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Originally posted by HershOstropoler
Of course, if you want to believe the world is mostly But for the conclusion on general antisemitic sentiment, you would have to explain what has suddenly changed. Or is it perhabs just that a particular segment of antisemites has turned violent.
Of course, if you want to believe the world is mostly But for the conclusion on general antisemitic sentiment, you would have to explain what has suddenly changed. Or is it perhabs just that a particular segment of antisemites has turned violent.
Thursday, APRIL 18, 2002
In France, Vandalism of Synagogues Is Not New
Worst Incidents in Europe Against Jews
By Elizabeth Press
Attacks on synagogues in Strasbourg, Paris, Marseille, Montpellier, and Lyon, as well as on a Jewish school bus in a Parisian suburb, are all part of an upsurge of violence against Jews in France. The most brutal attack took place in Marseille where the Or Aviv synagogue was burnt down on the night of March 31.
This is the greatest wave of anti-Semitic violence since World War II. “It gives me the chills and I don’t want to stay in this damned country,” says Melisa Cahn, who works in Paris, but is originally from Strasbourg. She has walked through many pro-Palestinian demonstrations and is afraid to wear a Jewish star for fear of unnecessary trouble. Her desire to leave France, though, is “not out of fear, but disgust … that all these anti-Israeli feelings have turned into anti-Semitism.”
France is the European country with the worst backlash against its Jewish community in terms of violence in response to the Middle East crisis. These acts, however, are not committed by far-right extremists. Furthermore, both the government and most non-Jewish citizens universally condemn them. Instead, the hatred comes from certain members of the Arab populace. “These are not anti-Semitic acts, but anti-Zionist acts. It is the reaction against the situation in the Middle East,” said Emmanuelle Arnould, a student of political science from the Lorraine region. “France is the country with the biggest Arab population and since De Gaulle it has followed a pro-Arab foreign policy.”
Issues were swept
under the rug
Unlike the Germans, the French took many years to come to terms with their dark history of collaboration and anti-Semitism. These issues were swept under the rug and hardly dealt with as a matter of national concern after World War II when Charles de Gaulle glamourized the French resistance.
On top of this, waves of Arab immigrants arrived after the war and were never integrated into mainstream French society. Many of their children have grown up to become part of a marginalized and underprivileged population. Both their frustrations about their lives in France and their anger about the oppression of the Palestinians play a role in the French Arabs’ hostility to the Jews, a numerically weaker minority. Ms. Arnould also attributes the violence to incompetent law enforcement. The vandalism of synagogues and other places by young people is no new phenomenon in France. Police often turn a blind eye to petty crime, she claims, and criminals are often not sent to jail. Although the intensification of violence in France is recent, it is only the tip of an iceberg that has been under the surface for decades.
Well, that is a bit polemic. Not much value there. Let's move on.
Yes, we do like French bashing. You see when the anti-American posts start coming fast and thick we Yanks know that by starting a French bashing thread everyone will lose interest in us and will team up against the French. 
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