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Here are the Blogs in the Nidra Poller category.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
A Little Something for Anthony Mijares To Think About
 From the Fox News story on the Rutherford Reader:
Anthony Mijares, who complained to Kroger about the Reader in April, said he saw examples of hate speech in an April "Guest Column."
The column called Islam "evil" and called for an end to Muslim immigration.
"While I respect the works of moderate Muslims such as Irshad Manji ('Faith Without Fear') and Tarek Fatah ('Chasing A Mirage'), I wholeheartedly, unfortunately, must assert that the U.S. must halt all future Muslim immigration, until Muslims acquiesce to living within the legal structures of their host nations rather than striving to restructure nations under an evil, de-humanizing, backward and defiling 12th century ideology, even should this take the next 50 years," guest columnist Justin O. Smith wrote in the April 8-14 issue.
Mijares said the comment left him troubled.
"When The Rutherford Reader publishes the statement that Islam is evil, defiling and dehumanizing, all you have to do is substitute the word Judaism (in place of Islam) and you know what that kind of commentary is without question," Mijares told the Tennessean. "People would get it immediately. That is hate speech."
The joke is, the Koran DOES substitute "Judaism" for "Islam"... and say it is evil and worse...vows to exterminate every last Jew. That doesn't trouble Mister Mijares.
I would say this is an absolutely essential point in this case and in all mosque project affairs. Those who defend the mosque project always use bill of rights arguments. The mosque they defend will trample the bill of rights under the prostrate bodies of the faithful. Posted on 07/01/2010 1:32 PM by Nidra Poller
Monday, 10 May 2010
JCall: European echo to JStreet, Part V
Paris, May 10, 2010
Fasten your seat belts! Part 5 will include a first hand report of the Paris press conference of Tayssir Tamimi, Chief Mufti of alQuds. Unless I am mistaken there was no JCaller present to Appeal to the Mufti’s reason or even to listen to his Reasons for demanding... We’ll get to that later. But this visit of the Mufti on the very day when I had planned to tie up the JCall saga, puts a great big green bow on the package. Because, if I’m not mistaken, he is the one who stirred up the faithful who threw the stones at the French tourists on Temple Mount… and then ran to complain that the Jews were defiling Al Aqsa. I think I am the only journalist who caught this huge non sequitur: “Palestinian Muslims pelt French tourists and blame it on the Jews” was published here at NER. It was a flagrant example of Palestinians fabricating an incident to justify attacks on Jews worshipping at the kotel [Western wall] and violence in the old city. Extremists? A lunatic fringe that would peel off and disappear if only Israeli heeded the Call to Reason?
Here’s what happened after Palestinians threw rocks at French tourists:
Saeb Erekat accuses Israel of “deliberately escalating tensions in Jerusalem” by sending police to the mosque compound just when President Obama is striving to bring peace to the region. The Palestinian Authority Information Ministry accuses “Israeli occupation police and extremist settlers of breaking into the courtyard of the mosque, firing tear gas bombs and live bullets” against Palestinian worshipers. The PA demands an emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Gaza government spokesman Tahar an Nazou calls the Islamic nation to defend the al Aqsa mosque against aggression. Hamas authorities order the PA and Fatah to break off “useless” talks with the “occupation,” and advise Arab governments to speak out forcefully against Israeli crimes against al Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinian people, and stop hoping for an American solution. Islamic Jihad leader Abdallah Chami calls the Palestinian people to unite against Israeli plans to undermine the al Aqsa mosque and “Judaize” al-Quds (= Jerusalem). The residents of al-Quds, he adds, will firmly resist Zionist attempts to attack the mosque. PA President Mahmoud Abbas accuses Israeli authorities of “a crime that calls for an immediate intervention of the international community” and warns that these actions “destroy all efforts to bring peace and establish an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
I repeat: what sparked these cries of alarm was Palestinians pelting French tourists on the Temple Mount. That was in October 2009. It was the opening salvo of an operation that did finally make it into mainstream media with the announcement of residential construction in Ramat Shlomo, an insult to VP Biden, an outrage to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an ethical transgression for President Barack Hussein Obama. As a result of Palestinians pelting French tourists on Temple Mount in October, Israel is now threatened with the imposition of a two-state solution if the proximity (meaning “at a distance”) talks now underway do not rapidly yield a Palestinian state. Saeb Erekat has declared: if one single building is built in Jerusalem or the West Bank, the proximity talks will be immediately terminated.
