PARIS CHRONICLER

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Le sénat va-t-il changer la loi sur l'irresponsabilité pénale?

2017-02-15T15:14:00.001+01:00

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Letter from France

2011-01-20T06:52:00.009+01:00

Jan 5th 2011

Are some influential people in America using the memory of the Holocaust to beat France out of business deals? Many people here in Paris seem to think so. The controversy was all over the papers a few weeks ago. After a decade of negotiations on the sale of the high-speed train to the United States, the French national railway company (SNCF) is now being held accountable for transferring Jews to Germany during World War II.

To Paris, this looks like a cheap trick to favor its main competitors, the Chinese railways and German company Siemens. And since losing the Florida and California projects would be a massive blow for France, its government decided to take action, or “wet its shirt,” as the French would say.

Both former Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his successor, Michele Alliot-Marie, met with U.S. officials and American Jewish leaders in New York and Paris.

In fact, Alliot-Marie met with an American Jewish Committee (AJC) delegation on the evening she took office.

They have tried to persuade U.S. Jews that France is a world champion of Shoah commemorations.

The foreign ministry also reached out to The Jewish Journal and The New York Times so it could explain its position.

“France has done so much to commemorate the Holocaust,” Francois Zimeray, the French ambassador for human rights said, citing more than a dozen measures, including the creation of the Holocaust memorial, a “world-leading think tank” for commemoration, financial compensation for victims and emboldened school programs on the Shoah. “Perhaps we haven’t spoken out enough to let people know how much we have done. Had they been aware, they wouldn’t have reacted this way.”

When asked if he was accusing someone of attacking the SNCF for business purposes, Zimeray replied, “I have no concrete proof that this is favoritism, but if there had been favoritism, it would have been done in the exact same way.”

He went on to say that France had had similar concerns about previous deals.

“In the past, U.S. lawmakers barred the high-speed plane Concorde from entering the U.S. That was for environmental reasons supposedly. Of course, we all know how important the environment is for Americans.”

“History and business shouldn’t be intertwined,” Zimeray, a former member of the European Parliament, added. “Competitiveness should be the only criteria for business deals.”

“Unfortunately for France, Chinese companies have turned more competitive by now,” a businessman who works for the SNCF and the Chinese railways and who wishes to remain unnamed said. “They pay their employees much less than their French or German competitors, and the Chinese government funds many of their investments.”

Yet those who accuse the SNCF of not taking full responsibility quickly enough may not be entirely wrong. Until the latest accusations came from the United States, officials had never issued a proper statement of regret, such as the one they’ve now sent to America. In fact, the foreign ministry said it pushed the company to write that statement so that the deal would be sealed.

In fact, the company’s American Web site offers explanations of what happened during World War II, but they don’t appear on its French site.

Therefore, to Alain Lipietz, a former member of the European Parliament who sued the SNCF because it had transported his father to the camp of Drancy, the SNCF statement of regret has just one goal: “closing a business deal” and “is not sincere.” Lipietz said he and his family have been repeatedly criticized for suing the company.

Meanwhile, historians are still divided on the case. Is it true that the SNCF was requisitioned and had no choice but to follow the orders of the Vichy regime? Serge Klarsfeld, one of France’s leading experts on the Shoah, perhaps its No. 1 expert, said the SNCF appeared to have had no choice and that it earned no money from transferring Jews, Gypsies, communists and others to the Nazis. The money it received covered its expenses alone, according to Klarsfeld.

Other historians are less definitive. They say that no document ordering a requisition has been ever found.

The French government said it is battling anti-Semitism in the Arab world; that is what Zimeray also said. According to Zimeray, French ambassadors across the world have formed a network, organizing conferences on the Holocaust, handing out Primo Levi’s books and Anne Frank’s diary.

“In some countries, “Mein Kampf” is widely spread, while Anne Frank’s diary is banned,” Zimeray said. “We met with Arab League leader Amr Moussa about six weeks ago and told him, ‘Enough is enough!’ ”

I have great respect for Zimeray. When he was in the Parliament, he battled to get reports on how Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority was using European funds, and his party, the Socialist Party, has made him pay for that. However, I doubt that the measured diplomat addressed Moussa in those exact words.

The daughter of far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen is likely to replace him at the head of the National Front, France’s far-right nationalist political party, in mid-January. The elder Le Pen is retiring and his daughter Marine Le Pen seems best placed to win the party’s internal election this month. She has battled to boost her party’s approval rates and is starting to get results. According to some recent polls, Marine Le Pen is now getting support rates of more than 30 percent, almost as much as President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Her strategy: giving her party a more acceptable image by dropping the anti-Semitic attitude of her father. In order to surpass her father’s score of 17.79 percent in the 2002 presidential election, she started, right after that vote, to woo the Jewish and Israeli media. The goal wasn’t necessarily to attract Jews so much as mainstream voters who might associate her with her father’s anti-Semitic reputation. Jean-Marie Le Pen had been known and condemned for saying that gas chambers were a “detail of history” in World War II.

The French Jewish media has declined all Marine Le Pen’s invitations. And when she tried to visit Israel as a member of the European Parliament, Israel told her she wasn’t welcome.

However, her strategy is bearing fruit. Unfortunately for Le Pen, many in her own party are annoyed by her “liberal” approach, and this could make the upcoming election more difficult for her.

Now she is trying to get those far-right voters back. In a recent radio interview, she made a controversial comment on Muslims, saying that those who pray on the street (because they don’t have enough space in mosques) are “occupying” French territory, like the Nazis occupied France “but without tanks.” She added that being a Jew, a homosexual, a white person or French can be very complicated in certain neighborhoods because of fundamentalists.

All political parties criticized her remark and said she was walking in her father’s footsteps. But Marine Le Pen appears more ambitious. She is not only trying to win back far-right voters for the internal vote, she’s also trying to keep her so-called tolerant image by pretending to defend Jews and homosexuals.

The Socialist Party may inadvertently have assisted her. Reacting to Le Pen’s comment, Socialist spokesperson Benoit Hamon said that praying in the street “cannot be tolerated much longer. … We need to find solutions so Muslims would have enough areas to pray in and at the same time liberate public spaces.” It’s the first time any party other than the National Front has issued such a statement.

Many Socialists say more mosques should be built, but they don’t know where to get the money. Some political leaders suggest a reform of the law separating state and church so that public funds could be used to build new mosques.

Roma deportations 'not like Holocaust roundups'

2010-09-12T10:06:00.008+02:00

French community leaders have spoken out against the targeting of the Roma people for deportation, but rejected comparisons with the roundup of the Jews in the 1930s.

"We can't accept discrimination like the one the Roma community is facing. It's a European problem and it must be addressed on that level," said Richard Prasquier, head of the French Jewish umbrella group CRIF.

"But I was shocked by certain comparisons. The situation today is nothing like the one under the Vichy regime."

He said that most of the Roma who have been sent back to their home countries "accepted" the deportation.

"EU laws protect them in these countries," he added. "They're not sent to gas chambers. I haven't seen any hate demonstrations.

"Those who say our nation has been stained, as did former PM Dominique de Villepin, used an intolerable speech of propaganda. History should be respected."

Since January, France has deported half of the foreign Roma people living on its territory back to Romania and Bulgaria. Authorities sped up the pace of deportations this summer, after the shooting of a Roma man triggered scuffles between police and the Roma community.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he has no intention of stopping the process although critics at home and abroad - including the Vatican, UN Human Rights panel, the OSCE and various European bodies - have labelled the policy racist.

A number MEPs and a priest have compared the roundups in Roma camps to the round ups of Jews during the Second World War.

"The government's goal is obvious: It's using the Roma people to demonstrate its so-called efficiency against crime," said Malik Salemkour, head of Romeurope and vice president of the Human Rights League.

"But they're just scapegoats, an easy target. There are barely 15,000 Roma people in France and no one cares to defend them.

"They're being discriminated against, like the Jews were in the 1930s."

France's chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim said Roma were being stigmatised and called for an interreligious meeting on the issue. However, he too rejected the comparisons with the Second World War.

"I regret and condemn these exaggerations. One should ask the Gypsies what has happened in the death camps and what has happened this month of August."

