Posted on 05/07/2002 6:28:20 AM PDT by jalisco555
NEW YORK (AP) - Abbey Goldberg was supposed to be in France this week, vacationing in places such as Avignon and the Loire Valley - all part of a romantic trip he'd been planning with his wife for months.
Instead, the couple stayed in the United States, unnerved and angered by a spate of anti-Semitic acts in France this spring, ranging from a synagogue arson to physical assaults.
``We had plane tickets, hotel reservations, everything,'' he said. ``But with all the anti-Semitism going on, we didn't feel comfortable going. ...There also was a bit of a desire not to spend money in a country that was tolerating this kind of thing.''
His anxiety is shared by many American Jews who are delaying trips to France. Although reports of anti-Semitism in Germany, Belgium and elsewhere have increased amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East, tourists say the French incidents are particularly jarring.
Arson destroyed a synagogue in Marseille, and gasoline bombs have been thrown at about a dozen other synagogues and cemeteries. Attackers beat Jewish teen-agers with sticks and metal bars while a kosher butcher shop was shot at.
French authorities say the incidents are at the highest level since World War II.
``Usually France is one of our most popular destinations. Not this year,'' said David Lawrence, director of Kosher Expeditions, which caters to Jewish travelers. ``We've canceled all the tours.''
Rachel Kaplan, who offers tours on Jewish history for English speakers in France, said she receives several e-mails each week from Jewish Americans wondering whether it's safe to visit.
``I basically tell them that the French government is alerted to the situation. All Jewish areas have plainclothes and uniform police,'' she said.
Even French tourism officials are having to reassure prospective visitors.
``We're getting a couple of questions a day about it,'' said Robin Massee, director of communication USA for the French Government Tourist Office. ``Mainly the questions are, 'Is it safe to travel,' which of course we're saying it is.''
French authorities have promised tough action against violence. And indeed, it's been a few weeks since the most serious incidents, though many tourists remain concerned.
Other Jews feel that avoiding France is the wrong reaction, particularly since the country has its own large Jewish population - an estimated 600,000, the largest community in western Europe.
During difficult times like this, they say, it's important to be visible.
``I'd feel safer in France than in Israel with what's going on there now,'' said Herbert Roskind, a retired businessman who is planning a European vacation this summer. ``If you want to take a political stand, you should go there and show that you support the Jewish communities there.''
Others point out that blacklisting France will make little difference given the small size of the Jewish population.
Jews make up only 2 percent of Americans, and travel agents, aside from those specifically specializing in Jewish travel, report no broad trend in trip cancellations beyond a broader pullback in overseas traveling in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
Still, anger and apprehension remain. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, last month issued a travel advisory for France and Belgium because of the recent attacks.
For many American Jews, the issue is also about what they perceive as France's historical tendency toward anti-Semitism and racism.
An estimated 75,000 French Jews perished during World War II and France's Vichy government collaborated with the Nazis. France also rarely aligns itself politically with the state of Israel, and has been one of its most vocal European critics in the current crisis.
The strong showing by extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election intensified the doubts, even though he ultimately lost the final ballot to the more mainstream incumbent President Jacques Chirac. Le Pen has called the Holocaust a detail of history and called for immigrants to be expelled from the country.
The French government has said it will punish those responsible for the attacks. But for many American Jews, that is not enough.
``I'm absolutely livid, and I think other people should be too,'' said Danielle Lewis, who had planned a honeymoon in France, but is now looking elsewhere. ``I've lived in France, I'm a Francophile and I love French food and wine. But I don't want to go there. Why would I want to give money to people who want to kill me? ``
It's hardly surprising to see what's going on there; the French have traditionally been Europe's worst anti-semites. If you told someone in 1920 that a major power would try to murder every Jew he'd assume you were talking about France.
I'm trying to convince one of my wife's friends to cancel her vacation to France.
Mr. Robinson, I am sick and tired that so many think they get a pass to bash the French. It is hateful, and is the equivalent to saying nigger. Would these people do this in society? Why do they think they can show such prejudice on your Board?
We have changed our vacation this time around!!! Israel, here we come!
By the way, Israel could really use the business these days. The 19months of terror have shredded the economy over there.