I checked out the Mufti. Yes, he’s the instigator of the staged Temple Mount incident last October. On Friday evening he spoke in Aulnay sous bois along with Olivia Zemmour, president of CAPJPO-EuroPalestine—BDS promoter (anti-Israel Boycott movement). Tamimi was preaching in banlieue mosques all last week.
As I predicted, JCall is a flop. What’s more, our strong European reaction has crossed the Atlantic where it might add depth and muscle to American résistance against JCall’s role model. If JStreet was planning to send carpetbaggers to set up boutique in our old world, they’ll have to think again.
As for “faute morale” or transgression, yes, the JCall petition is indecent. You don’t pile on Israel with specious arguments when the nation you claim to love stands alone on the front lines of defense against jihad. It is indecent to claim moral and intellectual superiority for egging on the multitude of hypocrites who point the finger at Israel while crouching for cover behind that small shield (Magen David).
It was not indecent to carry the controversy into the public square (though the public square has shown no interest either way). It was a miscalculation. Before these wise guys claimed to speak for a silent majority of the European Diaspora they should have done a bit of market research. They can dance circles around their noble reasons for signing but they’ll never fool me: they didn’t expect to be outranked by the clear minded defenders of Zion. Why is this eminently concrete fact obscured?
May 10, 6:30 PM:
JCall 5345
Be Reasonable 8035
+ Con Israele 2346
(Con Israelie Con la Ragione, the Italian petition launched by Fiamma Nirenstein, may include some overlap signatures with Be Reasonable)
Quirky journalism in Jewish media is, with rare exceptions, shielding JCall from its rightful disgrace. Analysts and interviewers focused on the big “you are here” arrow printed on JCall's map, were glibly announcing, “more than 5,000 have already signed the Appeal”… when more than 7,000 had signed the counter petition.
Evelyn Gordon didn’t even mention the Be Reasonable petition that had gathered 6269 signatures to JCall’s 4749 in her critique of JCall (Commentary blog, Contentions, May 5 “JCall and the Distress of European Jewry”). She dumped on us collectively:
It’s hard being a Jew in Europe today. So it’s understandable that some would seize on anything, however irrational, that labels itself “pro-Israel” while not violating the European consensus. But their Israeli and American brethren must remind them of the truth: being “pro-Israel” in Europe today requires emphasizing Palestinian guilt, which Europeans routinely ignore, rather than reinforcing their “blame Israel” reflex. And it requires lobbying against “pressure” that can only be manifest through BDS.
As if we didn’t know!
Michaël Bar Zvi, stalwart lucid author of Après la Shoah, Eloge de la guerre [After the Shoah, in praise of war] was interviewed on Radio J last week. Though he deplored the incoherence of the JCall petition, he didn’t sign Be Reasonable because he doesn’t sign any petitions. “You never know what kind of company you’re going to keep.” I agree. I don’t sign or circulate petitions. Be Reasonable is an exception. It’s a petition to end a petition and create a movement. And it saves the honor of Europeans, Jewish and non-Jewish, who reacted appropriately to JCall’s abrupt display of pretentious ignorance.
Trying to pawn off a mummified Peace Now mentality as a fresh new voice, the framers of the Appeal to Reason haven’t noticed that the ante has been upped. The October assault on Temple Mount was the prelude to a new phase in the ongoing war against Israel. It was followed by other fabrications designed to intensify the negative image of Israel. The endless production of false evidence connected with the Dubai hit made the Mossad look both clumsy and guilty. This was rubbed in by the high profile scolding of Israeli ambassadors for the alleged use of fake “friendly- nation” passports for the said hit. That dragged on until the approval of housing construction in Ramat Shlomo could be added to the list of sins. The building of apartments in Jerusalem justified bringing Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in through the servant’s entrance and dressing him down like an incompetent bellboy. Behind all the clamor, Obama craftily shifted the cards. Jerusalem went from undivided capital of the Jewish state to illegal settlement…
Each of these issues was another hundred lashes on Israel’s back, and you can imagine JCallers wincing from the pain and embarrassment… to themselves! Does that justify begging for more lashes until Israel cries Uncle?
