“We shared a waiting area with an Air France flight from Seattle to Paris last year- I was surprised at how many Arabic looking passengers boarded and that a few of their gate staff also appeared Arabic.”
Yes, France has a high population of Arabs, mostly Algerians. They have a huge Algerian community there, even though Algeria was once taken over by the french & Algeria went to war with them for its independence back in the 40’s, I think. If you recall, there were riots and burning of cars in France awhile back, and it was among that Algerian community in France where that was happening. I too flew Air France recently and had an Algerian flight attendant (Paris to Atlanta flight).
France also has a substantial Lebanese population. I worked with a french engineer from Lebanon who talked about being engaged to a Danish girl. Silly me, It never occurred to me that she was also a Muslim Lebanese.