Meanwhile, Interior minister Brice Hortefeux, recently convicted for racist comments about Arabs, said the deportations were solely due to high crime rates among Roma people.

He said one out of five crimes is committed by a Romanian national. Human rights groups said the study was not only biased but also illegal.

Some observers have accused President Sarkozy of bolstering the government's action against illegal immigration for political purposes.

His approval rates have dropped to a historic low and wooing far-right voters could boost his popularity before the next presidential election in 2012.

French battle to bring back 'foreign' names

2010-08-10T00:15:00.002+02:00

Dozens of French Jews have been fighting a battle that few people were aware of - they've been trying to get their family names back.

Years ago, their parents changed their "foreign-sounding'' names so they would sound French because they dreaded anti-Semitism.

But their children and grandchildren see their old names as a trail of their family history. The problem is, French law doesn't allow someone to revert to a former name. And on the rare occasions requests are considered, officials insist that the whole family must agree.

"I started by filing requests at the State Council 25 years ago, before my daughter was born. I wanted to give her my real name," said Olivier Rubinstein, now Raimbaud.

"My parents changed our name in the sixties because they did not want us to be subjected to antisemitism. They'd been through the war. After my first request, I was told I cannot reclaim what's considered a foreign name."

For 200 years French law has stipulated that family names are "immutable" and must be continued. People can change their last name if it sounds ridiculous or foreign. They can also claim another name if it's about to disappear. But this only applies to "French" names.

About a dozen people formed an association called The Strength of the Name and were received at the justice ministry and filed four new individual requests for name changes.

"We're waiting to see how this procedure goes before we decide how to move forward," said founder Céline Masson. "We insist that we're not asking to change names but to get our names back. It's completely different."

"Frenchifying" names is not a rare phenomenon in France, where assimilation has been a founding principal for centuries. Even President Nicolas Sarkozy's family changed its name, from Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa.

And the family name of Richard Prasquier, the head of France's Jewish umbrella group CRIF, was also changed. "My father changed our name when I was 15. He did it because he knew I wanted to study medicine and thought this would protect me from discrimination at school," he said. "I was a little disturbed by this but I knew he was right because a few years back that same medicine school had barred and discriminated against prestigious Jewish doctors.

"In the Jewish community, names are a trace of our family history although I wouldn't want foreign readers to think that we're suffering from injustice today. I wouldn't want this to look like a protest."

Far right extremists such as National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen accuse them of hiding their true identity so they can infiltrate the spheres of power.

This was reiterated this month in a review by an extreme right group that calls itself 'The National Radical". In an article headed "the Jews who dominate France" it listed hundreds of names of people who have succeeded in various fields and accuses them of controlling the country.

Olivier Rubinstein said: "This is exactly what pushed me to fight to get my name back 25 years ago. At the time Le Pen was citing journalists and artists who had changed their names, accusing them of concealing their identity. I thought that getting my name back would be the right thing to do. I didn't want any doubt over the fact that I never intended to change my name or hide my religion and identity."

Just missed Clotild Reiss

2010-05-18T09:47:00.003+02:00

J Call: Europe's first left-wing lobby is kicking, but is it alive?

2010-05-09T22:45:00.008+02:00

A new European group modelling itself on J Street, the left-leaning American Israel lobby, was launched at the European Parliament on Monday.

Hundreds of supporters of J Call, including MEPS and two former Israeli envoys, presented a petition asking Israel to stop its settlement activity and calling on Europe to intervene.

Headed "a European Jewish Call for Reason" and partially written by former Israeli envoy to France Elie Barnavi, the online petition has been signed by more than 4,700 people.

It asks the EU to put pressure on Israel and the Palestinians to make "the necessary moves to establish peace" and calls on Israel to stop building in the West Bank and in "the Arab districts of east Jerusalem". Leaders say they will also demand that Palestinians renounce the right of return.

"Some say our initiative hurts Israel, but it's the exact opposite: we aim to save Israel from disaster," said founder David Chemla, head of the French branch of Peace Now. "Israel cannot remain a democratic Jewish state if it keeps occupying the West Bank."

But he was unable to explain what kind of measures it wants the EU to take against Israel, adding: "We're obviously pro-Israeli and are opposed to any kind of boycott."

While MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit told the crowd, to loud applause, that "the Zionist dream is not my dream", others, including philosophers Bernard Henri Levy and Alain Finkielkraut, are known for their unwavering support for Israel. Their involvement triggered a backlash from French umbrella group CRIF, whose leader Richard Prasquier accused J Call of endangering Israel and helping its enemies.

An online counter-petition gathered more signatures than the original. But Mr Levy brushed the accusations aside.

"Debate and differences of opinion make us stronger, not weaker. It's absurd to think Zionists shouldn't express themselves," he said.

And several signatories, including Mr Barnavi, disagreed that an impartial call was necessary.

"It's a call from diaspora Jews to Israel. It would be ridiculous to balance every single statement," he said.

Signatories also rejected claims that they were attempting to override the will of Israeli voters, with former ambassador to Germany Avi Primor arguing that J Call does not stop the Israeli government from implementing its policies.

It remains unclear whether such an appeal can get significant support in Europe and whether J Call - currently only a petition - can be transformed into an effective political tool.

There is at least one British signatory - Engage's David Hirsch - but sources say that British groups which were approached declined to join until it was clear whether J Call was well received and its goals were clarified. Mr Chemla is visiting London next week to meet potential signatories.

French Jews 'unfazed' by National Front gains

2010-04-02T12:24:00.001+02:00

The far-right National Front made a surprise comeback in the French regional elections on Sunday, but the Jewish community remains largely unperturbed.

The National Front gained its best result in years, getting an average of 17.8 per cent of the vote in 12 French regions. Eighty-two-year old party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen obtained the highest share of the vote, 22.8 per cent, in the southern region of Provence, Alpes, Cote d'Azure.

The party's success was unexpected as it has been losing ground for years, particularly since Nicolas Sarkozy ran for president in 2007. But voters are now turning back to the far right.

Still, the head of France's Jewish umbrella group CRIF said the party's results do not prove the French are increasingly antisemitic.

"I've always protested against Le Pen's controversial declarations, his insulting remarks on the Holocaust, and he hasn't gotten any wiser through the years, but this does not mean his voters share his views," said Dr Richard Prasquier. "They're just extremely frustrated with the economic crisis and their vote is a form of protest.

"However I do feel that the fact that they found no other way to express their dismay is a bad sign for our democracy."

Since Mr Sarkozy was elected president, the National Front has been beset by internal rivalries and financial woes. It spent millions on campaigning and even had to put its headquarters on auction to settle its debts, but no one would buy them due to the party's negative image. Meanwhile, the party has been struggling to find a successor to its aging founder and several leaders have left the movement

The debate over who would take over after Le Pen retires seems resolved now, in favour of Jean-Marie's daughter Marine, currently the party's vice president. The 42-year old has positioned herself as the probable successor and while several party officials have criticised a succession within the Le Pen family, her impressive 22 per cent share of the vote in the regional election in the north brings her new legitimacy.

Over the past decade, Marine Le Pen has tried to change the party's image, abandoning her father's controversial style and revisionist remarks about the Holocaust. She tried to join a parliamentary trip to Israel and to approach Jewish media. But observers say she is still advocating the same policies as her father.

"She may be more polite, but her programme remains unchanged: favouring people of French descent, getting people of foreign descent to leave the country," said political scientist and far-right expert Jean-Yves Camus.

When running for president, Mr Sarkozy vowed to strip the National Front of its voters with promises of greater security in France and limited immigration. But his policies appeared to have fallen short, and now Mr Le Pen's old voters are returning to their old party.

"This is an obvious defeat for Mr Sarkozy," said Jean-Marie Le Pen after the election.

And his daughter Marine said the party will now prepare for the presidential election due in two years.

"The National movement is now a major player," she said, "a major player in the next major national election - the presidential election."

CRIF, now officially a right wing lobby?

2010-02-04T21:44:00.008+01:00

The head of France’s main Jewish umbrella group, the CRIF, denied on Wednesday that his organisation had veered to the right, but some within CRIF are questioning this. (According to liberal Crif member Gilles-William Goldnadel saying someone is on the right is not insulting, so I assume Crif won't be offended by this post).

