Senate Report Prevents Brotherhood Supporters from Entering France

FILE PHOTO: Minister Gerald Darmanin attends a news conference in Paris, France, February 4, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
FILE PHOTO: Minister Gerald Darmanin attends a news conference in Paris, France, February 4, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
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Senate Report Prevents Brotherhood Supporters from Entering France

FILE PHOTO: Minister Gerald Darmanin attends a news conference in Paris, France, February 4, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
FILE PHOTO: Minister Gerald Darmanin attends a news conference in Paris, France, February 4, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Few know that Gerald Darmanin, France’s new interior minister, has Arab origins. His full name is Gerald Moussa Darmanin. His maternal grandfather, Moussa, was a sergeant in the 13th Algerian snipers’ squad that helped liberate France from German occupation.

His father, Gerard, hails from a Jewish family from Malta and his grandfather immigrated to France and settled in Valenciennes, where the minister was born in 1982.

Given his background, it is evident that Darmanin would be concerned with immigration and religion. As a Minister of Interior, he is also responsible for matters of worship. He touched on the topic of Islam, specifically political Islam and the concept of “separatism” in his first official statement after his appointment to his post.

Darmanin previously declared that the state should make no compromise over separatism and “fight with all its forces political Islam targeting the republic,” including its values and laws.

French President Emmanuel Macron was the first to talk about separatism and the state’s duty to combat it.

The Interior Minister again took up the issue when answering the questions of Senate members on Wednesday, saying that political Islam was “the deadly enemy of the republic and therefore all forms of sectarian introversion must be fought.”

What he meant was the Muslim Brotherhood. Darmanin did not hesitate to recall his “family legacy” to glorify what he calls “integration” in French society, which is the fundamental opposite of “sectarian and social introversion” concept and what the authorities consider the separatist project of political Islam.

A report issued on Thursday by a special Senate committee put the issue of political Islam at the forefront of concerns.

The report was prepared by a commission of inquiry established in November 2019 and was based on seventy interviews with officials, politicians, intellectuals, academics, and members of active civil society associations.

It considered Islamic extremism as a “tangible reality” in many neighborhoods, “seeking today to lay hands on Islam in France.”

According to the authors of the report, “all French territories are concerned with this phenomenon except for the west of the country”. “It is necessary to act today before it’s too late,” they warned.

The report stresses that extremists seek to achieve “separatism in a number of cities”, which means in practice, “denying the values of the republic, such as freedom of religion and belief, equality between men and women, and mixing of the genders.”

For years, right parties have been accusing the Ministry of the Interior and security services of avoiding entering suburban neighborhoods in major cities to avoid confrontations with youth groups who consider themselves “marginalized”.

Despite the different plans launched with successive governments, the dilemma has not been solved, but has become more explosive, increasing the dissociation with these neighborhoods.

The report puts forward 44 measures that target the economic, educational, social and cultural fields.

It also calls for preventing the Muslim Brotherhood advocates from entering France and fighting the extremist presence within the framework of state institutions, public and private schools, as well as cultural and sports clubs.

The report urges the government to strengthen the monitoring through its security services and to educate and qualify local employees as well as members of local councils such as municipalities and others.

This report is not the first of its kind and will not be the last. In a speech in February, Macron stated that France would gradually “abandon” the practice of inviting imams from abroad, but would strengthen instead the training of imams locally.

However, at the same time, he warned against confusing the Islamic religion with extremism, stressing that the measures should not be directed against Muslims but rather against extremist Islamists, adding that Islam has its place in the country alongside other religions.



