnings even from some Arab countries, and the latest one was issued by one of the sheikhs at Al-Azhar University, who said that 50% of Muslims in Europe are terrorists."
"He is throwing around accusations just like that," continued Nassar.
"The second reason," he said, "is that they seek to distract the Muslims from the issues of normalization and the Deal of the Century" and Arab normalization with Israel, Nassar said.
"The third reason," he continued, "is that French President Emmanuel Macron is "promoting a Zionist agenda" because his wife is related to the Rothschild family - "the richest Jew."
"He is consumed by enmity," he said, speaking about Macron.
The row has its roots in a knife attack outside a French school on October 16 in which a man of Chechen origin beheaded Samuel Paty, a teacher who had shown pupils cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a lesson on freedom of speech.
The caricatures, first published by a satirical magazine whose Paris offices were attacked by gunmen killing 12 people in 2015, are considered blasphemous by many Muslims.