No one thinks the proximity talks will lead to a two-state solution and now that Barack Hussein Obama has taken the whip in hand, who cares? The old deal—withdrawal to the ’49 lines, creation of a Palestinian state with X% of Jerusalem as capital, solution to the refugee problem—has lost its charm. The new deal is a nuclear-free Middle East. And guess who has to make the painful concessions on that one?
Your money and your life! The U.S., Russia, China, Great Britain, and France are now calling for a nuclear-free Middle East, meaning Israel would give up the nuclear weapons it doesn’t officially possess and Iran would continue to develop the nuclear arms program it denies. The vast majority of Israelis understand that relations with the Palestinians, partially calmed since the Cast Lead operation, are on the back burner. The Iranian threat is volatile. Israel is at the far end of the red alert spectrum that loses intensity as it goes through Europe and fades to pale pink in the United States. If Israel does not stand firm, we will all be in high alert.
The distress of American Jewry is that they still do not realize what they have wrought. Their blind support of Barack Hussein Obama cannot be undone with the current flutters of self-righteous regrets. He’s there now! And nobody and nothing is stopping him.
The new locale of the CAPE (Centre d’accueil de la presse étrangère) is tucked right inside the great hall of culture, the Grand Palais. Friday’s press conference, organized by the Centre d’accueil de la presse arabe, was almost a private affair. The Grand Mufti spoke in Arabic, sparsely and awkwardly translated, and the French-speaking Arab journalists asked their questions in Arabic. None of them identified themselves. There were no questions from the four or five infidels who attended.
The turbaned Mufti began with a lament. He is not allowed into Jerusalem because he protests against the occupation. Muslim men under the age of fifty are not allowed to pray in al Aqsa mosque. Why does the world stand by and let this injustice persist? Who will help the Palestinians?
Tamimi’s accusations against Israel were delivered in the same plaintive tone. What do they mean by “a Jewish state”? We don’t say ours will be an Islamic state! Islam teaches us to treat Jews properly. They lived peacefully in Muslim lands. We appeal (there you have it…they too Appeal) to the whole world to help us live in peace. What do they mean, including the mosque of Hebron [Cave of the Patriarchs] in the Jewish patrimony? Mosques have been burned in the West Bank. When you harm a religion it is the worst crime.
Then he broadened his constituency: alQuds does not only belong to the Palestinians, it belongs to a billion and a half Muslims in the world. It does not only belong to the Muslims, it belongs to over a billion Christians. I am president of the Muslim-Christian association. When the Pope [Benedict] visited I asked him to make a statement. He didn’t. [In fact Tamimi stood up, uninvited, and delivered a tirade against Israel in the Pope’s presence]. Israel pursues its policy of expelling Muslims and replacing them with colonists.
Sociologist Nacéra Guénif intervened, over the objections of journalists who wanted to ask questions like one does in a real press conference. She spoke in French so I was able to capture her discourse in all its dimensions. Guénif compared the Bataille d’alQuds to the Bataille d’Alger, that is, the ultimate image of a heroic struggle against a colonial power, culminating in Algerian independence. Being a sociologist Guénif spoke in terms of “problématiques.” The use of the term “Holy Land” is problematical in secular France because it reinforces a link with the Christian past. And they say “Jerusalem” instead of alQuds. This is problematical for young French people of “diverse” origins. The problematical issue of alQuds is subordinated to the problematical issue of Palestine. This explains why they know so little about what we have heard here today. They are more easily mobilized by the question of Gaza. They inhabit an imaginary geography elaborated in France. Look at those who are mobilized for the BDS campaigns.
