Anti-Semitism and Politics....

....what a great idea!

Just like it is 1933 all over again.

As the rally was about to end, about one hundred demonstrators headed to the Don Isaac Abravanel Synagogue on Rue de la Roquette (Roquette Street), a few blocks from Place de la Bastille. Two to three hundred Jewish worshipers had gathered there around the chief rabbi of Paris, Michel Gugenheim, for a pro-Israel and pro-peace service. Security was provided by a few policemen and members of two Jewish youth organizations: SPCJ (the Jewish Community Security Service) and LDJ (Ligue de Défense Juive: a French group modeled after the American and Israeli Jewish Defense League). According to many eyewitnesses, the pro-Hamas mobsters attempted to storm the synagogue and to disrupt the service, or maybe even to torch the place; the Jewish youths fought back.

Manuel Valls, the socialist prime minister of France, whose private home is located in the same neighborhood, called Serge Benhaim, the synagogue’s chairman, and urged him to keep the worshipers locked inside the building until substantial police forces could be gathered. It took hours. In the meantime, Rue de la Roquette turned into a street guerrilla theater scene.

More demonstrations took place on the following day, Bastille Day itself, which is usually devoted to patriotic ceremonies only. There were also protests in many other French cities, in spite of last minute bans issued by the localpréfets (ordinary government commissioners) who wield police powers everywhere but in the largest towns. In Nice, conservative mayor Christian Estrosi had urged for days that a pro-Hamas demonstration be banned. The ban was issued so late that police forces did not bother to enforce it. In Greater Lille, where half the population is deemed to be Muslim, demonstrators circumvented the ban by picking up an alternative itinerary.

On July 19, an unauthorized pro-Hamas demonstration complete with Palestinian, North African, and jihadist flags as well as hate slogans against Jews was blocked by the police in the largely Muslim neighborhood of Barbes, in Paris. Street violence ensued.

On July 20 things went even worse in Sarcelles, a Northern suburb of Paris where large Muslim, Jewish, and Middle Eastern Christian communities had hitherto lived together on largely peaceful terms. Pro-Hamas rioters attacked and indiscriminately torched synagogues, Jewish and Christian shops, and public offices. On July 26, another unauthorized demonstration in the Place de la République (Republic Square) area in Paris, partly sponsored by the Trotskyite New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), ended in violence and clashes with the police. Far Right activists joined the rioters. Some mobsters attacked the Marais, the old Jewish district in Central Paris. One kosher restaurant, located near the famous Hector Guimard-designed Art Nouveau synagogue, was targeted in particular.

Only one demonstration in Paris, on July 23, was authorized and went on without major incident. It was supported by thirty-three socialist members of the National Assembly or the European Parliament, and apparently closely supervised by the pro-Palestinian wing of the socialist party. Indeed, in contradistinction with the previous rallies, the crowd was European in outlook, rather than North African or African. Still, Bruno Roger-Petit from Le Nouvel Observateur, a leftwing weekly, pointed out that crude pro-jihadist and anti-Semitic placards could be seen even there, and that members of the anti-Zionist ultra-orthodox Jewish group Neturei Karta, who had taken part in full Chasidic garb in the rally, had been subjected to verbal and physical abuse.

For about two weeks, the mainstream media and the political class dwelled on the issue of anti-Semitism and the need to combat it, even as it masqueraded as “anti-Zionism.” On July 20, while streets in Sarcelles were set aflame, socialist president François Hollande reiterated that “anti-Semitic or racist words or deeds would not be tolerated.“The day after, Valls commented: “What happened in Sarcelles is unacceptable. Attacks against synagogues or kosher shops are racist and anti-Semitic, period.” 

However, a second, very different issue was looming as well. Many people had been shocked, not just by the pro-Hamas demonstrators’ sheer anti-Semitism and violence, but also by their aggressively ethnic or even supremacist attitude. It was perhaps legitimate for demonstrators to wave Palestinian flags. Waving Hamas yellow flags or ISIS black and green flags was certainly more problematic. But what about Algerian, Tunisian, Mauritanian, and Turkish flags? And what about the conspicuous absence of French flags? The message, clearly, was that the immigrant Muslim community, as such, was showing its muscle. And that it was the wave of the future. The Gaza war was merely a pretext.