During difficult times like this, they say, it's important to be visible.
``I'd feel safer in France than in Israel with what's going on there now,'' said Herbert Roskind, a retired businessman who is planning a European vacation this summer. ``If you want to take a political stand, you should go there and show that you support the Jewish communities there.''
Others point out that blacklisting France will make little difference given the small size of the Jewish population.
Jews make up only 2 percent of Americans, and travel agents, aside from those specifically specializing in Jewish travel, report no broad trend in trip cancellations beyond a broader pullback in overseas traveling in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
Wow... talk about self serving hog wash!!!
Translation: Dang it, I really wanted to go to Paris!!! I am going to have a hissy fit! No, wait... let's see, let's think... let's think... what would Cafe Anal do in this situation?
Aha.. I got it!!! peeeerrrrrfffffeeeeeccccttt!!! Just turn it upside down! Instead of staying away, think that it is important to SHOW UP! Instead of punishing the French, say we need to support the French JEWS!!! Yeah, that's the ticket!!! Hello, Air France??? I'd like to make a reservation please.
Oh well, the world needs the spineless recyclers as well.
It is the oldest dodge in the world of the uncaring... "my vote won't make a difference, I am only one"... and that is how we got Clintoon... and that is how we got Le Pen...
So many of my parent's Jewish neighbors liked traveling to France because it was "so cul-chad." I'm happy to see that many in the Jewish Community are rethinking their vacation plans.
Tuor
Proof of French anti-semitism? How about:
1. The Dreyfuss affair.
2. More than 70,000 French citizens sent to the death camps by the Vichy government.
3. The current wave of synogogue desecrations and other anti-semitic crimes in France, together with the government's relative passivity.
I find the French attitude is stunning. They look down their noses at us lowly French-Canadians as some sort of uncultured provincial barbarians, but then expect us to go over there every second generation to win their wars and clean up the messes they've made. I'm sure glad my ancestors got out of France in the 16th century- that decision spared me from a couple of centuries of bloodshed.
Even though I am an artist and a connoisseur of fine things, in love with french products, etc, I have decided to ban all things french in my house, including former french friends, wines, cheeses and travel plans.
I suppose we should accept, as a country, the recent pipe bombings as our fault? Let us set the record straight. Some of you need to hate. Evidently, it is now socially acceptable in the USA to target the French. Just think, who is next down the line?
There is nothing worse than what you want to purport.
My wife and I were planning on going to France (mainly Paris .. for her .. and Normandy .. for me) for our 22nd anniversary. However, because of the anti-American and anti-Israeli attitudes of the French, as reflected by the statements of their leaders and the press, and because of the anti-Jewish violence, she has decided, instead, that she wants to see Turkey and Israel instead. She is Catholic and had been an extreme Francophile ... she is the latter no longer. I'm a Deist and have always detested France and the French ... so, needless to say, I am quite happy.
Keep up the good work, Frogs!
Charges of antisemitism are a cover for the activities of a group just as racism and homophobia are. 10,000 Jewish students marched in the streets of Paris on May day protesting the one man and the one party which is trying to keep Muslims out of France. In the 1930s there was a French reaction to Jews. Many of them supported Trotsky and his pogrom against Christians in the Soviet Union. Many support Trotskyite parties in France today. Are French Christians supposed to love people who follow the teachings of a man who tried to wipe them off the face of the earth via an international proletarian revolution?
From the Pope to Billy Graham to Norweigans to Brits to Americans to Germans to William F. Buckley, there are few who have not been attacked on this forum for being against Jews. Not a way to win friends and influence people. The Al-Sharpton schtick is wearing very very thin.
Many French Jews apparently support that behavior.They were the ones marching in the streets calling Le Pen a racist, an antisemite and guilty of xenophobia. They are the ones known for voting left, far left, socialist, Trotskyite or communist--parties which support Muslim immigration into France.
And how many have been caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law (as pathetic as that may be)? How many are likely to be?
As for the pipe bombs, if you can show that these attacks have been directed against anyone because of their nationality or religion, then that would be an equivalent argument. Since you obviously cannot, it's simply more French "perfume" blown into the air to disguise the foul stench coming out of France.
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