French Jews Asking Again — Are We Safe?

Jewish Life ^ | 3-3-2006 | Gabrielle Birkner

[I am for Bush]

New York’s French Consul General Francois Delattre attempted to reassure American Jewish leaders Tuesday that France was committed to eradicating the “black shadow of anti-Semitism,” in the wake of the shocking murder of a young French Jew who was abducted for ransom.

“You can trust my government, you can trust my authorities, you can trust my country” to aggressively combat anti-Semitism, Delattre told Jewish communal professionals and lay leaders, who met in New York to show solidarity with their French counterparts.

Despite such assurances, the kidnapping and murder of 23-year-old Ilan Halimi has jolted France’s already uneasy Jewish community — still reeling from the wave of anti-Semitic attacks that coincided with the second intifada — and reignited the debate over whether or not France is a safe place for its 600,000 Jews.

Halimi, a cell phone salesman, had very modest means but his kidnappers assumed he was wealthy because he was Jewish, according to French police.

“Whenever there is an anti-Semitic act, we ask the same questions: Are we secure in France? Is the government protecting us? Are the police protecting us?” Benjamin Abtan, president of France’s powerful Jewish student union, UEJF, told The Jewish Week by phone from Paris.

[joylyn]

A woman I know is a French Jew who has lived in this country for many years. She works in the fashion industry and until recently traveled to France regularly for business and family reasons. About five years ago, she decided that she no longer felt safe there. She now says she will never go back.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I just wish they'd listen to us. The US could easily absorb 600,000 people, especially educated ones. With Olmert in charge, I couldn't recommend immigrating to Israel right now.

The French Jews really need to take a good look at their situation. Defiance in the face of evil is all good, but if you're dead, what's the point?

[TheSpottedOwl]

Lol, great graphic : )

[Kelly_2000]

"The French are in a category all in their own. They're supposed to be Catholic, but they spit on the Bible. "

Only if they are "french " muslims

[OldFriend]

I believe I read that in 2005 more jewish people emigrated to Israel than ever before......since after the war of course.

[Kelly_2000]

For balance it was not all of France that capitulated you refer to the Vichy government. My late grandfather was a member of the maquis his cell collaborated with the British SOE to rescue fighter pilots shot down over Nazi occupied France.

My Great Aunt was killed by the nazis during the war. To label all French in this way is not very real to the truth.

[Gritty]

The French Jews are about as safe as the Muslim Algerians who supported them during the Algerian War...

Algeria War 1954-1962 ... Not even paper protection, however, was given to 250000 Muslim officials, many of a very humble kind, who had continued to serve France faithfully to the end. De Gaulle was too busy saving France by extricating itself from the horror, to give them a thought. When a Muslim deputy, 10 of whose family had already been murdered by the FLN, told de Gaulle that, with self-determination, "we shall suffer", he replied coldly: "Eh, bien - vous suffrirez" (So good - you shall suffer). They did. Only 15000 had the money and means to get out. The rest were shot without trial, used as human mine detectors to clear the minefields along the Tunisian border, tortured, made to dig their own tombs and swallow their military decorations before being killed; some were burned alive, castrated, dragged behind trucks, fed to the dogs; there were cases where entire families including tiny children were murdered together. The French army units that remained, their former comrades in arms, stood by, horrified and powerless, for under the Agreements they had no right to interfer. French soldiers were actually employed to disarm the Muslim harkis, telling them they wouldbe issued with more modern weapons, although in fact they were about to be slaughtered. It was a crime of betrayal comparable to the British handing over Russian POWs to Stalin's wrath; worse, indeed. Estimates of the number put to death vary from 30000 to 150000....

[small voice in the wilderness]

You're in France. They only thing France cares about protecting is it's wine and chickens. And BOTH are near death. You've got a handwringing president who has never found himself on the right side of any issue, yet continually strives to remain on the road to ruin. Learning from history knows no quarter. And common sense has no takers.

