Jews, like many, want to live in peace. No one wants to be terrorized (oops!) in the place that they have been born and raised. le Worm is pathetic.
Posted on 07/19/2004 5:27:04 AM PDT by Pikamax
France angered by Sharon's call
Jewish monuments and graves have been attacked Government officials and Jewish leaders in France have criticised Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for calling on all French Jews to move to Israel. Mr Sharon said moving was a "must" because of a rising number of anti-Semitic attacks in France.
France's foreign ministry said it had asked Israel for an explanation of the "unacceptable comments".
On Monday, an Israeli spokesman tried to play down the comments, saying Mr Sharon had been misunderstood.
Avi Pazner told French Radio Europe 1 that Mr Sharon's comments to the American Jewish Association in Jerusalem had been badly reported.
"He concluded that French Jews, but also those of the entire world, belong in Israel," he said.
'Scandalised'
French politicians have been outraged by the comments.
The president of the national assembly, Jean-Louis Debre, said Mr Sharon "missed a good opportunity to keep quiet".
We think we have reason to worry now in France but we don't have to move to Israel
Gabriel Farhi, French rabbi "These words are inadmissible, unacceptable and, furthermore, irresponsible," he told Europe 1 radio.
Jacques Myard, a member of France's foreign affairs committee, said Mr Sharon appeared to be trying to divert attention from his own problems in Israel.
"I am really scandalised by this call," he said.
French Jews have also found Mr Sharon's comments unhelpful.
French rabbi Gabriel Farhi said he was surprised.
He said he thought Mr Sharon must have been expressing his personal feelings.
"It is definitely not the feeling of the Israeli state and definitely not that of the French Jewish community," he told BBC Radio Four's Today programme.
"We think we have reason to worry now in France but we don't have to move to Israel. We don't feel it is a must."
France has suffered a wave of anti-Semitic attacks coinciding with renewed fighting in the Middle East.
The latest French government figures show 510 anti-Jewish acts or threats in the first six months of 2004 - compared with 593 for all of last year.
In recent years there have been bomb attacks against a number of synagogues and Jewish schools in France.
Jewish tombs have also been desecrated.
Blunt
Mr Sharon acknowledged that the Paris government had made efforts to tackle the problem but still said his advice to French Jews was that moving to Israel was "a must and they have to move immediately".
Correspondents say this is not the first time that Mr Sharon has spoken about the need for French Jews to leave for Israel, but rarely has he been so blunt.
They say there is irritation in France at the idea that life for Jews there is becoming dangerous - especially as the government has made every effort to show that anti-Jewish acts will be severely punished.
A week ago President Jacques Chirac rushed to condemn an apparently anti-Semitic attack on a Paris train that turned out to be a hoax.
His haste only aggravated passions among many in the Muslim community who feel they are the instant scapegoats, observers say.
So what will France do about it? Look for someone to surrender to?
I know if I were Jewish I'd leave France.Hopefully I would'nt be there in the first place.
What's so outrageous here?
Chirac knows he doesn't want Jews in France anyway, so it would seem that if they actually did all pick up and leave, everybody wins.
Chirac can then be alone with the burgeoning population of radical muslims from North Africa, which are conquering France and which he is so eager to please.
Ping
Islamic control of French government may not happen in my lifetime if I were a Jew, but it WILL happen. Certainly my Jewish children or grandchildren would be discriminated against or hunted down.
Leni
Revise your History books, then...
Oh yes, I'm sure there are more anti-Jewish bombings in France than there is in Israel, I mean every week there's a terrorist bombs going off in a theater or a restaurant here and...er...oops, wrong numbers.
There's only one place for French Jews: New York City. We get the benefit of their great food and their great educations. Just think of the brain drain from France! Let the Muslims run the French hospitals and science centers!
A French Poem
Eleven thousand soldiers
lay beneath the dirt and stone,
all buried on a distant land
so far away from home.
For just a strip of dismal beach
they paid a hero's price,
to save a foreign nation
they all made the sacrifice.
And now the shores of Normandy
are lined with blocks of white:
Americans who didn't turn
from someone else's plight.
Eleven thousand reasons
for the French to take our side,
but in the moment of our need,
they chose to run and hide.
Chirac said every war means loss,
perhaps for France that's true,
for they've lost every battle
since the days of Waterloo.
Without a soldier worth a damn
to be found within the region,
the French became the only land
to need a Foreign Legion.
You French all say we're arrogant.
Well hell, we've earned the right--
We saved your sorry nation
when you lacked the guts to fight.
But now you've made a big mistake,
and one that you'll regret;
you took sides with our enemies,
and that we won't forget.
It wasn't just our citizens
you spit on when you turned,
but every one of yours
who fell the day the towers burned.
You spit upon our soldiers,
on our pilots and Marines,
and now you'll get a little sense
of just what payback means.
So keep your Paris fashions
and your wine and your champagne,
and find some other market
that will buy your airplanes.
And try to find somebody else
to wear your French cologne,
for you're about to find out
what it means to stand alone.
You see, you need us far more
than we ever needed you.
America has better friends
who know how to be true.
I'd rather stand with warriors
who have the will and might,
than huddle in the dark
with those whose only flag is white.
I'll take the Brits, the Aussies,
the Israelis and the rest,
for when it comes to valor
we have seen that they're the best.
We'll count on one another
as we face a moment dire,
while you sit on the sideline
with a sign, "friendship for hire."
We'll win this war without you
and we'll total up the cost,
and take it from your foreign aid,
and then you'll feel the loss.
And when your nation starts to fall,
well Frenchie, you can spare us,
just call the Germans for a hand,
they know the way to Paris.
Jews, like many, want to live in peace. No one wants to be terrorized (oops!) in the place that they have been born and raised. le Worm is pathetic.
Very nice.
A French diplomat called Israel that "shitty little country". What goes around, comes around!
I'd be pissed too. If the Jews leave, then the French would be reduced to scapegoating the Muslims--and that would cause REAL trouble.
His haste only aggravated passions among many in the Muslim community who feel they are the instant scapegoats, observers say.
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