*

An odd controversy was at the heart of Wednesday's annual dinner of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF). The organisation’s leader, Richard Prasquier, sought to explain why he had defended a man who had aimed a comment described by some as anti-Semitic at former French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius.

Georges Freche, a long-time president of the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France and a former member of the Socialist Party, caused a stir last month when he said one shouldn’t vote for Fabius because “he didn’t look Catholic”. Since Fabius is of Jewish descent, the remark was deemed by many to be anti-Semitic.

Fabius was offended and the Socialist Party was shocked; but Freche revealed that he got a letter of support from none other than the leader of France’s Jewish umbrella group.

Prasquier said Freche was not anti-Semitic, even though he considered his latest remark to be intolerable. Freche, who was expelled from the Socialist Party in 2007, is not new to allegations of racism. He once made waves by claiming there were too many black players in France’s national football team.

Observers say Prasquier defended Freche because of his past support for Israel. Defending the Jewish state is one of the CRIF’s main aims, as Prasquier repeated in his speech on Wednesday.

The CRIF is generally considered to be more traditional and conservative than Jewish organisations in other countries. But many say it has recently veered further to the right, while its defence of Israel has become more uncompromising than ever.

In the recent election of the CRIF’s executive committee, right-wing candidates gained significant ground. One of the winners was Gilles-William Goldnadel, a lawyer who defended journalist Oriana Fallaci when she was attacked for writing in The Rage and The Pride that Muslims “multiplied like rats” among other comments. But Goldnadel has also defended young Jews who tried to destroy anti-semitic manuals in book stores, and victims of anti-Semitic attacks. That might be one reason for his success.

Meanwhile, Socialist Party member and prominent anti-racism activist Patrick Klugman failed to make the cut. But contrary to media reports they can’t be deemed leftists regarding the Middle East. Indeed, Klugman defended the Israeli bombings on Gaza launched in December 2008 is response to Hamas rocket fire against southern Israel.

“Yes, we succeeded, that’s democracy,” Goldnadel told FRANCE 24. “The irony is that many Socialists voted for me too. People voted for us because they felt we would defend Israel better and fight against anti-Semitism in France.”

Goldnadel says the left failed to recognise the changed nature of anti-Semitism, and therefore failed to come up with an adequate response. “[The Socialists] failed to recognise it because they didn’t want to see it. Because it came from a new place they wanted to ignore,” he said, referring to claims of growing anti-Semitism among French Muslims.

In his speech, Richard Prasquier said anti-Semitic assaults had doubled in 2009, and most of the increase had taken place in impoverished suburbs. “People who live in wealthy neighbourhoods have little chance of knowing this,” he said.

CRIF figures show a spate of attacks in France mainly in January 2009, during the Israeli operations in Gaza. At that time, the Jewish organisation sought to demonstrate its support for Israel, but its marches were dwarfed by numerous rallies against the Israeli bombings on Hamas.

The Communist and Green parties, who had called for a boycott of Israeli products during the Gaza War, were excluded from Wednesday’s event by the CRIF.

Asked whether he felt lonely at the gathering, former Communist Party leader Robert Hue told FRANCE 24 “he would always come to this event”, adding that the shift to the right was “a reality not only within the Jewish community but also among the French population in general.”

For French writer Marek Halter, the shift to the right marks a loss of hope for a peaceful settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “It’s just like in the Middle East itself. The left in Israel is weaker because of the circumstances. Peace seams unattainable. So pro-peace parties fail to gather support. But everything can turn around with a little spark of hope.”

At the dinner, the CRIF appeared at times more right-wing than the conservative politicians who were present. Christine Boutin, a former minister and a staunch conservative, even told FRANCE 24 she was “concerned about the CRIF moving too far to the right”.

But, as he wrapped up his speech, Prasquier dismissed such fears. “We’re not right or left-wing,” he told the audience. “We’re Jews, Republicans, French – and proud to be so."

Burkini 1, Mikveh 0

2009-09-04T12:11:00.014+02:00

Muslim lobbying for religious rights in France has had a certain impact on Jews, who feel that their own, similar requests are being brushed away.

“Things have got worse since more and more Muslims started pushing demands, sometimes with political motives. Now we’re compared to assertive pushy militants and our own requests are denied outright,” said Marc Djebali, vice president of the Jewish community of Sarcelles, a suburb north of Paris. “Now officials tell me: ‘we can’t accept this, this is a secular state’.”

Sarcelles is the home of one of France’s largest and more assertive Jewish communities. In a way it pioneered the controversial trend of French minorities lobbying the secular government for religious rights, known as communautarisme — community activism.

But over the past few years it has been lagging behind the local Muslim community, which has been better able to get its traditions recognised in schools and work places.

“Ten years ago, kosher meals were offered to kids in our neighbourhood school. Today, they can only get halal,” said Mr Djebali. “Principals tell me halal is normal, "natural" even, but kosher is just too comlicated"

"Numbers, it's all about the numbers. The Muslims are not a small minority like us. Their requests are examined seriously," says Djebali.

The feeling that the community was being put at a disadvantage by the Muslim requests became stronger this summer, after comments by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy sparked a public debate over whether the Muslim burka should be banned. Calls to similarly examine Jewish clothing soon followed.

“Jewish men who wear hats and ringlets are just like Muslim women with their burka. They’re proselytising,” said Yves Pras, head of the Europe Secularity organisation. “Maybe this clothing should be banned from all public places, like smoking.”

Although France defines itself as secular and in 2004 its parliament adopted a law banning religious clothing — such as veils and skullcaps — in public schools, Islam has made its way into French tradition and society.

Dozens of schools are now offering halal meals; one school in Paris even offers halal meals exclusively. Meanwhile, a number of pools have arranged separated bathing hours for women, a trend which began in the Jewish community of Strasbourg, and later in Sarcelles, where, for the past 15 years, women have also had a female lifeguard.

In university, students still have to attend exams on Saturdays and holidays. This is a regular sticking point and every year France’s chief rabbi tries to negotiate with universities to find suitable dates.

Muslim holidays are increasingly respected in the office, according to a study by the professional association IMS-Entreprendre.

Ramadan is the first non-Christian holiday to be officially recognised in French companies. Many offices have adjusted their schedules in the afternoons to accommodate tired fasters, and others have set up prayer rooms where fasters can rest. Carmaker Renault was one of the first to reorganise its timetable for Muslim employees.

But IMS-Entreprendre considers other demands, such as leaving early on Friday night, “excessive”.

“Everything depends on the number of people pushing for change,” Dounia Bouzar, the author of What’s Allah’s place at the office?, told the AFP. “If 80 per cent of a company’s employees are Muslim, they’ll be making the rules.”

Halimi kidnappers to be re-tried

2009-07-14T17:42:00.012+02:00

Youssouf Fofana, the head of the gang that kidnapped and murdered 23-year-old Ilan Halimi in 2006, was sentenced to life imprisonment last Friday, but French Interior Minister Michele Alliot Marie asked for a new trial for 14 other gang members because their sentences were deemed too lenient.

The case of the self-proclaimed “Gang of Barbarians” is aparently not over. After a two-month long trial behind closed doors, the jury gave on Friday its verdict for the 27 people accused of the abduction and death of Ilan Halimi. The sentences ranged from six months to life imprisonment for the gang’s leader Youssouf Fofana who admitted killing Halimi.

But the victim’s family and Jewish community criticized the verdict, saying Fofana’s accomplices got off easy, and France’s Justice Minister Michele Alliot Marie asked the prosecution to appeal the verdict regarding 14 of the accused who got lighter sentences than the ones the prosecution had requested. (AFP picture)
The appeal was filed on Monday.Halimi’s family is now hoping the new trial will be open to the public.

“The trial was a missed opportunity. It should have explored the facts, the construction of (anti-Semitic) stereotypes and the mechanism that lead to this abduction, torture and killing of this young man,” Richard Prasquier, the head of the Jewish umbrella group CRIF told me. “I was shocked by some of the sentences because they were not strong enough, not to the dimension of what had happened. The trial shouldn’t just be Fofana’s trial. His accomplices were part of it all. Any one of them could have put an end to this ordeal at any moment.”