Texas Flood Toll Rises to 24 as Rescuers Search for Missing Children

Members of Task Force 1 deploy boats along the Guadalupe River in the wake of a destructive flooding event in Kerrville on Friday July 4, 2025. (Christopher Lee/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
Members of Task Force 1 deploy boats along the Guadalupe River in the wake of a destructive flooding event in Kerrville on Friday July 4, 2025. (Christopher Lee/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
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Texas Flood Toll Rises to 24 as Rescuers Search for Missing Children

Members of Task Force 1 deploy boats along the Guadalupe River in the wake of a destructive flooding event in Kerrville on Friday July 4, 2025. (Christopher Lee/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
Members of Task Force 1 deploy boats along the Guadalupe River in the wake of a destructive flooding event in Kerrville on Friday July 4, 2025. (Christopher Lee/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)

Rescuers were desperately searching for at least 20 girls missing from a riverside summer camp, officials said Friday, after torrential rains caused a "catastrophic" flash flood that killed at least 24 people as it swept through south-central Texas.

"At this point we're at about 24 fatalities," Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha told an evening press conference as rescue teams scrambled to locate stranded residents in the region northwest of San Antonio, reported AFP.

Some of the dead were children, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said at a previous news conference.

The county sheriff said there were "kids that are still missing", adding that between 23 and 25 people were unaccounted for.

Lieutenant Governor Patrick previously said "about 23" girls attending a summer camp in the flooded Kerr County were missing.

They were part of a group of around 750 children at Camp Mystic, a girls summer camp along the banks of the Guadalupe River which rose 26 feet (eight meters) in 45 minutes with heavy rainfall overnight.

"That does not mean they've been lost, they could be in a tree, they could be out of communication," he said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he was signing a "disaster declaration" to boost resources in counties in the region.

"It's terrible, the floods," US President Donald Trump told reporters Friday night. "It's shocking."

Asked if Texas would receive federal aid, he said: "Oh yeah, sure, we'll take care of it. We're working with the governor."

- Rescue efforts -

A massive rescue operation was underway in the region, with around 500 personnel and 14 helicopters helping in the search for survivors.

Texas military official Major General Thomas Suelzer told reporters at least 237 people had been rescued or evacuated by emergency personnel, with 167 rescues performed using helicopters.

Freeman Martin, director of the state's public safety department, told the evening conference: "We had a hard time getting in this morning with the weather the way it was."

"As the day went on, it picked up and we were able to rescue more and recover more, that will continue tomorrow," Martin said, calling the disaster a "mass casualty event."

US media reported that trucks had arrived at Camp Mystic to transport stranded people.

State and local officials warned against residents traveling to the area which includes camp grounds dotted along the river, with dozens of roads "impassable."

Videos on social media showed houses and trees swept away by the flash flood caused by heavy overnight rain of up to 12 inches -- one-third of Kerr County's average annual rainfall.

Governor Abbott shared a video on X of a victim being plucked from the top of a tree by a rescuer dangling from a helicopter, as floodwaters raged below.

"Air rescue missions like this are being done around the clock. We will not stop until everyone is accounted for," he said.

The Texas National Guard sent rescue teams and the US Coast Guard joined efforts as well.

- 'Another wave' -

Public safety official Martin warned of "another wave" that could impact other counties in the state, adding that "this is not going to end today".

Kerr County officials have repeatedly said they were unaware of an impending flood overnight from Thursday to Friday.

"We didn't know this flood was coming," Kerr County judge Rob Kelly said earlier on Friday, adding that the region has "floods all the time."

"This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States," he added, referring to the Guadalupe River.

Soila Reyna, 55, a Kerrville resident who works at a local church helping people who lost their belongings, witnessed the devastation unfold.

"It has been years since we had a flood, but nothing like this," Reyna said.

"Nothing like as catastrophic as this, where it involved children, people and just the loss of people's houses and you know, it's just crazy," she added.

Forecasters issued a flood warning for Kerr County, urging those living near the river to "move to higher ground."

Flash floods, which occur when the ground is unable to absorb torrential rainfall, are not unusual.

But scientists say in recent years human-driven climate change has made extreme weather events like floods, droughts and heatwaves more frequent and intense.

In mid-June, at least 10 people were killed by flash flooding in San Antonio following torrential rains.

In the northeastern state of New Jersey, at least two people were killed when a tree fell on their vehicle during a "severe storm," local police confirmed on Friday.