...it's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there...
i totally agree with Ariel Sharon's belief that French Jews should emigrate to Israel to escape "the wildest anti-semitism." That comment has caused that old slug, Chirac to revoke his invitation for Sharon to visit Paris.
Don't worry about it, Ariel. i've been to Paris, you ain't missing much.
Other Frenchies are up in arms* over Sharon's statement too.
'France is not Germany of the 1930s,' said Julien Dray, spokesman for the opposition Socialist Party . . .Maybe, but France is beginning to resemble France of the 1940s (Vichy collaborationists). Or France of the 1890s (The Dreyfus affair). The French have a long history of anti-semitism, to which their latest group of immigrants would love to add.
'The French have actually gone further than any other country in Europe in recognizing that they have a mountain of a problem on their hands,' says David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, who consults with the French government. Indeed, from their point of view, anti-Semitism may turn out to be the least of it. The huge number of Muslim young people born in France who actively resist acculturation, he says, leaves French officials 'baffled and challenged'But the government itself appears far from blameless.
At least behind closed doors, French officials are even starting to entertain the proposition that the virulence and relentlessness of their criticism of Israel and its supporters feeds the insalubrious climate in which crimes against Jews multiply. Despite French newspapers' vigorous coverage of the latest apparent anti-Semitic attack, a further evolution may be needed before French intellectual and media elites will go that far.
Update: Dawn's opinion is the opposite of mine.
I agree with the French Socialists. France isn't like the Germany of the 1930s. It's more like the Vichy France of the 1940s! Ran by elitist appeasers who sleep with the bad guys and wouldn't bat an eye at the thought of sending Jews to the gas chambers.
As for Chirac, he's such an ass. It's perfectly ok for him to make obnoxious comments about America, Israel, Italy, and other countries that get on his nerves. But look out if they talk back. Then he starts shrieking like a little girlie man.
Posted by: Ron on Jul. 19, 2004Again, Annika, you are right on the money.
I've been to Paris many times; it is dirty, smelly, now full of (@27%) Muslim immigrants who can sway elections, and the women still don't shave their legs or under their arms.
The French invented perfume; wanna guess why?
Posted by: shelly s. on Jul. 20, 2004When i was in paris i saw no less than two people uninating in the street. i'm not talking back alleys, i saw this on the Champs d'Elysee!
Posted by: annika! on Jul. 20, 2004Annika, if you can remember the holes in the ground that pass for toilets, perhaps you can remember why they do that. Ugh.
France is a second rate power going to third rate. Before it is over, we will be at war with them as well.
Perhaps our policy makers should consider a revision of our immigration and border laws. It is time for a change; we need to give up some of our civil liberties to avoid the daily suicide bombings that Israel has endured for years.
Posted by: shelly s. on Jul. 25, 2004