Replies

"The anti-semitism in France is unjust, excessive and inappropriate."

And nobody argues with that in France.

For all its faults, Chriac's record on antisemitism seems pretty clean to me. He was the first President who felt compelled to present excuses to the French Jewish community for the collaboration of certain authorities during WW2. Not even François Mitterrand, who had some Resistance credentials to show for it, did that. And I thinks it's Chirac who decided to have a special day of remembrance for the Holocaust victims. That Chirac can act as a complete idiot on other matters is an entirely different thing.

As for PM Sharon's declaration, I'd just like to point out it has not done well with the French Jewish organizations, who hardly are suspect of antisemitism. All of them expressed their dismay at having a foreign leader saying that the French Jews had to emigrate, and dictating them their conduct. It was, all in all, a very awkward declaration.