If the problematical issue is reconceptualized, taking into account the extreme secularization of French society, it re-emerges with a focus on the policy of colonization-- settling Jews, what’s more, observant Jews, in alQuds. But alQuds does not belong only to religious people. Focusing heavily on the religious issue keeps it from appealing to the masses of Muslims in France, who are not religious. AlQuds is a universal issue!
The question & answer session finally began. Asked about the persecution of Christians in Gaza, the Mufti was categorical: Palestine has the best relations between Christians and Muslims anywhere in the world. I’m not a member of Hamas, but… On Al Jazeera, Michel Sabah [Latin patriarch of Jerusalem] thanked Hamas for protecting the Christian population. No one is allowed to harm Christians in the West Bank. It’s an Islamic tradition. [A bit of research reveals that Tayssir Tamimi is known for his hatred of Christians. ]
The jackpot question concerned the eventual sharing of Jerusalem. Would the Mufti be satisfied by an agreement that would attach the Arab quarters to the Palestinian state and leave the Jewish quarters in Israel?
The Mufti is not in favor of separate neighborhoods for Jews and Arabs. He is against ethnic separation. Why separate? We should all live together in peace. In alQuds, the Palestinian capital. The Oslo agreement says Jerusalem will be the Palestinian capital. And the Israelis immediately shut down all Palestinian institutions in alQuds. We do not recognize any other city as our capital. There will be no peace if Jerusalem is not recognized as our capital.
Your money and your life. The right of return and Jerusalem. The right to fill Jerusalem with right-of-returnees, obliterate it, and replace it with alQuds. Withdrawal to the ’49 armistice line and renunciation of the right to hold weapons of last resort. Relinquish the territories and relinquish the ultimate defense against extermination.
Is Tamimi the extremist spawned by the unsustainable status quo that Israel can reverse by surrender to EU and Obamist-American pressure? Is the turbaned Mufti a fringe Islamist who would have no constituency if only Israel would listen to Reason?
Look again. There is an unbroken chain from Tamimi who fabricates Temple Mount incidents to Abbas who uses them as grounds for an appeal to the UN and, beyond Abbas, to Obama who is bringing the full weight of American power to bear on the Jewish state. No American president, no leader of a democratic country has ever been so ruthless with Israel. And American voters put him there. They were misled by the same kind of muddled thinking that gave birth to the JCall Appeal to Reason.
Common sense shows us the stark situation. Iran will not be stopped by anything short of a military attack. The task is being left to Israel. Israel is preparing for retaliation from all directions if and when it strikes. Jews in France will be exposed to a wave of violence far worse than all we have seen since October 2000. And it will hit American Jews too.
Are we ready? Posted on 05/10/2010 3:47 PM by Nidra Poller
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
JCall: European echo to JStreet, Part IV
Paris May 5, 2010
Grenoble, 11 April. Friday evening a group of punk jihadis [the media call them “youths”] are kicked off the tramway for rowdiness. Four ordinary young people get off the tramway at the same stop in the center of Grenoble. The punk jihadis hassle the normal citizens, insult them, ask the young woman for a cigarette. When she replies, honestly, that she doesn’t have any left, they fall upon her friend Martin, a 23 year-old cartographer, knock him down, kick him in the face with all their might, stab him in the arm and chest, perforating a lung. Martin barely escaped with his life, the thugs escaped but some were found—thanks to tramway video surveillance -- and arrested.
Justice is done? You don’t know the half of it. We who live here cannot count the ways in which the basic freedom to come and go, essential to the European urban way of life, is hanging between life and death. Two victims of the November 2005 uprising were killed that way, kicked and pummeled to death in the space of a few seconds. One took a picture of a lamp post in what turned out to be a no-go zone, the other tried to put out a fire in a garbage can. How do you balance this “cultural artifact” in the social equation? And what do you do when the forces of law and order are apparently helpless?