Conservative media and blogs — which on the whole had been a bit more supportive of Israel in the Gaza confrontation than the mainstream media — were very concerned about the pro-Hamas demonstrations’ implicit message (a “French intifada,” as it was often described), and the rise of an Islamic counter-nation within the nation. The conservative political class, who usually lags much behind conservative public opinion in these matters, took heed. The former conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is likely to run in the 2017 presidential election, letValeurs Actuelles, the authoritative conservative weekly, report the following view: “What is going on now in terms of anti-Semitism is very worrying. … First, what is at stake is our Jewish brothers. … Then, it should be stressed that everybody is going to be somebody else’s Jew. … The next step is hatred for all French people.”

Almost instantly, liberal, left-wing, and progressive media engaged in a global whitewashing of the pro-Hamas demonstrators — a trend culminating with Le Monde, the distinguished newspaper, praising “the #Gaza generation“on its front page on July 25. Moreover, they started a smear campaign against LDJ, presumably in order to show that “Jewish extremists” were as dangerous as jihadists. On July 31, Libération, which is to France what The Guardian is to England, ran a story on its front page on LDJ and the need to ban it. It quoted, quite accurately, senior officials as saying that the interior ministry was prepared to take such a step. Joel Mergui, the chairman of Consistoire, fiercely retorted on several TV channels that he was not aware that “one single Jew on one single instance attacked one single mosque or Muslim place in France,“ and wondered why LDJ should be singled out as a security hazard rather than “the organizers and sponsors of antisemitic demonstrations“ and other hate inciters.

On the same day, a pro-Israel demonstration was held in Paris, one block away from Elysée — the French president’s palace. The new chief rabbi of France, Haim Korsia, said the Prayer for the French Republic, which, as required by Jewish religious law, is said on Sabbath day in every synagogue. Marseillaise, the national anthem of France, was sung. French flags were waved along with Israeli flags. Placards expressing solidarity for Iraqi Christians were displayed. Not a single racist or anti-Muslim word was heard. In fact L’Express devoted its July 9 cover story to the event and the French Jews’ existential dilemmas. It did not prevent Barbier from writing and publishing the astounding editorial where, in fact, he ascribed to French Jews the controversial or unacceptable behavior of many French Muslims.

The love for symmetry and the passion for polarization are powerful human characteristics. Still, it is very unlikely that French liberals, progressives, and liberal media are siding with the pro-Hamas demonstrators and the Muslim community, and getting entangled in anti-Semitic diatribes, just because the conservative media sides with the pro-Israel demonstrators and the Jewish community. Something else must be at play.

Call it the French socialists’ Muslim conundrum. Both President Hollande and Premier Valls are seen, rightly or not, as pro-Jewish and pro-Israel, and have managed to derive some benefit from that. On the other hand, the Muslim vote was overwhelmingly (86%) pro-socialist and pro-Left in the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections and thus instrumental in their otherwise narrow victory (less than two points over Sarkozy and the conservatives in global terms). Many socialists may think they just cannot afford to lose the Muslim vote in future elections.

One way to win back the Muslim vote is to reiterate the socialist administration’s commitment, as Hollande did on Bastille Day, to such revolutionary and possibly unconstitutional measures like granting electoral franchise in local elections to mostly Muslim foreign residents and thus increasing dramatically Muslim political leverage and patronage. Another way is to give the pro-Islamic socialist wing more visibility, as was done with the “authorized” July 23 pro-Hamas demonstration. Still, the wildest card is to pretend to be fighting extremism “on both sides,” which may imply, in practical terms, building from scratch a hitherto non-existent Jewish “extremist threat.”

Hence the LDJ scare, Barbier’s pathetic “Baal-Zebuds,“ and so forth.

Is France heading the way of Greece?

France puts up state owned properties - including apartments in New York - for sale.

Speed bump on the way to the future.

Hundreds of thousands of French Catholics protest same-sex marriage.