“The accomplices helped the killer massacre Ilan. They participated actively,” Halimi’s mother Ruth said after the verdict. “What they did is terrible. They killed Ilan because he was Jewish. But the verdict is by no means exceptional.”

Meanwhile, Defense lawyers said many of the accused had no link or knowledge of Halimi’s murder.
“They were judged for their deeds and not to set an example,” said Me Seban.

Three years ago, Youssouf Fofana organized Ilan Halimi’s kidnapping, hoping to get a ransom. The leader of the self-proclaimed ‘Gang of Barbarians’ wanted to get a Jew, any Jew, because he thought “they were rich” and would have the money to pay a ransom.
Fofana went to a street with several kosher restaurants and Jewish-owned businesses to find targets. He spotted the stored that were closed on a Jewish holiday and sent the following days several young women to seduce potential victims.

Ilan Halimi was filling in for a friend at a mobile phone shop that day, when Iranian-born Emma entered the store. Ilan asked her out on a date, and she invited him over to her home in a suburb to the south of Paris. He accepted, but when they get there, Halimi was attacked by several men who pushed him into the trunk of a car.
He was then taken to an apartment in the suburb of Bagneux and later to the sordid basement with the help of the building’s guard who gave the gang a set of keys for some money.

For 24 days Fofana tried to negotiate a deal with Ilan’s parents. But the Halimis followed police orders and refused to pay.

As Ilan’s father kept refusing Fofana’s deals, the gang of Barbarians got wilder and wilder. Several members kept beating up Halimi, and a guard even burned Ilan’s forehead with a cigarette while calling him “dirty Jew”.

Fofana eventually realized his plan had failed and decided to get rid of Halimi. The gang stripped Halimi of his clothes and drove him to another suburb, Sainte Genevieve des Bois. Fofana stabbed Halimi several times, spread petrol on his body and torched his victim. Halimi was then abandoned. He was still alive and tried to get help, but succombed when rescuers tried to get him to the hospital.

The court considered that only two of the accused had anti-Semitic motives, Fofana and one of the guards who burned Ilan’s forehead with a cigarette.
Fofana’s main accomplices who guarded the basement and tortured Halimi got 15 to 18 years and the woman who trapped him was sentenced to 9 years and could be freed in two years.

As the ruling came in on Friday night, some of the accused’s friends and families were in court and smiled at them. They cheered as some of their friends’ short sentences were pronounced. Fofana applauded the ruling.

Unraveling deceitful Judeo-Muslim dialogue

2009-01-22T13:20:00.006+01:00

French authorities are hoping that the truce in the Middle East will extend to their own territory.
Over the past three weeks, over sixty anti-Semitic incidents have occurred throughout the country: Molotov cocktails were thrown at synagogues, a dozen youths were assaulted, Jewish institutions were tagged and two Jewish artists – TV star Arthur and emblematic Sepharadi singer Enrico Macias – were prevented from performing. Meanwhile three young Muslims were targeted by a bunch of pro-Israeli militants, presumably from the Jewish Defense League and an imam known for his tolerant ways was assaulted by Muslims.

The media lashed out at Israel for its offensive and tens of thousands protested in the streets – often in support of Hamas - but a surprising poll showed an evolution in public opinion regarding the conflict. Indeed, 23% considered Hamas was responsible for the crisis, while 18% accused the Israeli government. 28% said they were both responsible and the rest couldn’t say.

The less expected effect of the war, here in France, is the collapse of the Judeo-Muslim Friendship Association, founded by Rabbi Michel Serfaty. All of its Muslim officials resigned because their Jewish counterparts didn’t openly condemn Israel for its operations.
Co-chairman Djelloul Seddiki said remaining neutral wasn’t enough: his Jewish colleagues had to condemn Israel.

Rabbi Serfaty said he was surprised, for he remained silent and expressed no support for Israel precisely to please his Muslim counterparts.
Meanwhile Djelloul Seddiki and his friends protested against Israel without mentioning Hamas’s role in the flare-up. So much for dialogue…

Rabbi Michel Sefaty (photo:UEJF)

Rabbi Serfaty is an engaging figure. The tall former basketball player, with his wide black hat and Clint Eastwood stare launched his battle for friendship after being assaulted in the street while walking to the synagogue with his son in 2003. Instead of running along, the rabbi faced his attackers and asked them to explain themselves. He then created the Jewish Muslim Friendship Association to deconstruct stereotypes.

Throughout the years the rabbi has been dragging his congregation, family and fellow Jews along in his initiatives. Every summer he drives his association’s ‘Friendship bus’ across France and neighboring countries with a number of Muslim and Jewish militants advocating dialogue. They go everywhere, from the beaches of Marseille to the rough suburbs around Paris. They don’t spare an effort. But sometimes they have to cave in and make sacrifices.

Rabbi Serfaty sided with his Muslim colleagues over the Danish Mohammad cartoons controversy. The drawings had been reprinted in a couple of French newspapers and the Muslim umbrella group CFCM decided to bring the issue to court in a lawsuit which it eventually lost.
At the time several Jewish leaders, among them former French chief rabbi Joseph Sitruk, criticized the cartoons. Rabbi Serfaty told me he wasn’t, like some French rabbis, against all cartoons criticizing religion. Mocking Moses or Jesus was fine for him. But he strongly opposed drawings criticizing Islam, saying Muslims are different. “The Christians and us have been living in this free speech environment for centuries. They’ve only just arrived. We don’t care about these caricatures but they get hurt.” When I asked him if he did not think many Muslims would be offended if treated differently from the rest of society, he responded that the important thing for him was avoiding a flare-up. “The main goal is to maintain social peace”.

It seems as if this time, condemning Israel – and Israel alone - was a price the rabbi wasn’t willing to pay, even to save his cherished association. Or was he simply taken by surprise ?

Still, Rabbi Serfaty is far from lost. If the crisis in the Middle East taught us anything, it’s that façade dialogue is useless. Uniting to settle kashrut and Hallal issues or to condemn the Jerusalem gay pride is not really a breakthrough. France needs a genuine Judeo-Muslim dialogue between religious and secular leaders.
And the crisis showed us that these leaders exist and who they are.
While tens of thousands demonstrated in the streets, a number of Muslim leaders refused to join them and repeated France had to stay away from the conflict, while respecting each others’ views on the conflict.

French minister Fadela Amara, a strong secular figure in charge of the impoverished suburbs, gathered in her ministry various associations to discuss and organize the battle against anti-Semitism and racism. This wasn’t surprising as Amara, who had strongly supported the Geneva initiative a few years back, has been fighting for tolerance and against sexism in France for years with her women’s association ‘Ni putes ni soumises’.

Imam Hassen Chalghoumi and his family, from the suburb of Drancy, have paid once again during this outburst for their tolerant approach. The imam who advocates genuine dialogue has been assaulted again and his family threatened after he denounced anti-Semitism and called for peace.
“How far will you go? Watch out!” told him North African men as he was walking down the street. Others vandalized his car and threatened him over the phone.
Chalghoumi said nothing would alter his dialogue with the Jewish community although he couldn’t stop thinking of the events in Gaza.
“People from my congregation ask me ‘why is this happening? This isn’t fair.’ And I answer ‘that’s war. It’s never fair.’”

Chalghoumi is the imam of Drancy, a town where French Jews were gathered during World War II in a concentration camp before being deported to death camps. In 2006 the imam called on all Muslims to remember that part of history and pay their respects. Following his address at the Drancy memorial his children were threatened.
A few months ago he invited Jews to participate in the festivities ending the Ramadan. Chalghoumi was attacked following his initiatives. But that didn’t stop him.

Chilling hatred in snowy France

2009-01-06T21:19:00.008+01:00

Temperatures haven't sunk so low in Paris for the past 3 decades. The streets are beautiful in the snow in the trendiest and loveliest neighbourhoods as well as in my own popular 20th quarter.
But you know what? Forget about the freezing wind. We get a much greater shiver these days when we hear about the Middle East, see Hamas flags in uptown Paris rallies, and hear about desecrated synagogues and assaulted men.