Talk about “faute morale”! (I translated the term as used in the Appeal to Reason to describe the settlements as “moral transgression” but perhaps it should be “ethical transgression” or just “transgression.” It is closer to sin than to error). European citizens can—and do—accuse their governments of “faute morale.” Of allowing their countries to become bi-national states in which those who uphold its culture and traditions, whatever their ethnic origin, are turning into a besieged defenseless minority. Not a numerical minority, or at least not yet, but a minority in terms of balance of power.
What could be in the minds of intellectuals who address their grievances—against Israel—to the parliament of this Europe-in-distress? That is the crux of the problem: the epistemological error of holding Israel responsible for turmoil in its neighborhood and by extension in the whole wide world is the faute morale and the impotence and the blindness of the JCallers and all who came before them. Because theirs is no wake up call. It is a replay of a worn out tune.
Where is the intellectual muscle of these certified thinkers who are trotting behind Obama, desperately trying to hand him supplicating messages from the hinterland as he gallops across the burning sands on his Arabian stallion? Are they still drunk from the heady presidential campaign? Do they get their information on Obama from French media? From JStreet hasbara? Where is their perspicacity today, when Barack Hussein Obama repeatedly “assures” Israel that the US will guarantee its security? This from the right side of his mouth, while the left side gurgles over a nuclear-free Middle East. And Hizbullah is caressing the flanks of its brand new Scuds acquired with implicit UNIFIL consent. That’s how the EU, the US, and the UN gang up to ensure Israeli security.
5 May, 5 PM: JCall 4749 Be Reasonable 6269 (+ 1520 over JCall)
If the figures continue on this same path, they will become the facts. We, Diaspora JCall Jews who love Israel and despise its government, who love Israel up to a point (’49 frontiers) and can’t stomach it beyond, do solemnly declare…that we are an insignificant gaggle of straggling voices. And our gesture is starting to look like a swan song.
OK Yankees, can you knock out JStreet with the same krav maga force? Michel Gurfinkiel [http://michelgurfinkiel.com/] forceful writer and sharp intellect, posted an in-depth profile of JStreet, its origins, its financial backers, its 3-tier structure—a do-gooder grassroots street level that obscures a shadowy underground which, unencumbered by the pro-Israel yoke, responds to its Master’s Voice. Is JStreet, Obama’s Jewish playmobil, an example that European Jews should want to follow, asks Gurfinkiel. His answer is No, and he is active in the Be Reasonable movement now gathering steam. Michel’s judgment on the high profile JCallers is merciless. Where some might give a bit of slack to one sincere European Jewish thinker misled by a few disgruntled far Left Israeli politicians in exile, Gurfinkiel dismisses him as a silly dancer who passes off opportunism as tortured conscience and earnest truth-seeking.
Gurfinkiel notes that JCall’s website was registered under the name of David Chemla, French leader of the moribund Peace Now. The postal address is that of the Centre Bernard Lazare, a small community center that also houses the left wing Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzaïr. Two members of HH were beaten up by Muslims from the anti-Zionist CAPJPO during a “peace march” in March 2003. The CAPJPO, now merged with Euro-Palestine, runs BDS Israel boycott operations. Videos of BDS commando intrusions in Carrefour supermarkets and H & M shops are proudly displayed on their site http://europalestine.com/. Here’s their take on JCall: while Cohn-Bendit BHL, and other self-proclaimed “reasonable European Jews” are putting on their show in Brussels, their “leftist” Zionist friends in the Kibbutz movement are colonizing the Jordan valley. What is Alain Finkielkraut doing with a naughty old roughneck like Cohn-Bendit in a purportedly Israel-friendly enterprise that regurgitates stale peace process rhetoric? Is he simply dancing to the house music and holding on to his perks? Finkielkraut was battered all up and down the French media and his career almost went down the drain when he analyzed the 2005 uprising as an ethnic, religious movement. I publicized his case and defended him in the National Post and other outlets. But when I asked to interview him for Makor Rishon he declined. If I remember correctly his leftwing Israeli friends told him to stay away from that right wing paper. Shortly thereafter, struck with a very serious medical problem, he reduced his professional activities, gave up his popular Qui Vive program on Jewish radio, avoided touchy Middle East questions on his Répliques program (France Culture). His reputation for intellectual courage and integrity has withstood these retreats. A film portrait of Finky, as he is affectionately called, aired on TV5 last week. I watched with rapt attention, looking for the chink that could explain why he got roped into JCall, why he can’t let go of the peace process illusion, why I still believe in his sincerity and understand his abiding appeal. Someone who is not Jewish, who only knows Finkielkraut from his books and radio programs, who has never met him in person, said to me after viewing the film, “It’s strange. I feel like I am his friend.”
