By Andrew L. Jaffee, June 3, 2004
Posted on 06/03/2004 1:00:03 PM PDT by stevejackson
| France Goes Vichy On Its Jews By Andrew L. Jaffee, June 3, 2004 |
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France, birthplace of Marcel Proust and Jean Jacques Rousseau, producer of great wines and cheeses, and now home to some of the worst anti-Semitism in the free world. Synagogues have been burned down. Jewish schools have been torched. Hundreds of attacks against Jews have occurred, perpetrated mainly by French citizens of North African origin (Arab Muslims). As of yet, the French government and most citizens have done little to stop this wave of anti-Semitism, most likely as a result of political correctness, realpolitik, anti-Israel sentiments, and old attitudes which unfortunately die hard.
The Consistoire de Paris has compiled a long list of anti-Jewish acts in France. So has the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), “the umbrella body representing the organized Jewish community in France.” Carole Raphaelle Davis, writing for The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, has been good enough to translate text describing some of these incidents into English:
A 14-year-old boy wearing a yarmulke came out of the Ourq metro station and was followed by two young men. They called him a "dirty Jew" and robbed him in front of a crowd of witnesses. The men knocked the boy down, beat him on the head and broke his nose. The boy begged for help from passers-by, who simply walked away.
In central Paris, a teacher from a Jewish school was beaten up by young men, who ripped the Star of David from the teacher’s neck and trampled her. They called her a "dirty Jew" and lit her hair on fire. They also told her, "We’re going to burn all you Jews."
A group of four young men interrupted a class in the auditorium of the University Medical School of Saint-Antoine in Paris. They yelled, "We’re going to kill all the Jews" and, "We’re armed and we’re going to take you all down."
When a Jewish student confronted the men they beat him and robbed him. The professor who was teaching the class said nothing and the men walked out without a care while the class looked on in silence. The dean of the University has been told of the situation but has not yet responded.
On the walls of the Rue Des Rosiers (in the Marais, the Jewish quarter), once again there are signs of the Star of David in yellow paint accompanied by the slogan, "And don’t forget the showers of Zyclon," referring to the gas used in Nazi death camps.
Also in Paris, a 12-year-old girl coming out of a Jewish school was attacked by two men. They beat her, held her down and slashed her face with a box cutter. They carved a swastika into her face and walked away. Her parents have filed a police report.
When Ms. Davis brings up Jew-hatred in France, she’s faced with denial and anger:
Even at my own dinner table, when I told a guest of my fears about living in Paris in such a climate of anti-Semitism, he insisted, "There is no anti-Semitism in France, don’t be ridiculous."
When I told him about everything I had read about the rising tide of anti-Jewish hatred, he told me I was being "influenced by the Jew lobby" and that whatever I was reading was "Jewish propaganda."
When I told him that among other papers, I was reading The New York Times, he said, "You know, The New York Times is a Jewish paper and Jews control all the media."
He said it with a smile, even knowing that I am a Jew. What made his comments especially chilling is that he is on the Catholic Board of Education of Paris.
French intellectuals, journalists, and politicians are trying their best to rationalize the heinous attitudes widely held in their country. They try to justify the violence against Jews in France. Instead of facing anti-Semitism head-on, they make apologies for the Arab/Muslim perpetrators. It is the “poverty, discrimination and oppression” of North African immigrants that drives them to anti-Jewish acts, these sophists say. Or it is?
Maybe there’s just a tad bit of realpolitik here. According to Haim Musicant, Director-General of CRIF,
I have to quote also the regrettable statements, exposed by a leading French daily, of a French academic and an advisor to the Socialist Party, Pascal Boniface, who made the Socialist leaders aware of Arithmetics 101: political decisions should be made according to simple accountancy rules, Arab votes outnumber Jewish votes by ten to one in France, explained Boniface.
And what kind of message are French government officials sending? Of course, there’s been lip-service paid to the situation, but is anything really being done? Remember what the French ambassador to Britain said in 2002?:
He called Israel a "shitty little country" and then asked, "Why should the world be in danger of World War III because of those people?"