A burning car crashed into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, in the south east of France last night, in what appears to be the latest attack in a recent wave of anti-Semitism.

Rabbi Jonathan Guez was lecturing some members of his congregation when a stolen car was rammed into the front gate, setting it on fire.
A second car was about to be crashed into the synagogue but the attackers abandoned the vehicle with the motor running and fled the area when a security alarm was set off. Police found Molotov cocktails in the cars and is searching for three suspects who were seen running away.

The attack is the latest in a wave of incidents targeting the French Jewish community over the past week which Jewish officials have linked to the unrest in the Middle East.

A 29-year old Jewish man was beaten up in a Paris underground station by 20 young men shouting “Palestine will prevail” following a pro-Palestinian rally in front of the capital's Opera Garnier.
A car with a giant menorah was vandalized and other vehicles were set alight in front of a synagogue in the Paris area. Meanwhile, the Jewish community is following closely the investigation over an attempted murder that left a Jewish doctor in a critical condition on Friday.
70-year-old Dr Desire Amsalem had been shot in the back.
In another symbolic incident, vandals damaged the “Wall of Peace” created by Jewish artist Clara Halter who pleads for peace in the Middle East.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is desperately trying to broker a truce between Hamas and Israel, warned against a contagion of the Mideast conflict and called on France’s communities to remain calm.
French newspapers qualify his attempt to reach a settlement "Mission Impossible" but the public seems to appreciate his efforts in the general international apathy.
Sarkozy's defreeze with Syria - Bachar el Assad's visit in France last summer and his invitation to the prestigious July 14 Bastille Day parade - is even praised in newspapers as a clairvoyant move.

Sarkozy's Interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie gathered Muslim and Jewish officials on Monday, moments ahead of the attack on the synagogue, to discuss the recent tensions and anti-Semitic slogans in rallies against the Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip.

“The conflict should by no means spread to France,” said Richard Prasquier, the head of the Jewish umbrella organization CRIF. Prasquier invited his Muslim counterpart Mohamed Moussaoui to “overcome together” the current difficulties but stressed that certain religious leaders had incited against the Jewish community.

Moussaoui, who heads the Muslim umbrella organization CFCM, condemned all violence and said he was “determined to strengthen relations with the Jewish community in these difficult times.”
Both organizations launched on November 24 common efforts to battle jointly against ant-Semitism and Islamophobia.

However the events may turn in our lovely city, one cannot ignore a strange coincidence.
Yesterday, the day a synagogue was attacked in Toulouse, was also the first day of a major trial, the trial of the three suspects in the attack against the synagogue of Djerba - one of the oldest synagogues in the world. In this al-Qaeda-sponsored attack a Muslim man crashed his explosive-loaded truck into the gates of the ancient temple - killing 21 people. It all happened on April 11, 2002. The accused deny any kind of involvement.

The invisible arm of the WJC

2008-12-28T19:59:00.017+01:00

As the World Jewish Congress is set to meet for its general assembly in January, its European branch is entrenched in an ongoing cold war between its western and eastern delegates.
On December 17, Russian businessman Moshe Kantor was easily re-elected president of the lobby with 55 votes, beating French senior challenger Roger Cukierman who got 28, but the latter, a former leader of the French umbrella association CRIF, told me the battle was far from over.

“I imagine the ongoing war between the East and the West will end with the election of the new president ?” I asked Mr Cukierman hours ahead of the vote.
“Obviously,” he answered ironically “after the election, our differences will fade away – just like in the [French] socialist party!” he said, referring to the spectacular split of the French left wing party after its internal election in November.

The French, Austrian, Portuguese and German communities have been criticising Mr Kantor’s leadership and approach, in some cases even before the billionaire took over the head of the EJC 18 months ago. Some criticise the tycoon’s soft lobbying over the Iranian nuclear issue.
“It seems that it is Mr Putin who convinced Mr Kantor of the relevance of his policies rather than the other way around…” evaluated Cukierman.

Mr. Kantor pleads for a friendly approach – working along with Moscow rather than criticising its cooperation with Tehran…but his opponents argue his stance lacks results.
Others have accused him of focusing on commemorations (Kantor financed the massive 60th anniversary of the “liberation” of Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Kristallnacht commemoration in Brussels) rather than on the challenges the Jewish community is facing today.

All four communities left the lobby in 2008 after a contested vote to stretch the president’s mandate from 2 years to 4.
Some of them even considered creating a new pan-European Jewish lobby, perhaps even a partnership with the American Jewish Committee. This absolute nightmare for the EJC was averted by a thread.

“The idea of creating another European body was indeed considered for a time,” confirmed Cukierman, “but we dropped the plan when we realised it wouldn’t be effective because we would be competing with the EJC.”

The four rebellious communities came back to EJC late 2008 after Kantor accepted to hold elections as planned around June 2009. They thought they would challenge his policies from the inside, even compete for the leadership of the lobby.

But once the communities returned to the EJC, the body - which widely relies on Kantor’s 900 thousand-euro yearly contribution - announced flash elections, and the debate was cut short.

“The EJC can become a strong and influent organisation, but since the day it was created, 20 years ago, it’s a sort of sleeping beauty. It doesn’t really do much of anything,” argues Cukierman. “Our lobbying isn’t well coordinated. Simultaneous initiatives are launched separately in different countries while we should work together. We have to be in permanent contact with decision-makers and with the media in order to inform the public. We should work with the WJC. The EJC used to be its European arm.”

I asked the EJC, for which I worked during a short period of time in 2007, to send me a review of its initiatives over the past couple of years to challenge Mr Cukierman’s remarks, but it failed to do so.
Its secretary general simply told me that the inner conflict was settled and that the vote was announced on time.

Regarding the UN-sponsored Durban II conference due to take place in Geneva in April, which several countries have decided to boycott, Serge Cwajgenbaum said the EJC was still holding meetings to decide whether it would take action or not…
“We have yet to decide whether we’ll participate in the conference or boycott it,” said Cwajgenbaum.

The lobby and the anti-Semitic epidemic

Anti-Semitism is still a major concern throughout Europe. The EJC often denounces anti-Jewish assaults but it lacks an efficient strategy.

The Jewish community in France faced the problem a few years back.

“When I arrived to the head of the CRIF at the beginning of the year 2000, a new wave of anti-Semitism had just erupted – twenty synagogues and schools had been burned down, rabbis had been attacked - yet the authorities, President Chirac and the Left-wing government refused to admit it. The attackers had to specifically write anti-Semitic tags when desecrating synagogues in order for the attacks to be considered anti-Semitic.”

Today, France has solid laws which worsen verdicts in cases of anti-Semitic attacks. The next step was to get actual convictions in court.
Education is another important part of the battle as anti-Jewish stereotypes have flourished in French schools. The media of coarse can't be ignored either. An unbiased coverage is essential to win over the war on the anti-Semitic drive.
This strategy has to be extended to the rest of Europe, especially in these times of crisis in which Europe’s Jewry fears a rise of anti-Semitism.

Tears and Champagne

2008-11-21T07:23:00.002+01:00

American elections have often led Parisian voters to tears and excessive drinking.
As citizens of another country they can naturally not hope to participate in the poll, but a great number of them nevertheless stay up throughout the night, follow the vote, and, strangely enough, feel left out, like un-consulted, invisible citizens.

They gather in bars and in front of city halls, waiting for the results to fall in. In most cases, they helplessly watch the candidates they dread the most win over the vote.
This was the case in 2000 and 2004 when George W. Bush was elected. The French were probably the greatest Gore and Kerry supporters in the world. The two would have won a landslide victory had they been running for our presidential palace. That’s why Bush’s victories hurt them so deeply.

Four years ago I watched my husband’s leftist friends leave for election nights with desperate looks on their faces, I always wondered why they inflicted such pain on themselves.
Early the next morning, as the sun was rising and results came in, they wandered around downtown Paris, drowning their misery in a glass of Beaujolais in bars that remained open for the occasion.

This year’s election ended in even more alcohol and tears than in Bush’s days, but this time they were tears of joy accompanied by confetti and the cheap new Beaujolais was replaced by champagne and macaroons.