As for me, I discovered that we are landsmen: his mother comes from Lvov, my father z”l from nearby Przemysl. Why do I think it would be salutary for Alain to drop out of the JCall club?
Shlomo Malka, CEO of Radio Communauté Juive, former student of Emmanuel Levinas and author of several authoritative works on the philosopher—Finkielkraut is a founding member, with Bernard Henri-Levy and the late Benny Levy, of the Institut des etudes Levinassiennes—interviewed his friend Alain last week [Le grand entretien, May 2 http://www.radiorcj.info/,]. The following is a transcript of extensive excerpts of the interview, freely translated.
Shlomo Malka: Many people in our audience who love you are surprised that you signed the JCall petition.
Alain Finkielkraut: I signed “with a heavy heart.” Israel is more than ever in danger from Iran proxies, Hamas and Hizbullah, and target of a campaign of hatred. Israel, more than ever, needs our support. I called David Grossman yesterday, asked him if he agrees with the Appeal. He said current Israeli policy is suicidal. It will lead either to a binational state or apartheid. Grossman said he spoke to Bibi and is convinced he has no sincere intention of negotiating with the Palestinians. We need American pressure. David Grossman agrees with the terms of the Appeal but is not sure it’s a good idea to issue it. It could be counter-productive. It could cause hardline Israelis to be even more intractable, because they don’t like outside pressure, don’t like to take lessons from outsiders.
SM: Shouldn’t Hamas and Fatah reach an agreement first?
AF: No. That’s just an excuse… it’s because of the fear of giving up the settlements. And the reaction to our Appeal in the French Jewish community is evidence of this “exacerbated Zionism.” Israel makes itself the Jew of nations [that is, brings this hatred on itself]. Look at the calls for boycotts in the universities. The Palestinians are not divided between Hamas and Fatah, they’re divided between those who want a state, and those who want something else. Still, the settlements are bad for Israel. The mediator has to pound the table and force Israelis to negotiate. If they want to remain firm, as they should, on Jerusalem and the right of return, they have to be flexible on other questions.
SM: Who is the Appeal addressed to? Why are you asking for pressure when you say you are calling for reason?
AF: The settlements are the worst policy.
SM: Tzippy Livni is not asking for pressure.
AF: David Grossman says Israeli policy is suicidal. You can be both threatened and suicidal.
SM: How about the kind of pressure from Sarkozy who tells Bibi he should replace Lieberman with Livni?
AF: No, I don’t agree with that kind of pressure. But it’s a sign of real friendship. And it would be better if he got rid of Lieberman.
SM: Why is the Appeal going to be presented to the EU Parliament?
AF: I don’t know. It is in no way connected to calls for boycott of Israel.
SM: You won’t be in Brussels. Is it because you don’t approve?
AF: No. I have medical reasons for not attending. If I went to the Parliament I would have made an appeal to recognize the campaign of hatred against Israel for what it is.
SM: JStreet has a political action wing. Do you intend to do that with JCall in France?
AF: No. But now the debate is open again. After the painful years we have gone through when it wasn’t possible. But why this counter appeal right away? [irascible] They don’t even mention the pursuit of settlements. It’s not “raison garder” [be reasonable] it’s “maison garder” [keep the homestead]. They want to keep the territories. Instead of transcendence now they brandish the enemy as an excuse to defend the settlements.
