Rebiha Khebtani

"Mr. Prime Minister, my dear colleagues [she began], "a year ago, I was still a veiled woman. Today, I stand as the elected representative of a department with over one million Muslim French citizens and only 24,000 European French. Despite the views of our colleague Leenhardt, I consider myself as valuable as any other metropolitan deputy. I am proud to be in the French National Assembly, representing all those in the department of Sétif, a former rebel stronghold, who have firmly turned away from the past and chosen to build Algeria's future through France, with France, and within France."