Posted on 12/20/2001 8:16:13 AM PST by the_second_moon
French envoy to UK: Israel ("that shitty little country" ) threatens world peace
By Douglas Davis The Jerusalem Post 20 December
LONDON (December 20) - The diplomatic career of French Ambassador to Britain Daniel Bernard was said to be in jeopardy yesterday, after he was quoted as having referred to Israel as "that shitty little country" which threatens world peace.
The undiplomatic remarks were made at a private gathering at the London home of Lord Black of Crossharbour, chairman of The Jerusalem Post's parent company Hollinger Inc. They were referred to - anonymously - in a column published in the Daily Telegraph on Monday by Black's wife, Barbara Amiel.
In her column, which laments that anti-Semitism has become a respectable sentiment at London dinner tables, Amiel noted the ambassador of a major European Union country "politely told a gathering at my home that the current troubles in the world were all because of 'that shitty little country Israel.' "
"Why," she quoted him as saying, "should the world be in danger of World War III because of those people?"
Amiel did not name Bernard, a former French government spokesman said to be a close confidant of French President Jacques Chirac, but he was quickly unmasked by the media as the unnamed "ambassador of a major European country" and his career was said to be "under threat."
Bernard's spokesman Yves Charpentier said Bernard cannot remember the reference.
Charpentier said Bernard was shocked to see media reports of a private dinner conversation he had with Black that attributed the remark to him and depicted him as anti-Semitic.
"He doesn't remember saying that," Charpentier told Reuters.
Asked if Bernard would apologize, Charpentier said: "He has no intention of apologizing. He doesn't feel there is any need for him to do so."
Charpentier said Bernard had discussed a number of issues with Black at the party, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"In the course of that discussion, the ambassador referred to 'little Israel,' in the sense that it is geographically small," Charpentier said.
"He was saying that the problem was incredibly limited geographically but that nevertheless the scale of the consequences is huge and the repercussions around the world are tremendous."
Bernard, who became ambassador to Britain in 1998, was "extremely upset at being considered as anti-Israel or even worse anti-Semitic," he said.
Charpentier added it is "sheer nonsense" that "a frank and open discussion in private" had been reported in the press. "It's a private dinner... and then all of a sudden you find it in the media."
An official at the Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed "grave concern" at Bernard's comments, "particularly as the country he is talking about is one his government claims is our staunch friend."
A senior diplomatic source here declined to speculate on the effect these remarks could have on Bernard's career, but told The Jerusalem Post "an ambassador who speaks in such terms is not diplomatic and there are implications to be drawn from that."
He also noted the plethora of negative images of Israel in the media "has made it more acceptable to be hostile to Israel" and such images might be serving as the catalyst "for allowing people to be more open now about anti-Semitism."
In her column, Amiel described how the unnamed doyenne of London's political salon scene "made a remark to the effect that she couldn't stand Jews and everything happening to them was their own fault." When this comment was greeted with shocked silence, wrote Amiel, the hostess chided her guests for their presumed hypocrisy: "Oh come on," she was quoted as saying. "You all feel like that."
"Once," noted Amiel, "that remark would have cost her license as a serious political hostess, but clearly she believes the zeitgeist is blowing her way."
Liar. Coward. Punk.
Here we go again. When will these dunderheads ever learn. It has nothing to do with the Jewish state of Israel and everything to do with the condition of the human heart.
Bernard, who became ambassador to Britain in 1998, was "extremely upset at being considered as anti-Israel or even worse anti-Semitic," he said.
Merely in "jeopardy"?? HELLO -- an ambassador's forte is supposed to be tact. What a bufoon!
But why should anyone be surprised? Whereas it is expected that the French are the most arrogant people on the face of the earth, we don't quite expect them also to be this dumb.
Two-faced toads have always struck me as gutless, amoral fiends who require other people to be stupid in order for their lives to be successful.
I can almost smell the Gitanes and B.O. from here.
A week after 9-11-2001 I said to Lent that many people would find a way to blame the Jews. For 9-11 at least. The Muslim world sure seems to.
Bernard cannot remember
In jeopardy? An idiot loudmouth with a bad memory. He should be President of France. Hell, he should be head of the entire European Union.
Yes, but when he called the Israel a 'shitty little country', he meant it in a really pro-Israeli, pro-Semitic way.
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