Blame Israel for everything. That’s what the virulently anti-Israeli press is doing. And what is the French populace doing? According to the JTA, the French SOS Racisme organized a demonstration opposing anti-Semitism held on May 16 which “drew a paltry 10,000 marchers, according to police estimates.” This is in stark contrast to rallies in 1990 which garnered 400,000 demonstrators, and a march in 2002 which drew 100,000.
The French and Algerian soccer teams faced off in the World Cup several months ago. French citizens saw something they didn’t want to see:
However, when "La Marseillaise" - the French national anthem - was played, suddenly whistles and boos were heard. The high-ranking guests blanched. Throughout the game, the French fans from the North African countries whistled and booed every time the players of the French team touched the ball and sang songs to encourage the team from their native land. When the Algerians scored a goal, the immigrants cheered them.
And then came the moment that shook the French. In the 74th minute, immediately after the hosts scored their fourth goal, thousands of furious fans swarmed onto the field. They could not stand another defeat of Algeria by France, even if this was only in a friendly sporting context. Objects were thrown in the direction of the people in the VIP box and a beer bottle hit the minister of sport in the head. The children of immigrants, who were born in France, lay down on the grass wrapped in Algerian flags.
One would think that the French, known for their desire to preserve all things French, would have a least a modicum of interest in self-preservation. Apparently not.
Sadly, anti-Semitic sentiments are not unique to France. An Anti-Defamation League survey of Europeans showed that:
- 30% harbor traditional anti-Semitic stereotypes.
- 45% believe Jews are more loyal to Israel than their own country.
- 30% believe that Jews have too much power in the business world.
- 19% say Jews don't care about anyone but their own kind.
- 16% say Jews are more willing than others to use shady practices to get what they want.
- 39% of Europeans believe Jews still talk too much about the Holocaust.
This all is just French cowardice. They’re afraid of the hoards of Muslims that have flooded into their country. Instead of taking direct action to lay down the rule of law and make sure immigrants are assimilated with civilized values, they hide under their beds. They placate the angry hoards. They use political correctness to justify and/or hide their fears. And they turn back to the ages-old scapegoat, the Jews. If things keep going like they are in France, placation of Arab Muslims will accomplish nothing less than the destruction of everything the French hold dear.
This country, France, is allowing Islam to do to it over decades what the Nazis did (and were repulsed by force for) in just weeks.
France will fall because it is allowing itself to fall.
Excellent Comment.
Now, "If" we could get those in our Government's Leadership to undertsand this as well...we'd All be in better shape.
Les Scum.
France has, since 1940, always been Vichy..un pays de m*rde..
They always seem to support the very same things that almost killed them off in Nazi Germany - gun control, strong central governments, socialism, etc.
Instead, it is an attention problem, and it is more related to the mother, and there, to some extent for some individuals, it may be a "Jewish problem" more than for some other cultures, yet it is also a problem among other cultures; and we probably would find a few where they have a bigger problem with it.
It's going to vary. Some cultures are going to raise more attention-getters than other cultures.
The child who works overtime at getting attention, can make that their profession throughout the rest of their life, and going against the grain, is but one of many "platforms" upon which to stand for recognition "in the name of _____" (something else).
A friend of mine, daughter of Russian immigrants who are Jewish and psychologists (and a grandfather retired as a general from the Russian KGB), has in her case, much going against her. Clearly her parents love her, but their "pitchfork neuroses" --- the particular things about which they are anxious and constantly have worked her over with, in sharp contrast to their at other times not being there at all --- have bled her nearly to death on a couple occasions.
Then another friend, also Jewish, is just plain gorgeous and independent, and I have been very much in love with her yet powerless because she is getting married to another guy ... has a sibbling who cannot even bear to leave the home, that is, leave the mother's protection.
Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, their retinue, the A.C.L.U. attorneys and several more lawyers - and - their - stage - productions - before - the - bar ... are in it for the attention.
Bill Clinton especially, always has reminded me of some of the Clarence Darrows of the School Playground, that had an audience and learned very early to "stroke it." Girls were a bit more suceptible than boys. Some of such little lords of the social engagement, also managed to learn disdain or contempt for their audience, when discovering how easily manipulated they were and still are.
