France boycott elicits retaliatory response from French National Assembly leader Marine Le Pen.

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right France’s National Assembly political group, took to Twitter to attack a recent boycott movement in Qatar that was sparked by offensive comments by French President Emmanuel Macron.

“Since #Qatar suspended the French cultural week at its university, why are we waiting to suspend the ultra favourable tax treaties of France vis-à-vis the Qataris?

“Let’s make France respect and respond to this unworthy intimidation and retaliation,” the fascist leader said in a tweet on Monday.

The treaty between France and Qatar allows state-owned entities from the Gulf state to avoid capital gains tax on profits made in French property sales.

It is also eligible to private Qatari investors that boast “property in an investment vehicle that also has 20 percent in non-property assets”, according to CNBC.

Le Pen is the president of the far-right National Rally political party in France, which has been tied to the United Arab Emirates in recent years.

Abu Dhabi acted as the ‘middleman’ in an 8-million euro loan to Le Pen from a french businessman which helped save the NF from bankruptcy.

Le Pen also called for France to break ties with Qatar in 2014, three years before the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt cut relations with Doha and imposed an illegal land, air and sea blockade.

“France needs to cut off its links with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which have helped, supported and funded Islamic fundamentalists across the world,” she told France 24 in September 2014.

Her remarks on Monday came after Qatar University postponed French cultural week events amid a nationwide movement calling for the boycott of French products.

Read also: The bumbling Macron and delusions of ‘grandeur’ France

The move comes amid rising tension between France and the Muslim world after the killing of a teacher who showed his class caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, leading to global uproar.

French authorities responded with a large-scale crackdown on Islamic entities in the country, raiding more than 50 mosques and associations.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron triggered backlash after suggesting Islam is a religion “in crisis” worldwide.

The French magazine at the centre of the cartoon controversy, Charlie Hebdo republished the offensive caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and Macron affirmed his country would “not give up cartoons.” He has also refused to condemn the magazine’s decision, vowing measures against what he called “Islamic separatism.”

The decision to republish the images was seen by many as a renewed provocation after several similar incidents. One of the cartoons, which was first published by a Danish newspaper in 2005 and then by Charlie Hebdo a year later, showed Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban.

As a response, Muslims around the world launched a virtual campaign to condemn France’s Islamophobia, calling for a boycott of French products.

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