Belhouari Bouziane Writes: Crossfire Against Algeria as Retailleau Reactivates His Token Flatterers

✍️ BY: Belhouari Bouziane – University of Oran

Translated By: Dr. Hana Saada

In a Renewed Media Offensive, French Right-Wing Figures and Expatriate Journalists Intensify Hostile Rhetoric Against Algeria, Relying on Misinformation, Defamation, and Ideological Alliances to Undermine National Stability and Target State Officials

Algiers, Algeria | May 14th, 2025 — Lies, fake news, insults, and even outrage are clearly no longer the exclusive preserve of electronic media and social media activists—the new self-proclaimed tribunes of digital platforms. No, a certain press, cloaked in the tattered remnants of France’s traditional print media legacy, has now plunged its hands into this festering mire.

This time, it is expatriate journalists who have lent their ink to the “slanderers” of everything Algeria represents—borrowing the expression of Farid Alilat, a former scribbler at the now-defunct daily Le Matin, indebted to Mohamed Benchicou for his career—who in his latest tirade attacks his own country and the Minister of Communication, Dr. Mohamed Meziane.

Bruno Retailleau, who has made Algeria his sole political program, could not have dreamt of anything better. Farid Alilat, whose path has often strayed into the lanes of controversy, has now distinguished himself by offering his services to this far-right acolyte, going so far as to heap lie upon lie to prove his loyalty to the nostalgics of “French Algeria.”

On his Facebook page, Alilat accompanied his snippet—published by Le Point—in which he expresses concern over the future of the French language in Algeria, with a comment that indirectly targets the Minister of Communication, Dr. Mohamed Meziane, based on the purported confession of a French diplomat. He did not even bother to verify this information, despite claiming to be a professional and independent journalist.

According to this confession—which, curiously, had never previously been made public—“Algerian officials conditioned the opening of a second French high school within this institution of excellence.” Based on this claim, Farid Alilat, for several years a contributor to the weekly Jeune Afrique—a publication known for its adversarial stance toward Algeria and its financial dependence on the Makhzen—proceeds to implicate the Minister of Communication by propagating two outrageous lies.

First, he falsely—and perhaps even deliberately so—asserts that the minister, whose name he carefully avoids mentioning, “spends part of his time attacking France”! This is a purely fanciful claim, unsupported by any statement from the minister. On the contrary, the Minister never misses an opportunity to affirm that Algeria harbors no animosity toward the French people, to whom it shows sincere and deep respect, and no hostility toward the French Republic, whose universality and grandeur of values it acknowledges.

To claim, however, that the Minister of Communication does not shy away from denouncing proponents of an outdated chimera—the colonialist policies of France—is not only perfectly justified but also easily verifiable.

Once again, Alilat resorts to a shameless lie—already formally denied by Hayat TV, whose logo was nevertheless used on Facebook to lend credibility to an entirely fabricated piece of information—according to which “the minister has children enrolled at a prestigious university in Paris.”

Here again, Alilat demonstrates glaring amateurism, hiding behind his allegations a clear intention to harm. No details are provided about this university, not even the number of children allegedly enrolled.

It is common knowledge—undeniable even—that the children of Minister Mohamed Meziane have never benefited in any way from France. This simple fact starkly exposes the hollowness of the writings of this journalist, consumed by bitterness and self-contempt. Blinded by his own resentment, he surrenders without resistance into the welcoming arms of Retailleau and the rancid ideologies of a hateful far-right.

Moreover, Alilat was behind a fallacious story bordering on disinformation, regarding the delivery of an Algerian donation of 30,000 tons of high-quality fuel to Lebanon to help mitigate the electricity crisis it faced last August. His dismissal, disguised as a resignation from Jeune Afrique, was in fact due to this very incident of disinformation.

Farid Alilat chose his side long ago. His writings have already made this clear, particularly through his sporadic collaborations with Le Point—another outlet known for its editorial line that is overtly hostile to Algeria—and Jeune Afrique, a publication that acts as a mouthpiece for the neo-colonial policies of the former colonial power, and which is financially sustained by the Alaouite monarchy.

Another controversial figure, Mohamed Sifaoui—an equally contentious actor in the so-called fight against terrorism and a journalist cut from the same cloth as Kamel Daoud and Farid Alilat—well known for his murky affiliations with the intelligence services of the country that hosts him, has also joined the media campaign orchestrated from within the French Republic against his own homeland. A campaign which, visibly, is running out of steam, faltering, and struggling to conceal the signs of a looming decline.

True to form, he has unleashed a diatribe of rare violence against the President of the Republic and the Algerian intelligence services, disguised as an investigation in the May 11, 2025 issue of Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD). But should we really be surprised? Sifaoui long ago exchanged truth for opportunism by joining the Parisian circle of mercenaries of the pen.

It is hardly surprising that these writings emerged simultaneously with another article published by L’Express, penned by a journalist little known in Algeria, one Charlotte Lalanne. Carried away by poorly contained zeal, she viciously attacked another Algerian official—retired for the past 10 years—assaulting him with her pen as if firing cannonballs at an unarmed and defenseless man.

These writings, identical in essence, resemble a coordinated backlash with a clear agenda, answering to the same editorial master, and thereby validating the need for a truly “editorial front” in Algeria. A front capable of countering this “gnostic” war aimed at destabilizing the country. We are now witnessing the production of overtly malicious and belligerent content across various media outlets, even enlisting publishing houses—as was recently the case with Kamel Daoud and Boualem Sansal, two novelists lacking any recognized literary merit, who have eagerly enlisted in the service of Algeria’s enemies.

It is now imperative that our country takes decisive action to counter this campaign. The media front advocated by the Minister of Communication must evolve into a genuine editorial front, incorporating a literary production that draws from the spirit of resistance—the same spirit that forms the foundation of so many respected Algerian novelists and poets, whose mere mention commands reverence.

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