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Muslim Woman’s Acclaimed Performance on Competition Marred by Controversial Posts on Terror

A hijab-wearing Muslim woman who impressed the judges on France’s version of The Voice with her renditions of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” has come under fire for pro-terror comments she had made on Facebook, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported Wednesday.

A furor erupted when it was discovered that Mennel Ibtissem, who had been considered the favorite on the reality television show for her Arabic and French renditions of “Hallelujah,” wrote after the killing of a French priest in 2016, “the real terrorist[s] are our government.”

A few weeks later, after a terror attack in Nice left 86 people dead, Ibtissen wrote on Facebook, “It’s becoming a routine: An attack each week!! And sure enough, the ‘terrorist’ takes with him his identity CARD. Of course, when planning a dirty you always take papers! #DontTakeUsForFools.”

In other remarks, she dismissed France in insulting terms and wrote that she is “sick of the French system” and that she’s “eager to get the hell out of here.”

“Wearing a veil does not make one a saint, modesty needs no veil, beauty needs no pretty face to shine, external beauty does not mean internal one. Never rely on appearances, they’re deceiving,” a feminist critic, Henda Ayari, who had grown up in a Muslim family said. Ayari said that the French media were too anxious to accept a symbol of tolerance without doing the necessary  checking.

Last month, the cosmetics firm L’Oreal, dropped a French Muslim woman it had hired as a model after it was discovered that she had called Israel  “illegal and sinister state” and a “child-murderer.”

Another apparent example of co-existence, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, last month refused an award from Revlon, because the cosmetics giant had hired Israeli actress Gal Gadot as its brand ambassador.  Al-Khatahtbeh also has embraced the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign that seeks to isolate Israel.

[Photo: The Voice : la plus belle voix / YouTube]