Actually, the number may be "a million:"

France Marches for Marriage

Led by a provocative comedian, a gay atheist, and a socialist teacher, protest against same-sex marriage draws one million

As many as a million protesters descended upon Paris from every corner of France today to demonstrate their opposition to the Socialist government’s plans to introduce same-sex civil marriage. The Prefecture of Police estimates at least 380,000 participated in the three marches from different starting points that converged at the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower. Organisers, however, set up special counting stations and claim that, by 7:30pm tonight, over one million protestors had joined the march.
Volunteers charted more than eight hundred vehicles to bring protestors to Paris, while six TGV high-speed trains were reserved for demonstrators. “Had the conditions for chartering trains not been as stringent,” an organiser told Le Figaro “the number could easily have been double.”
“In the freezing cold,” Le Figaro reports, “young, old, and families with children were trying to keep warm waving thousands of pink flags to the jerky rhythm of techno music.”
The entire workforce of the Directorate of Public Order & Traffic was called out to handle the massive demonstration, which forced a Paris Saint-Germain football match to be brought forward. Police believed it would be impossible to secure the area around the Parc des Princes stadium when hundreds of thousands of protesters were expected in the centre of the French capital.

From the "You.Must.Approve" file - Homosexual marriage doesn't affect you...

...unless you want to pray for real marriage in a church.

French Catholic Church pro-marriage prayer provokes gay rights row:

PARIS (Reuters) - Roman Catholic congregations in churches across France prayed for traditional marriage on Wednesday, provoking accusations of homophobia from gay rights groups as Paris prepares to legalize same-sex matrimony.

The rare clerical foray into political debate, on the Assumption Day holiday observed in traditionally Catholic countries in Europe, referred only indirectly to the new marriage law the government plans to pass next year.

But the carefully worded text, first published earlier this month, dominated the news headlines in France, where the media have presented it as a strong attack on the reform.

Church leaders insisted their aim was to launch an open debate about plans to legalize same-sex marriage and euthanasia, two in a list of 60 pledges made by Francois Hollande in his successful election campaign for the presidency last spring.

Well, it is France.

Muslims stone Christians at Mass...

...in France.

From Jihad Watch:

Carcassonne: The faithful stoned during Mass at St. Joseph Yesterday at 6:20PM, as Fr. Roger Barthes began to celebrate mass, four youths, aged 14 to 18, broke into the Church of St. Joseph, before launching handfuls of pebbles at 150 faithful present at the service. Immediately, men began pursuing the young troublemakers, but in vain. They managed to vanish into thin air, heading towards the city La Conte.

Interrupted by regrettable unexpected event, Mass was finally able to proceed as planned. Although no one was injured and nothing was broken in the church, located along the Avenue Jean Moulin, the parishioners, many of whom are elderly, were greatly shocked by the disrespectful act of the youths of North African origin....

Pebbles... four teenagers...things are much worse in the Sudan and Nigeria and other parts of the world where Islam and Christianity are rubbing up against each other.

Nonetheless, notice that the outrages all go one way.

Right idea; wrong remedy.

Michael Coren points out that the French are about to make denial of the Armenian Genocide a criminal offense:

Oh, I just love this. The French intend to make public denial of the Armenian genocide a criminal offence. I don’t agree with this precise approach to the scandal, but I do applaud France for having long defended the Armenian people, and having not allowed the Turkish bullies to promote the vile lie that there was no genocide, and that the Armenians simply died under war conditions. There certainly was an attempted genocide, the Turks certainly did try to wipe out the Armenians, the event certainly did partly inspire Hitler, and for almost a century Turkey has been in organized denial, and various other nations have followed suit. What defies credulity now is that the Turks have accused the French of clamping down on free speech! This from a country that has more journalists in prison than any other on the face of the earth, and that has for generations assassinated writers, politicians, and activists who speak up for the Armenians. There are all sorts of reasons for Paris pursuing this latest project, and it has much to do with foreign policy as well as moral absolutes, but there cannot be a more hypocritical country than Turkey. While invading Kurdistan and killing thousands, they condemn Israel for defending its people. They occupy Cyprus, destroy Christian churches and holy places, kill male and female clergy, arrest military and political opponents on trumped up charges, and now lecture the civilized French on how to behave. Shame on them.

Yes, the Turks are jerks, but to criminalize the denial of a historical opinion is nothing less than Orwellian.

A better answer would be "more speech." If it's such a problem, the French government - or better still, a private foundation - should run commercials on public television educating the French about the Armenian Genocide.

The Tipping Point...

...or welcome to Post-Christian Europe.

Because human nature abhors a metaphysical vacuum.