I do recall the parents of some, who fell for the political pitch; indeed, some parents were not only mezmerized, they were actually puffed up about it, "proud" of their kid's "progress" at being a leader of "socialization" (which term, there, is the modern rendition).
When I was a kid, your religion mattered not; in fact, there was a near reverence for your freedom to choose with which religion you would engage the Big Guy, if you chose a religion at all.
The only time religion came up, was when there was some surprise at how Catholics abandoned their principles and voted for Kennedy because he was a Catholic ... and their priests had "ordained" it, we were told.
While it never was an issue, how might Jews vote --- it was understood that they would vote for liberty, or so we were led to believe, given what they had been through. Since then, they, in general the "liberals" in America and also Jewish, are more holocaust deniers than those whom they have (usually quite correctly) accused, as evidenced by such Jews' submission to being owned by the Democrat Party Directorate that is more the headquarters of the needy (attention), than the needy (economic).
I think that David Horowitz might back me up on this one: the communist - and - Jewish - Americans are bitter about their being economically excluded, so to speak, from the --- to them --- obvious successes of their brethren, yet because they desire to be able to play the "Jewish race card" when it comes in handy, they blame everybody else for their economic misfortunes.
That does not mean that they are bad people or mean or they don't love their kids, but it does mean that they, as it is quite natural for almost anybody, will be frustrated at times, or for some, all their lives, at what they perceive to be the obstacles to the good fortune being kept beyond their reach by, again, their perceived obstacles (any alleged "the rich" or "the wealthy" or "special interests" will do).
That's not a "Jewish problem;" it's a human problem; while again, it may be more a "human problem" among Jews and other cultures than others.
I don't know the numbers, and actually, I don't worry about it, though I have wondered about it.
I tend to like people who have taken up the cause of liberty and will not give it up in the face of the power-lusting forces for un-limited government and such a government's agents. I have probably known more Jews like that, than not; if, I bothered to count them, but then again, I don't count them because I do not care about a person's race, creed, nor color.
I count them on the basis of their courage to stand up for liberty and its worthy foundations.
That, causes me to wonder why some Jews work so hard against liberty; they may be Jews by race, but not apparently by faith.
I am not sure that the Bible, the Old Testament, argues for living under a government by judiciary that is affected by those manipulating the public eye, in the name of satisfying the needs of the political moment, while actually doing so in pursuit of selfish enrichment, money, power, or both.
In American law, the system was set up to act slowly, so that time afforded deliberative opposition to short-term urges; but, that has frustrated the people who want what they want when they want it. So, they have been bending the rule of law, bending the laws, and generally promoting operations lost in extra-Constitutional space, to bring about for them, a judiciary that will respond to their more immediate demands.
They call it "progressive."
It is not progress; in fact, it is immature impatience and petulance, under the guise of various "liberal" law schools' agenda for socialist "change."
All that ignores the peril of, yet promotes the establishment of, un-limited government.
The only Jews that I have a problem with, are those who act effectively for the furtherance of such un-limited government and un-limited governance and un-limited governors and un-limited government agents --- the activities that evoke a correlation causing a person to state, that "socialism is a religion."
I do not think that we can create God on earth.
I do not think that we can replace God on earth.
I think that He very much has said some words to that effect.
Our task, when establishing government, is to limit government, so that it is always restrained from abuse of its power, because again, we cannot replace God on earth.
The leftist Jews think that they can, and they are trying, as usual, again, and so, history repeats itself, at the cost to many many people; but that, is not of much concern to the needy.
I think the essence of what you are saying is that many people have a psychological need for approval from outside their own person. Certainly, one's childhood - the way one is raised - has an important role in shaping one's self-worth or lack of it.
Those who are lacking in that regard tend to seek out and join groups where they can find the sense of worth in the eyes of others that is lacking in their own minds.
I don't imagine that Jewish children are raised much differently than any other children. But telling a child from birth that he/she is a member of a group and that group is "chosen" by God can't foster independent thinking. It fosters fatalism - the philosophy which tells one that whatever happens is predestined.
We see the fruits of a similar fatalistic view of life in the rise of Islamic fascism.
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