Alain Finkielkraut was not able to attend the ceremony but Leila Shahid was there in her role as Palestinian delegate to the EU. She expressed her delight at the JCall initiative in an interview with the Nouvel Observateur. It’s wonderful, she declares. It breaks the deadlock created “when Ehud Barack [sic] in 2001 so to speak assassinated the Israeli peace camp” by claiming the Palestinians didn’t want to make peace. “The solution to the conflict will of course be negotiated officially by Israeli, Palestinian, Arab, European, and American representatives…” but JCall is a welcome change from those like the CRIF who blindly follow the Netanyahu government.” Does madame Shahid agree with Ze’ev Sternhell, that Israel has to abandon territories occupied in 1967 and the Palestinians have to renounce the right of return?
Not at all! “The question of the right of return is fundamental to the Palestinian question. We can negotiate on the application of the right of return but we can not renounce the right of return because it is an inalienable right.” “Netanyahu has demonstrated by his policies that he is not interested in discussing with us,” concludes Leila Shahid. But now there is someone to talk to. A new Diaspora movement. JCall. That changes everything.
Really?
May 5, 9 PM: JCall 4813 signatures, Be Reasonable 6402
Is JCall a flash in the pan?
Tune in for Part 5, which will conclude the saga.
Posted on 05/05/2010 3:38 PM by Nidra Poller
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
JCall: European echo to JStreet: Part III
Paris, 4 May 2010
Part I is here.
Part II is here.
How about that? The serious suspect in the almost successful Times Square Mayday bombing is a dual national. Pakistani. And he was caught just before his plane took off for Dubai! Dubai? Is he a Mossad agent or something? No, seriously, he was on his way to Dubai and meanwhile thousands of women are looking for the man who took off a long-sleeve black t-shirt, stuffed it into his bag, and walked off in a short-sleeved red t-shirt. He’s not bad looking. OK, maybe he’s married and has three kids. No need to be a homebreaker, there are millions more like him and as the summer warms up—if it ever does, we are freezing today in Paris—there will be millions more. You’ve got to admit, men who take off a t-shirt and stuff it into a bag are far more suspicious than Pakistanis who buy SUVs for cash after spending 5 months in the homeland.
What does this have to do with the JCall-Be Reasonable controversy? Everything, of course.
French mainstream and mass media barely noticed last night’s JCall show at the EU Parliament in Brussels. The debate continues, unabated, in Jewish media.
[I tuned in on the JCall site just to check the numbers and landed on the video live from the Parliament. Elie Barnavi had just begun his presentation. I had missed Maurice Szafran’s intro, and maybe one other speaker.] The former ambassador began with a disclaimer: JCall is not a copy of JStreet, its initiators are not Leftists. They are “the voice of Reason.” And that voice says that even if all the Arab-Muslim countries in the region were determined to destroy Israel, the reason for the call would not change. Israel must get out of the settlements.
Another former ambassador, Avi Primor, made a heartfelt Reasonable appeal to the EU parliamentarians: your role is to calm relations between Israelis and Diaspora Jews, to help us help Israel integrate into the world. The majority of Israelis want to get out of the territories but they voted for a government that won’t do it. Why? “Ils ne savent pas à quel saint se vouer [they don’t know what saint to worship].” They have to know that we will ensure their security after they’ve withdrawn from the territories.
Ze’ev Sternhell, one of the founders of Peace Now, isn’t ashamed to identify himself as a Leftist, meaning, he says, someone who was right 30 years ago… when it was forbidden in Israel to even speak of a Palestinian state. Now everyone knows that is the solution. The War of Independence that ended in 1949 is Israel’s only just war. Subsequent wars—’67, ’73, etc.—are unjust. We need intervention from the U.S. and the E.U. to get us back to the 1949 situation [=borders]. Jews have nothing to do in the West Bank and Arabs have to abandon the right of return. Given what he sees as the only alternative—separation along the ’49 lines or a binational state with a Jewish minority— Sternhell says if he wanted to be a minority he would choose someplace where life is easier than in Israel. [Brussels, for example?]
