In this mailing:
- Guy Millière: France: Anti-Semitism Now Mainstream
- Michael Armanious: Toward Peace and Prosperity in Middle East
France: Anti-Semitism Now Mainstream
by Guy Millière
October 30, 2013 at 5:00 am
October 30, 2013 at 5:00 am
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"You show that it is
possible to be of the Jewish faith without being completely disgusting." —
Standup comedian Sebastian Thoen introducing Elie Semoun on Canal Plus TV.
When a leading Jewish organization complained about "a
dangerous trivialization of anti-Semitism," the President of the TV
channel responded by saying that the Jewish community had "no sense of
humor."
A few weeks ago, when French Jewish actor Elie Semoun was a prime-time guest
on one of the main French television channels, Canal Plus, the words of Sebastian Thoen,
a standup comedian who introduced him may have been meant to be to be
laudatory, but took quite a different turn: "You never plunged into
communitarianism [Jewish activism] ... You could have posted yourself in the
street selling jeans and diamonds from the back of a minivan, saying 'Israel is
always right, f*** Palestine, wallala.' You show that it is possible to be of
the Jewish faith without being completely disgusting."Semoun was obviously ill-at-ease, but did not react. A couple hours after the show, the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) issued a statement denouncing a "dangerous trivialization of anti-Semitism." The President of the TV channel responded by saying that the Jewish community had "no sense of humor." The incident occurred, however, in a context where the French Jewish community has no reason to have a sense of humor.
Comedian Sebastian
Thoen delivers his humorous anti-Semitic routine.
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The publishing company sent a press release for the latest book launch: "A classic of French literature is finally available again." When Jewish organizations protested, articles in Le Monde and Le Figaro (the two leading French daily newspapers) said that Jewish organizations had "overreacted." The publishing company that reprinted Jewish France issued or reissued other books at the same time, such as The International Jew by Henry Ford; The Controversy of Zion by Douglas Reed, the first anti-Semitic writer to deny Hitler's extermination of the Jews, and an Anthology of Writings Against Jews, Judaism and Zionism, including excerpts from the most libelous anti-Semitic writings of the last two centuries. These books are now available at all the most popular French bookstores. Thousands of copies of each have been sold. The CEO of the publishing company Kontre Kulture [Counterculture, with a play on words] is a famous French anti-Semitic writer, Alain Soral; his last book, Understanding Empire, purports to explain the "Jewish hold" on the world; it has been on French bestsellers lists for more than two years.
In recent months, an openly anti-Semitic black comedian, Dieudonné, presented a series of shows in the main cities of France and Belgium before large and enthusiastic audiences. One of his greatest hits is a song ridiculing the Holocaust and the "chosen people" : Shoah-Ananas (Holocaust-Pineapple). He popularized a gesture of greeting which he dubbed "quenelle" (a French dumpling), which echoes the Nazi salute. The "quenelle" salute consists of extending the right arm and straightening the hand, but the arm is lowered, and not raised at eye level. "Quenelle" is now used by many young people all over the country when they want to show what they think of Jews and Israel. Recently, pictures of French soldiers stationed outside a Paris synagogue and welcoming visitors with "quenelles" were published on several websites: a military investigation is now under way. The French Minister of Defense said that one should not attach "great importance" to what happened.
At the end of June, a documentary film, Oligarchy and Zionism, was supposed to be released nationwide. The movie poster, with a likeness to editorial cartoons from Nazi magazines at the time of the Third Reich, should have aroused suspicion: it showed a Jew turned into a spider crushing the planet with his crooked legs. The Jew wore a black jacket with the Star of David and the initials of AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] on his shoulders.
The film itself uses all the themes of "classical" anti-Semitism, with a modern twist. It is based on interviews with Shlomo Sand, author of The Invention of the Jewish People, and Thierry Meyssan, who wrote 9/11: The Big Lie, a book explaining that the September 11 terrorist attacks were organized by the CIA and Israel's Mossad. The film's director, Beatrice Pignede, had previously made the film Snapping up the Memory, glorifying the Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson, and she participated in the Fars film festival in Tehran in 2012.
