Posted on 08/08/2002 2:47:06 PM PDT by knighthawk
While meeting with Shimon Peres last week, French President Jacques Chirac told the Israeli Foreign Minister that he has discovered why American Jews are so concerned about the increase in anti-Semitism in France. Apparently, they are taking orders from Jerusalem.
American Jewish leaders were outraged at that statement. They felt it drew on the age-old anti-Semitic belief that an underlying conspiracy exists among Jews around the world. In a meeting that had originally been intended to reassure the Israelis that France was dealing with attacks on Jews within its borders, Chirac reasserted a theme more at home in the ravings of conspiracy theorists than in a diplomatic meeting.
In recent months, France has seen a rise in anti-Semitic incidents and unexpected support for the right-wing nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen in its first round of presidential elections. Given the complex political and social dynamics in the country (home to 6 million Arabs) it would be surprising if French politicians were overtly sympathetic to Jewish positions. However, with this current statement, some Jewish leaders are saying Chirac has gone too far.
Questioning the loyalty of the Jewish people recalls another historical period when a strong anti-Semitic sentiment drove the newly founded Republic of France to convict Alfred Dreyfus of treason.
In 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, an assimilated Jew and a captain in the French army, was initially sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island -- later reduced to 10 years because of extenuating circumstances. The accusations against him arose when French army papers were discovered in the German military attaché's office and it became clear that a French officer was providing secrets to the German government. The army and press exploited the anti-Semitic atmosphere of the time to pin the treason on the only Jew in the army's general staff.
Just before the trial, the French Republican government was experiencing pressure from the conservatives and monarchists for various scandals, including bribery accusations over the financing of the Suez canal. At the same time, Le Libre Parole, a right-wing newspaper edited by Edouard Drumont, increased its accusations of Jewish treachery.
One journalist covering the trial was an Austrian Jew, Theodor Herzl. The events he witnessed led him to believe that even assimilated Jews were vulnerable to anti-Semitic attack. In 1897, Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress calling for the right of the Jewish people to a state of their own.
The other writer influenced by the trial was Emile Zola. Novels such as Nana and Germinal had already positioned Zola as a portrayer of the human condition in harsh environments. His article, J'accuse, published in L'Aurore on July 13, 1898, expressed Zola's conviction that Dreyfus had been convicted unfairly. The public outcry that followed led to a second trial in 1899.
Eventually, Dreyfus was pardoned by the president of the republic. Seven years ago, on Sept. 7, 1995, after more than a century of denial, the head of the French army's historical service, General Jean-Louis Mourrut, announced that Dreyfus had, in fact, been innocent and the army had been wrong.
For his troubles, Zola was found guilty of libel. He moved to England after he was sentenced to a year in jail and his name was removed from the roll of the Legion of Honour. He returned to France only after he was granted amnesty and Dreyfus was released from prison.
Zola had not previously been known as a supporter of Jewish causes. However, at the turn of the last century, his belief in a society based on liberty, fraternity and equality drove him to pursue justice. His ability to rise above the anti-Semitic atmosphere of the time led another French writer, Anatole France, to proclaim at Zola's funeral that "he was a moment of the human conscience."
In the current highly charged political climate, it might be difficult to separate real issues from propaganda. Chirac may not have noticed, or understood, the irony in his explanation that France is not anti-Semitic but instead is the victim of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy. This is not the first time in history that the French government has been blind to its own bigotry, but it is the first time that its blindness has been ignored by the French people. Where is the Emile Zola of 2002?
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Based on my impressions, Chirac is more anti-semitic.
I guess the tragedy has not played out fully enough yet for any sizable conscience to emerge.
There's just one problem: he never said, not even implied, such a thing. I challenge anyone out there to prove the opposite. The article is just another load of french-bashing lies.
Great one!
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