His interview published in the "Haaretz" magazine in November 2005 in which he gave his opinion about the 2005 French riots stirred up much controversy. Finkielkraut's remarked that the France national football team was ""black, black, black, which causes sneers all over Europe"" (as opposed to the expression ""black-blanc-beur""—meaning "Black, White, Arab"—coined after the 1998 World Cup victory to honor the African and Afro Caribbean, European and North African origins of the players), adding that "if you point this out in France, you are thrown in jail." He also denounced African-American Muslims, claiming that there is an "Islamization of the blacks" happening in both America and France.