What do YOU think?

[Convert from ECUSA]

My pictoral way of cheering someone when they're right on!

[cookcounty]

" “This was not a race or religious issue, it was purely a thuggish element bordering on criminality."

Criminy! Torturing a kid for a month and killing him is "bordering on criminality?"

...Get out while the gettin's good. Need a sponsor? call me. Allez! Vite!

[ariamne]

My sister married a frenchman, and his parents invited our parents for a visit in the south of france. Our father is not jewish, our mother is, and we were not raised with any sense of who we were, so our jewishness was always kind of an afterthought. The french in-laws made a reservation for my parents at a bed and breakfast type place under my father's name (Hart). When my parents arrived, the consierge took a close look at my mother and told my sister (who was the only one who spoke french fluently)that while my father could stay, "the jewess" had to leave, that "her kind" were not welcome.

This was quite an eye opener for us. My sister goes to france every year to visit her in-laws, and though in appearance we take after our father, I fear for her. Being American is also not safe.

[DTA]

Marcel Bloch, genius aviation pioneer, constructor of French warplanes and resistance fighter was arrested by Gestapo in 1944 and sent to concentration camp. Although he was the most prominent figure, there were no backchannels to free him, like other prominent Frenchmen who happened to be Roman Catholics. In 1949 he changed his Jewish surname to Dassault. Once when commented that there was no need to change Jewish name in democratic France, he quipped to the effect of the words "I learned too well who the Frenchmen really are".

This lesson was lost on many.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I'm talking about French "Christians", not French Muslims.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I said the Vichy government, not every French citizen. I'm very well aware of the Resistance, and the heroic sacrifices made by French patriots. Your grandpa was one of the good ones.

One of the things my dad mentioned was seeing a young woman crucified on the side of a barn. It wasn't the Germans who did it.

My apologies if you thought I was tarring every single French person with the same brush. Your aunt and grandpa showed an enormous amount of courage, as well as all the members of the Resistance.

[TheSpottedOwl]

When a Muslim deputy, 10 of whose family had already been murdered by the FLN, told de Gaulle that, with self-determination, "we shall suffer", he replied coldly: "Eh, bien - vous suffrirez" (So good - you shall suffer).

OMG, that is so wrong. This just goes to prove that I'll never know it all, because I never heard of this. Disgusting!

[TheSpottedOwl]

"The jewess"?? When did this happen? I haven't heard that type of terminology in eons, and they were usually books or old movies about WWII. It must be hard for your sister. Being Jewish and American is not good when you are a tourist in Europe.

I remember wanting to visit Ireland. I gave that up after 9/11. Even if I had the money, no way would I go to a foreign country.

[antceecee]

"French Jews Asking Again — Are We Safe?"

Uhhh...non,non et non! Comprenez-vous?

[ariamne]

Believe it or not, this happened in 1999. My sister tells me she found anti-semitism not uncommon among older French people who live in small towns (this was outside of Maignon--not sure how to spell it; my sister's father in law was the Mayor of Maignon); but it was her first time experiencing this kind of prejudice, because she and I are blonde and blue-eyed, and do not resemble our mother, whose appearance is characteristic of the Ashkenazi Jew.

While we found this incident annoying and hurtful for Mom, it certainly did not carry with it the physical threat of the virulent anti-semitism of the muslims in France.

I don't blame you for not being eager to travel after 9/11; I feel the same way. Europe is not safe for Americans anymore, and Europe is probably safer than Asia, etc. It's a shame, because as children we traveled all over the world, but I must deny that experience to my own daughter, lest she end up like poor Ilian Hashimi. She can have plenty of interesting travel experiences right here in the USA. And I don't care if that sounds jingoistic! Cheers, Ari

[Gritty]

OMG, that is so wrong.

The treachery of the French is hard to comprehend.

[M. Espinola]

On the verge of Vichy II.