The film was announced in various mainstream magazines as an "important event." It was not released because Jewish organizations threatened to picket movie theaters. It is available, however, on many websites, and has been widely circulated. Beatrice Pignede said she was a "victim of the Jewish lobby" and that the "fate" of her film is "proof" of what she wants to denounce.
To say that the majority of the French population is anti-Semitic would be going too far. Polls show that a favorite public figure this year is popular Jewish singer Jean-Jacques Goldman. But it is clear that anti-Semitism is rapidly gaining ground in France. It is clear there is a real trivialization of anti-Semitism that goes way beyond some ugly sentences uttered by a standup comedian during a prime time TV talk show.
A few years ago, anti-Semitism in France was still hiding behind the mask of "anti-Zionism" and hostility to Israel. It is still true, but more often now, the targets are the Jews themselves, and the mask of "anti-Zionism" has fallen away.
In a recently published book, Demonizing Israel and the Jews, Manfred Gerstenfeld explains that what happens in France is happening all over Europe. "Polls show," he wrote," that well over 100 million Europeans embrace a satanic view of the State of Israel (...) This current widespread...view is obviously a new mutation of the diabolical beliefs about Jews which many held in the Middle Ages, and those more recently promoted by the Nazis and their allies."
Seven decades after Auschwitz, the oldest hatred is slowly regaining its place on the continent, and it is no laughing matter.
Related Topics: France
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Toward Peace and Prosperity in Middle East
by Michael
Armanious
October 30, 2013 at 4:00 am
October 30, 2013 at 4:00 am
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"Societies based upon
democracy and openness and the dignity of the individual will ultimately be
more stable, more prosperous, and more peaceful." — U.S. President Barack
Obama, September 24, 2013.
In a region where poverty and illiteracy are almost 50%,
democracy is not a priority. The priorities are having a job, something to eat
every night, medicine and education.
For decades, the West has been trying to bring democracy to the Middle East.U.S. President Barack Obama, in his Sept. 24, 2013 speech to United Nations, stated that it is in America's "interest to see a Middle East and North Africa that is peaceful and prosperous." He stated that the U.S. "will continue to promote democracy, human rights, and open markets, because we believe these practices achieve peace and prosperity." His reasoning, he said, was that "societies based upon democracy and openness and the dignity of the individual will ultimately be more stable, more prosperous, and more peaceful."
Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, Foreign Minister of Egypt for seven years, stated in a televised interview in response to President Obama's idealism, that democracy is almost impossible in the Middle East because of its culture and because of democracy's conflict with sharia laws. Unlike the American model of democracy that is based on the separation of church and state, in Egypt, the constitution clearly affirms that Islam is the official religion of the state and Sharia law is main source of legislation. Many intellectuals in the region apparently agree with Mr. Aboul-Gheit's assessment.
In addition, the Middle East, they say, particularly Egypt, is missing the essential pillars of a democratic society. Political and religious tolerance, the rule of law, accountability and transparency, freedom of expression, civil society, an effective education system, and limited government simply do not exist in the majority of the nations in this region.
Too often, as everywhere, people and groups use state power to abuse and oppress their opponents. Where Sunni Muslims are in control, they oppress the Shia Muslims. And where Shia Muslims control the government, as in Iran, they oppress the Sunnis. In Syria, the Alawites – regarded by some as an offshoot of Shia Islam – control the military and have been using murderous tactics keep the Sunni majority at bay, protecting themselves from the oppression they would endure if the Sunnis were in charge. And both of them hate the Christians, and of course, the Jews.
The U.S. and its allies who invaded Iraq in 2003 to oust a brutal dictator and create a democracy seem not yet to understand this reality. In the same speech to the UN in 2013, President Obama confirmed it, stating "Iraq shows us that democracy cannot be imposed by force." Today, sectarian violence among the Muslims of Iraq is a daily occurrence. The bloody war between the Sunnis and Shia, which has been going on for 1,400 years, is erupting again in Iraq and spreading to other countries in the Middle East.