People didn’t even have to say the words. Everyone’s eyes projected happiness and relief. The French don’t disrespect John McCain, they were just relieved to see the end of the Bush era. They could now turn back into proud America lovers again.

At my TV station France 24, which aims to become France’s CNN or BBC, about 100 journalists were called up to cover election night.
They have so well anticipated Obama’s victory that many of them spent the night watching CNN.

As I was taking the subway back home, the commuters were all reading the free newspapers handed out in train stations.
A little 5-year-old black boy was looking at the main headline, next to his father. He broke the silence reading out proudly “O-BA-MA. BA-RACK O-BA-MA”.

France’s black minority looks up to the American vote, hoping to get someday similar results. Obama’s victory brought joy, satisfaction, hope to some of Paris’s impoverished suburbs, - “Maybe Obama can make a difference here too” some residents said - but a feeling of bitterness quickly emerged, as they realized the gap existing between the US and France.
A few decades ago African-Americans, such as James Baldwin, came to France to write and work freely. Today, many bright French blacks leave for the US to get the jobs they aim for, which they didn’t manage to get in their home country. They usually return a few years later to their neighbourhoods, share their experience and help the less fortunate residents.

Under the Bush administration, the US embassy in Paris made great efforts to attract minority suburban youth to appreciate the US. Washington financed special programs to bring young Arabs and blacks to the US. Dozens have participated in the program. But now, the stream has turned into a torrential flow. Suburban youth who used to despise the US, were won over and are now inspired by America and by what seems to have turned back into a dream.

Mainstream French Jews, whom are known for their traditionalist and pro-Israeli views, may have regretted Hilary Clinton and John McCain’s defeats more than the average Frenchman. Intellectual André Glucksmann wrote one of the rare op-eds criticizing Obama and those who endorsed him in Europe. But on the whole, the community quickly reconsidered and is now eager to discover Obama’s approach to the situation in the Middle-East and regarding Iran.

***
Breakthrough in a 30-year-old antisemitic bombing

It’s a major breakthrough in the investigation over one of Europe’s major anti-Semitic attacks.
28 years ago, a blast killed 4 people and injured 20 others in front of a synagogue in Paris’s 16th quarter, on Copernicus Street.
It was the first lethal attack against the Jewish community since World War II. Last Thursday, the alleged terrorist was arrested in Canada.

Hassan Diab, a sociology professor at the Ottawa University who has Canadian and Lebanese citizenship, claims his innocence. French authorities said they have solid evidence against him and asked for a quick extradition. This may happen within a few months according to Mrs Michèle Alliot-Marie, French Interior minister.

The Jewish community welcomed the news of the arrest with relief. Richard Prasquier, the President of the Jewish umbrella group CRIF thanked the police for its dedication to the case over such a long period. but the synagogue’s former rabbi Michael Williams said the investigation was only reopened last year.
“For 27 years we have been completely ignored, never questioned by investigators. We obtained no information, although we were there when it all happened.” The rabbi told the French news agency “and then last year, police investigators came to see me for the first time.” The rabbi was particularly shocked by the reaction of the French street and media. “They said we were whiners… that’s when I learned that word, ‘whiners’.”

The breakthrough may be another sign of the French authorities’ new dedication to battle anti-Semitism. Maybe a part of the Sarkozy effect.

There’s an obvious change of approach since the attack took place. The Jewish community was deeply hurt by former Prime Minister Raymond Barre’s hasty reaction after the attack.
He said “terrorists had targeted Jews on their way to the synagogue but hurt innocent French citizens in the street.”
Barre, who passed away a few months ago, never regretted his words.

The Jewish community felt quite isolated at the time. And it sometimes still does today.

Community leaders keep denouncing anti-Semitism in Paris’s northern neighbourhoods, where various gangs have been fighting over territories.
One of the gangs gathers Jews, and they’ve been confronting other minorities.
Several Jews have been wounded. One of them, Rudy Haddad, was left in a coma.

Jewish leaders claim the attacks are anti-Semitic and denounce a growing isolation of Jewish families in those neighbourhoods. But the media and public classified the incidents as ‘ethnic violence’ and said they’re by no means anti-Semitic.
A Jewish journalist from my station even told me the Jews are the thugs who triggered ethnic violence.

Whatever the exact situation on the ‘field’ may be, Jews have an entirely different perception of the events than the rest of society.

« Zionists should move to Arizona! »

2008-09-30T01:23:00.009+02:00

The first ‘Jerusalem Day’ to be held in Paris was banned by police on Saturday, following alerts on possible altercations and incitement.
Several anti-Israeli groups led by the Islamic Zahra Center were planning a joint rally next to the Eiffel tower to protest against “Zionism and imperialism”.

“We wanted to organise here in France Jerusalem Day, the event that was launched by Khomeini, but Zionist groups and media pressured authorities and police who banned the event at the last minute,” Zahra Center leader Yahia Gouasmi told me.

In a video posted on the organisation’s web site, Gouasmi says “Zionism is evil” and condemns the peace process in the Middle East.

“What right do they have to share Palestine? It’s not negotiable.” He says referring to the Palestinian Authority. “The Zionists won’t get a grain of sand. Let’s liberate our country! [...] Zionists, you still have time to leave. Move to Arizona!"

Palestinian officials in Paris gave no support to the initiative and have taken their distances in the past from various anti-Zionist groups, such as the Euro-Palestine list that ran for the European Parliamentary elections.

Actor and anti-Israeli militant Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, a former member of the Euro-Palestine list, participated in Saturday’s initiative. M’bala M’bala, who used to be the partner of Jewish comedian Eli Semoun, hosted a press conference in his theatre.

Zahra Center leaders stressed they were strongly endorsed by “anti-Zionist rabbis such as Shmiel Modche Borreman from Brussels.”

But police forces were particularly alerted by the presence of an extremist group M.D.I which had been banned by French authorities twice. The faction led by Stellio Capo Chichi, known as ‘Kemi Seba’, has been disbanded in 2006 because of its anti-Semitic actions and incitement. It has since reformed twice using different names. Meanwhile, its members have multiplied.

“The police knows that whenever we participate in a rally there’s action. That’s why they cancelled the protest,” an MDI militant told one of his friends at the location of the rally Saturday.

The MDI (the Movement of those who are Damned by Imperialism) accuses ‘Zionists’ of “being responsible for injustice and imperialism throughout the world”. French courts have ruled that Kemi Seba’s repeated attacks on ‘Zionists’ are ill-disguised incitements against Jews.
Kemi Seba and his militants threatened Jews on various occasions. One such attack in the Jewish quarter of the Marais (central Paris) led to the ban of the group by then-President Jacques Chirac.

Kemi Seba managed to grow stronger ever since. Once the leader of a small, exclusively black faction, he opened doors to other militants and his movement now comprises an ‘African faction’ and an ‘Arab faction’. He also developed contacts with white nationalist groups.
According to Le Monde newspaper, Kemi Seba is lobbying the youth in various suburbs and in Paris’s 19th quarter where ethnic tensions rose in recent months.

Jerusalem Day organisers told me they were planning a major reaction on Wednesday.

"Suspected" anti-Semitism?

2008-09-08T22:34:00.004+02:00

Three Jewish adolescents aged 16 to 18 were attacked on Saturday afternoon as they were returning home from the Synagogue in Paris’s troubled northern 19th quarter, where anti-Semitic incidents have increased over the past few years.
The beating took place only meters away from where young Rudy Haddad had been assaulted in June by a group of black and Arab youths and young men, among them a soldier.

The three youths, who were all wearing skullcaps, passed by a group of six young men, when one of them was hit with a small rock in the head. K. turned around and asked his attackers if there was a problem.

Challenged to a fight, he declined and was then beaten with his friends by the group, joined by nine other people.
The beating stopped when other residents approached the area.
All three youths were wounded and filed a complaint at police headquarters. On Monday they started identifying their aggressors.

Interior Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie said she was appalled by the “anti-Semitic attack on three Jewish adolescents on their way to the synagogue”, as did the mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe.