Practicing Muslims now outnumber practicing Catholics in France:

New research suggests there are now more practising Muslims in France than practising Catholics.

While 64 percent of French people describe themselves as Roman Catholic, only 2.9 percent of the population actually practice the Catholic faith. That compares to 3.8 percent of the population who practice the Muslim faith. The research was carried out by the French Institute of Public Opinion on behalf of the Catholic newspaper La Croix.

More worrying for Islamic authorities in France is the finding that only 41 percent of the country’s 6 million Muslims actually describe themselves as “practising,” although 75 percent are happy to label themselves “believers.” Seventy-percent also claim to observe the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Most French Muslims hail from the country’s former colonies in North and sub-Saharan Africa.

There is also further evidence that mosques are being erected at a much faster rate than Catholic churches. Mohammed Moussaoui, President of the Muslim Council of France, last month estimated that 150 new mosques are currently under construction across the country.

By contrast, the Catholic Church in France has built only 20 new churches during the past decade, and has formally closed more than 60 churches. Many of these are now destined to become mosques, according to La Croix.

Research in 2009 by the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research suggested that nearly 500 new mosques were built between 2001 and 2006, taking the present total to over 2,000. Many of these new buildings, however, were erected to re-accommodate local Islamic communities who had previously been using temporary accommodation – the so-called “Islam of the basements.”

One of France’s most prominent Muslim leaders, Dalil Boubakeur, who is the head of the Grand Mosque of Paris, recently called for the number of mosques in the country to be doubled again – to 4,000 – to meet growing demand.

The lack of building space for France’s Islamic population had led to many mosques not being able to accommodate the believers who arrive for Friday prayers, leaving many Muslims to pray outside in the streets.

But Muslims praying outside of mosques has created political tension.

In December 2010 the leader of the far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen, described such scenes as an “occupation without tanks or soldiers.” She is likely to run for the French presidency next year, and her message is resonating with 40 percent of voters, according to a recent poll for the “France Soir” newspaper.

French President Nikolas Sarkozy has also recently described street prayers as “unacceptable,” adding that the street cannot become “an extension of the mosque.” Last month his Interior Minister, Claude Guéant, suggested Muslims should instead use empty barracks. Prayer in the street “has to stop,” Guéant declared.

In a bid to solve the space crisis in the southern city of Marseille, a mosque to accommodate 7,000 worshippers is currently being built. Twenty-five percent of Marseille's population is Muslim.

Last month a mosque for 2,000 worshippers opened in the eastern town of Strasbourg, where 15 percent of the population is Muslim.
France is often referred to as the “eldest daughter of the Catholic Church,” because the local Church has maintained unbroken communion with the Bishop of Rome
since the 2nd century.

But some senior European bishops have long predicted the eclipse of Catholicism by Islam across the continent.
 
In 1999, Archbishop Giuseppe Bernardini, an Italian Franciscan who heads the Izmir Archdiocese in Turkey, recalled a conversation he had with a Muslim leader for the Synod of European Bishops, which was gathered in Rome. That leader told him, “thanks to your democratic laws, we will invade you. Thanks to our religious laws, we will dominate you.”

Vive La France!

Conrad Black pens a tribute to French chauvinism, xenophobia and hypocrisy.

Seriously.

It contains gems such as describing Khadafi as "a a psychotic, mountebank nomad."  Then, there is this diamond of cultural analysis:

France, in all its feline self-indulgence, was happy to claim for decades its tolerance and vocation for absorption and fraternization with the Arabs, especially while de Gaulle could irritate the Americans by truckling to Arab anti-Semitism, and the French elites could sit in their cafes waving their smoldering Gitane or Gauloise cigarettes and snifters of cognac or absinthe about, extolling the virtues of French trans-Mediterranean Arabophilia (in refreshing contrast to America’s hypocrisy and bigotry vis-à-vis its black population).

And this:

Anyone who knows France knew that as soon as the militant Islamists in France provoked the French by seriously disturbing their enjoyment of their magnificently sumptuous country, the best wined and dined nationality in human history, sharing one of the world’s most distinguished cultures in every field with only 20 or 30 million others apart from the 60 million French themselves, the French public, almost in unison, would throw down the pious mask of fraternal egalitarianism and lower the truncheons of their well-practiced police on the ethnically covered heads of the real infidels.

Good stuff.

Check it out.