In Egypt, the state-sponsored Sunni clerics who control Al Azhar University, the leading Islamic institution in Cairo, and who issue thousands of fatwas [Islamic religious opinions] every year, are demanding that the government prohibit Egypt's 200,000 Shia Muslims from broadcasting their doctrine on the grounds that they are supposedly not true Muslims. Recently, four members of the Shia leadership were butchered in broad daylight, murdered after Muhammad Hassan, a Salafist cleric, appeared on national television with Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi, and, during his appearance, called on Morsi to constrain the influence of Shias in Egypt. When Morsi did not rebuke Hassan, whose Salafist followers interpreted his statements as a fatwa, they attacked the Shia leaders, and posted their attack on YouTube.
In Egypt, leaders of the Al-Nour Party, comprised of Salafists, demand that the new constitution allow only Muslims, Christians, and Jews to practice their religions in Egypt. (There are less than 100 elderly Jews left in Egypt.)
This Salafist call to designate Christianity and Judaism as lawful religions is not, however, a plea for tolerance: the Salafists consider Christianity and Judaism false religions that should eventually should be eliminated. While they call for Christianity and Judaism to be declared lawful religions in the Egyptian constitution, they have burned churches and killed Christians. In response, Abu Ishaq Al-Heweny, a prominent Salafist Sheikh, asked his followers to restrain themselves. Muslims, he said, should not befriend with Christians, but should have mercy on them. What does this mercy entail? Treating them like "dogs," he explained in a televised sermon.
Salafists engage in interfaith dialogue so long as it is in the West. In September 2013, for example, Nader Bakkar, the spokesman for the Al Nour party, attended a conference in Washington DC about Securing Egypt's Future -- a conference attended by Jews and Christians, the very same people Salafists have terrorized in Egypt.
Today, the rule of law does not exist anymore in the Arab Spring's countries. When thugs attacked the main Christian Cathedral in Cairo, the police stood by around their armored personnel carriers. And when rioters attacked the Israeli Embassy in a high-rise building in upscale part of Cairo, the police and army watched. They even allowed the rioters to climb atop their armored vehicles to gain access to the upper levels of the building where the Israeli Embassy is located.
There has been huge increase in the crime rate in Egypt, with spikes in sexual harassment, kidnappings, and drug use. The government responds by blaming "foreign hands" – a code word for Israel.
Egyptian sitcoms every day feature characters smoking hashish, also known as "hash," yet the authorities blames Israel for smuggling it into Egypt to destroy the youth -- blaming Israel for a problem they themselves have created. Such self-defeating accusations to implicate anyone but oneself are the norm in the Middle East.
Gamal Abdel Nasser's polices are responsible for many of the problems in Egypt and the Middle East, yet he is lionized as a hero. His provocations against Israel set into motion Egypt's loss of the Sinai in 1967; nevertheless, people hold up his photos everywhere in squares around the Middle East, and his legacy today is bigger than in life.
Hamdeen Sabahi, a presidential candidate in Egypt's 2012 elections, ran as the modern-day incarnation of Nasser. Sabahi did not win, but his decision to invoke Nasser as his model shows the power the man still has on the Egyptians' imagination.
By way of comparison, it might help to look at the fate of President Anwar Sadat, who got back the Sinai for Egypt as a result of the 1973 War and ushered in an era of relative prosperity. Sadat was the first Arabic leader to travel to Israel and speak in the Knesset and to sign the first peace treaty with the Jewish state. He also stated that the October '73 war was the last war between Egypt and Israel. Sadat was killed by Islamists – whom he freed from prison. Why? Because he shook hands with the Jews.
In a region where poverty and illiteracy are almost 50%, democracy is not a priority. The priorities are having a job, something to eat every night, medicine and education.
Things may not improve in the Middle East until Muslim extremists recognize that non-Muslims are not a threat to their faith, but that the real threat to their faith is the actions of extremists in their midst.
Things may not improve in the Middle East until Muslims recognize that political Islam never worked in the past and will never work in the future.
When the West separated religion from politics, people were able to build a sustainable civilization worth living in.
When Muslims stop oppressing each other and stop trying to impose their will on non-Muslims, there can be "peace and prosperity" in the Middle East -- insh'allah, God willing.
Michael Armanious, a U.S.-based news analyst and video producer, was born and raised in Egypt.
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Armanious
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