But Police investigators stressed they were not certain the assault was indeed anti-Semitic, arguing that "no anti-Jewish hate slogan was pronounced during the attack".
The press reported on the attack, saying it was a case of “suspected anti-Semitism”.

“There is no need for anti-Semitic slurs to identify the crime as anti-Semitic, just as there is no need for anti-Muslim slogans in order to define an assault on a veiled woman as a hate crime,” Sammy Ghozlan of the Vigilance Bureau against anti-Semitism told me. “The police are just trying to quiet things down to avoid a greater flare-up.”

The Jewish umbrella organisation CRIF agreed the assault was “obviously anti-Semitic”, and the Jewish student organisation UEJF pointed out that the three victims were serious quiet students, who had no prior experience of violence.

UEJF was referring to the case of Rudy Haddad, the boy beaten to a coma in June, who had participated in a previous street fight between Jewish and multi-racial gangs. Because of his past experience, Rudy’s attack was considered by many as a simple street battle and not a hate crime.

However they might be defined, racial hatred and increasing violence have exasperated residents of the neighbourhood. They feel the city is not doing anything to solve the problem, and many parents ask their children to stay at home to avoid trouble.

French Cartoonist triggers national controversy with antisemitic jibe about Sarkozy's son

2008-08-06T21:45:00.003+02:00

Nicolas Sarkozy’s son Jean is at the center of a national controversy after he was attacked by a satirist for allegedly planning to convert to Judaism.

In his article, cartoonist Siné mocked the precautious political agenda of Jean Sarkozy, who’s an elected official at 21 and implied the young man decided to wed a Jew and convert to Judaism in order to push forward his career.

“Jean Sarkozy, the natural son of his father and already councillor within his party, who was discharged at court in a hit and run accident with his motorbike. [...] Well, one must stress that the plaintiff was an Arab! And that’s not all: he just announced that he will convert to Judaism before marrying his fiancée, a Jew, and heiress of the founders of the Darty stores. This boy has some future!” wrote Siné on the July 9 issue of Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper, which had not been reviewed by the newsroom.

The affair could have gone unnoticed but journalist Claude Askolovitch denounced it as anti-Semitic and the newspaper’s manager Philippe Val agreed and requested an official printed excuse from the satirist. But the latter refused.

“Saying I’m sorry to Sarkozy and Darty? I might as well cut off my balls,” he replied, before being fired by Val.
The cartoonist got support from various public figures who argued he had the right to express himself. 3.000 people signed the petition in favour of Siné. They say the manager has double standards, because Charlie Hebdo’s satirical attitude is renowned. The newspaper had published the Danish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad and was sued for doing so by various Muslim associations. Philippe Val pleaded for hours in court in favour of the controversial drawings.

But Val says “criticizing religion, any religion, is not the same as criticizing someone for what they are.” “That is an unspoken rule at Charlie Hebdo” he wrote in a column a week after the controversy broke out. He added that Sarkozy’s conversion to Judaism was a mere rumour.

French news papers are divided on the issue but most of them criticize Siné and point out that he had, in the past, been condemned for anti-Semitic remarks.

Those who defend the cartoonist say that he was fired for his far-left, pro-Palestinian political views and that his latest article was merely an excuse. They accuse Val of harassing his employees and defending pro-Israeli positions.

The Jewish umbrella group CRIF issued a press release in support of Val saying the controversy had turned into a hate campaign against the editor. Intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy wrote that people are focusing on Val’s decision to fire the cartoonist instead of trying to understand why Siné’s remarks were anti-Semitic.

Paris welcomes Assad — but Syrian leader snubs Olmert

2008-07-18T08:01:00.003+02:00

Syrian leader Bashar Assad was a controversial guest of honour at France’s Bastille Day celebrations — and snubbed his fellow guest, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Mr Assad was among more than 40 heads of state at Sunday’s launch of the Union for the Mediterranean, a French initiative to bring together the 27 states of the EU with the Balkans and their Arab neighbours.

His presence in the front row of dignitaries watching the military parade the next day, one seat away from President Nicolas Sarkozy, created unease among opposition leaders, human-rights activists and members of the Jewish community.

French military veterans were also angered because Syria is accused of orchestrating a 1983 attack that killed 58 French troops in Beirut. Several human-rights activists were arrested as they tried to protest.

“Bastille Day is tainted by controversy,” said Socialist leader François Holland.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner himself said last month that he was displeased by Mr Assad’s invitation. Former president Jacques Chirac, who had been a close friend of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri — in whose murder Damascus has been implicated — chose not to attend the parade.

But for Mr Sarkozy, inviting Mr Assad to Paris was not negotiable. “Someone has to take chances,” Mr Sarkozy told a press conference, explaining a U-turn in French policy. He hopes that Syria will turn moderate once it emerges from its isolation, and hopes to launch direct talks between Jerusalem and Damascus.

However, despite weeks of feverish speculation ahead of the summit, there was no handshake between the Syrian and Israeli leaders.

On Bastille Day, Mr Olmert and Mr Assad were filmed on the stage, inches away from each other, but although Mr Olmert looked at Mr Assad, the latter avoided eye contact, let alone a handshake.

A French journalist told Mr Sarkozy at the summit’s press conference that Mr Assad had left the assembly before Mr Olmert’s speech, and that his foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, left before Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni’s address. Mr Sarkozy said he “hadn’t noticed”, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak responded: “So what? Assad probably had other things to do.”

Overlooking the critics, Mr Sarkozy said his initiative was a great success because of the European and Arab states which participated in the summit alongside Israel. Still, the only practical measures agreed were a handful of projects including taking action against pollution in the region and improving shipping routes.

Mr Sarkozy also announced he will visit Syria during the summer.

Ethnic gangs raise new fear in Paris

2008-06-27T18:51:00.009+02:00

By Dana Gloger and Shirli Sitbon in Paris

As the latest young Jewish victim of a violent attack in France woke up from his coma on Monday, debate was reignited on the safety and future of the county’s Jewish community.

Rudy Haddad, 17, was beaten by up to 15 teenagers of African origin in an incident initially described by French authorities as antisemitic. One Arab teen beat Haddad with crutches. Others kicked and jumped on him. None of the suspects have been located yet.

The attack took place in Paris’s multi-ethnic 19th district, which has large Jewish, Arab and black populations.

It comes just three months after Mathieu Roumi, 19, whose father is Jewish, was attacked, held hostage and tortured in the Bagneux suburb of the French capital.

During his ordeal, his captors scrawled “Dirty Jew” on his forehead using correction fluid. Bagneux was also where Ilan Halimi, 23, was kidnapped and tortured two years ago. The telephone salesman had been held captive for three weeks in a crime which both police and Nicolas Sarkozy (then France’s interior minister) described as antisemitic. Mr Halimi died of his injuries shortly after, and the incident sparked fears of surging antisemitism in France, home to around 600,000 Jews.

In the latest incident, Police have revealed that the beating was preceded by gang fights in which two other Jewish teens were injured. According to witnesses questioned by police, Haddad took part in the last scuffle and was caught by his attackers while he was trying to flee the area. Witnesses say he slipped between two cars, while his friends managed to escape. Mr Haddad had been involved in a fight on a previous occasion after a rally for the release of Israeli soldiers Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

Public prosecution opened an investigation on attempted murder charges with an anti-Semitic factor. Chief prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin said investigators have ruled out the isolated attack theory.

Whatever the cause, the incident has provoked renewed debate in France about the safety of the Jewish community, with fears expressed that Saturday’s attack is indicative of a rising tide of antisemitism.

“We issued warnings earlier this month regarding dangerous gangs in this multi-ethnic quarter of Paris,” said Sammy Ghozlan, of the Vigilance Bureau against antisemitism. "The community doesn't understand why the media does not describe the attack as anti-Semitic but as a gang fight."

Even President Sarkozy, who was in Israel this week for a state visit, expressed his concern. Speaking at a dinner in Jerusalem, he said: “I was particularly shocked by what happened to a young Frenchman because he was wearing a kippah. Battling antisemitism concerns all French people, whether they are Jews or not.” He added that antisemitism was “a stain on the tricolour flag”.

Ariel Goldman, head of security for CRIF, the Representative Council for French Jews, said that Jewish people in the country, particularly those in northern Paris, had been left shocked and worried by the attack on Rudy Haddad.“Although everybody has to wait to see what conclusions the police will make, what is evident is that a young Jewish boy wearing a kippah had been attacked and very seriously hurt. People are now very upset and worried.”

One of Mr Haddad’s friends, who did not want to be named, said: “It is very difficult thinking about what happened. We are all very scared. There is violence like this against Jewish people all the time, and it is very hard.”

Most of France’s communal leaders stressed that while Jewish people in the country were safe, and that antisemitism had decreased in recent years, the nature of such attacks had become increasingly violent, leaving people ever more fearful.Serge Cwajgenbaum, of the European Jewish Congress, explained that the past year had seen a decrease in antisemitic incidents overall, but a rise in violent incidents. “It makes people very worried. While people are not necessarily more frightened of walking in the streets, parents are scared to send their children to a Jewish school for example, in case they are attacked.”He added that attacks such as the one on Rudy Haddad created a strong perception of rising antisemitism.

Guy Rosanowitz, who presents a talk show on France’s Jewish radio station Radio J in which callers discuss their concerns and recent events, agreed with Mr Cwajgenbaum.“Previously, when there have been attacks on Jewish people, there was a lot of talk about leaving the country to go to Israel or the US. This time, people aren’t saying this, but they are nervous after what has happened, especially as it’s not the first time that attacks like this have happened in these parts of Paris.” He added: “It generally concerns religious people more, and there has been some discussion of whether it’s best to wear a hat rather than a kippah in public.”

Others, however, claimed that the incident has not caused fear among the Orthodox community. Rabbi Hillel Benhamou, secretary of the Beit Loubavitch Centre in Paris, said: “It has not caused Lubavitch people to be any more worried about walking down the streets in their hats, or religious clothes. People are upset about what’s happened, but they are not scared to walk down the streets.” He added that the community’s main concern was how the incident would affect racial and religious tensions among young people.

Meanwhile, Raphael Haddad, president of the French Union of Jewish Students, said that, given the news that Rudy Haddad had been involved in previous fights, it was no longer clear if Saturday’s attack had been entirely antisemitic in nature.

He rejected suggestions that French Jews felt under threat: “People are not scared. They feel safer than they did two or three years ago.”One of the causes of the problem, according to Raphael Haddad, was that in the 19th district, groups of Jewish and non-Jewish youths “fight in the park every Saturday afternoon”.

France elects chief rabbi in US-style vote

2008-06-27T04:36:00.007+02:00

France elected a new chief rabbi on Sunday after a lengthy presidential-style campaign described by one communal figure as “an unprecedented battle between two radically different characters”.

The victor, Chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim, the 56-year-old rabbi of Paris’s La Victoire Synagogue, beat Chief Rabbi Joseph Haïm Sitruk, 63, who led the French rabbinate for 21 years.

According to communal figures, the election had “turned American”, with a campaign that included video clips on the internet showing the younger rabbi jogging through Paris, comments on social-networking site Facebook, and advertising in the Jewish press. France’s main communal organisation, the Consistoire, responsible for electing the chief rabbi, had never seen such effort and cash invested in an election. One of the 300 members eligible to vote said: “I never got so many phone calls. The chief rabbi [Sitruk] himself left a message on my mobile phone and asked what he could do for me to get my support.”

Rabbi Sitruk was seen as the traditional candidate, “friendly and always ready to tell a joke”, and with a keen interest in business opportunities, such as the launch — during his term of office — of his own kashrut label in competition with the Consistoire label, a move which provoked fierce criticism.

A philosopher and academic, Chief Rabbi Bernheim is widely regarded as an intellectual. However, his supporters say his main quality is his inclusivity. “Bernheim is an open man,” said Jacques Garih, president of the Future of Judaism association. “Let’s face it, 99 per cent of the French are not Jewish, so it’s quite important to have interfaith dialogue. And he’s also open to Jews who are not Orthodox.” He is also expected to resolve the problems facing the Consistoire: “It is going through a tough crisis because Sitruk didn’t take matters in hand and Bernheim presented a serious programme to get the Consistoire back on track and improve its rabbinical school,” said religious and social-studies scientist Martine Cohen. “And Bernheim doesn’t address men exclusively. This is further progress.”

After his victory on Sunday, Rabbi Bernheim told Rabbi Sitruk that “it was time to unite” and offered to “work together”. One of Rabbi Sitruk’s students shed a tear. And as one voter told the JC, “the election was some show”.

Gang beats Jewish adolescent to a coma - all leads investigated

2008-06-23T21:15:00.009+02:00

A 17-year-old Jewish adolescent, Rudy Haddad, was beaten to a coma by a group of adolescents on Saturday night in the north of Paris in an attack initially described as anti-Semitic by French authorities.

“A gang of 15 adolescents attacked the young Jew with metal bars as he was walking down the street wearing a skullcap,” Sammy Ghozlan, from the Vigilance Bureau against anti-Semitism, told the JC. “We have issued warnings earlier this month regarding dangerous gangs in this multi-ethnic quarter of Paris.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said “the aggressors had to be severely punished”. However, police has yet to determine the exact circumstances of the incident.

The attack occurred in a neighbourhood where rival black, Arab and Jewish gangs confront each other regularly and police revealed that Saturday’s beating was preceded by scuffles, apparently over a stolen motorbike.
They also revealed that Haddad had, in the past, participated in a fight and investigators are trying to determine whether the boy, who came out of the coma on Monday, took part in the street fights that preceded his beating.
“The exact motives of the assault haven’t been determined yet,” said police sources.

France’s new chief rabbi Gilles Bernheim said “investigators had to complete their inquiry” but evaluated that “there is no doubt the attack was anti-Semitic”.
Police have detained five black adolescents spotted during the beating.

Racial violence and anti-Semitic assaults committed by ethnic minorities have multiplied in France in recent years.
In 2006, a gang kidnapped and killed 23-year-old phone salesman Ilan Halimi. In 2003, only streets away from the area where Haddad was attacked on Saturday, 23-year-old DJ Sébastien Selam was murdered by his neighbour who told police he would go to heaven because he killed a Jew. The murderer pleaded insanity.

There’s an ongoing debate over Jewish gangs, such as the Jewish Defence League and Beitar, which confront other gangs in the Paris area. One of JDL’s leaders, who presents himself as Michael Carlisle, told me in April that his gang participated in street battles but he said JDL only “fought against gangs that threaten Jews”.
The Jewish community has never openly condemned gangs such as JDL, although the topic was debated in April in the national and Jewish press.

Sarkozy gets cosy with Assad

2008-06-20T04:18:00.004+02:00

Jewish institutions and opposition parties have criticised the welcome extended by French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to Syrian leader Bashar Assad to the summit launching the Med Union on July 13 and to the next day’s Bastille Day celebrations.

“It is not the invitation to the summit itself we are criticising, but the honours given to Assad the next day when he’ll be the nation’s guest at the presidential tribune for the national celebration,” a spokesman for the Jewish umbrella body CRIF told the JC.

But the invitation is seen by others as an opportunity to push negotiations with Syria further after Jerusalem and Damascus revealed their own indirect talks.

Paris has sent two emissaries to Damascus, among them Jean-David Lavitte, France’s former ambassador to the US.

“If the Israelis are talking to the Syrians… let’s not be too smart about things, I think it’s important to talk to people on opposite sides,” said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

“If Sarkozy obtained information about developments and a change in the Syrian approach, then there could be a breakthrough,” political analyst Raphael Drai told the JC.

“But this diplomatic effort will be very complex and difficult to push through.

“There are in fact three negotiations in one: there’s the Israeli-Syrian process, the Lebanon issue, and the attempt to draw Syria away from Iran. Syrians argue that if they accept western demands and move away from Iran, they should at least get in return major advantages in Lebanon and land restitution from Israel in the Golan.”

According to Reuters, Israeli officials said Jerusalem was trying to set up a meeting between Mr Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who will participate in the same events on July 13-14. The Israeli embassy in France told the JC it did not wish to comment on the media reports and that it was currently focusing on Mr Sarkozy’s own trip to Jerusalem, due to take place in a few days.