After Daniel Cohn-Bendit (see Part 2 for a summary of his contribution) came Bernard Henri-Levy who admits he did not have much time to follow the controversy sparked by JCall because he was busy defending a friend—Jewish in fact--who is unjustly imprisoned: Roman Polanski. But, he did find a few hours to look over the hostile responses and could now dismiss them by categories 1, 2, 3, and 4. In fact, the popular philosopher set up straw men and knocked them down with a whiff. “There has been much excitation… many respectable thinkers have lost their sang-froid.” He did admit that if he had written the Appeal to Reason he wouldn’t have used the term “moral transgression” to describe the colonization.
N.B. In all this Reason, the line that got an outburst of applause was delivered by Eurodeputy Cohn-Bendit—to be a democratic state, Israel must be a secular state!
Other Reasonable Voices have spoken out recently. For example, French ambassadors who addressed an open letter to President Sarkozy on 1 March 2010 bemoaning the total impasse due to the intransigence of an Israeli government under pressure from the “colonists” and a weak, divided Palestinian side. But messieurs les ambassadeurs have The Solution: withdrawal to the ‘67 borders, partition of Jerusalem, solution to the Palestinian refugee problem. The international community, they say, is unanimous in condemning the terrible consequences of more than 40 years of occupation (wall, colonies, expropriation, land grab in Jerusalem). It is urgent to put an end to the blocus of Gaza and impose international law, “which alone can establish lasting peace and order.”
Under the heading « lasting peace and order » it should be noted that the Belgian Parliament in its last gasps, just before it collapsed, passed a total anti-niqab (& assimilated full facial covering) ban. Europeans have their own walls to deal with, walls erected against them by hostile local populations operating at every level of society, from the inner sanctum of banking with sharia compliant finance to street skirmishes between punk jihadis and hapless policemen. Europeans—and that includes immigrants and freedom-loving nominal Muslims—are becoming a Diaspora in their own lands.
Shmuel Trigano is, in my opinion, one of the most perceptive, courageous thinkers in France today. I cannot begin to enumerate his accomplishments—books, research, symposiums, the review Controversies, academic pursuits—and his tireless effort to conceptualize the dramatic situation of Jews in France today. Shmuel Trigano is not a performance intellectual. His thought is action. And he immediately jumped into action, with Raphaël Draï, to respond to the ear-splitting JCall. Interviewed by the UPJF (Union of Jewish entrepreneurs) www.upjf.org "L'appel de J Call est un encouragement à la guerre pour les ennemis d'Israël", S. Trigano:, Shmuel Trigano made the following points:
Presenting Israel as the sole obstacle JCall invites the imposition of a “solution” that is presented as “peace.” This short circuits the government of the only democratic State in the region, putting it under international stewardship. How can the supporters of JCall define their initiative as “concern for Israel” when they undermine its sovereignty? They place their hopes on Obama and the European Union who are antipathetic to the State of Israel and undeniably committed to the Arab and Palestinian cause.
The idea of Peace Now, says Trigano, is no less messianic than the “Block of the Faith.” There’s nothing “rational” about it. How can anyone continue to uphold such a position after the failure of withdrawals from the West Bank, Lebanon, and Gaza? The withdrawal J Call is appealing for would lead to the same kind of catastrophe…and worse.
Our “Be Reasonable” declaration is the initiative of independent personalities whose only resources are reflection and morale conscience. Its success with the public and with Jewish institutions is encouraging.
[9:30 PM May 4: JCall 4559 signatures, Be Reasonable 5909]
Trigano cites a typical AFP release (28 April): JCall, it says, has upset the French Jewish community. "Unacceptable » for CRIF President Richard Prasquier. Many negative reactions are posted on the Net. “JSSNews.com, an Israeli opinion webzine, primarily written in French, launched an anti-JCall campaign baptized [sic] "Raison garder," and relayed by the Union of Jewish entrepreneurs and professionals.” In other words, remarks Trigano, our declaration has to be “communitarian” and we are some kind of foreigners who strangely enough speak French.
What we need now is relays and the means to keep up our active presence in this debate.
Here ends Part 3 and I have barely scratched the surface. JCall is going to regret calling me! While waiting for Part 4, check out Hanging-up on “J-Call” by my brilliant friend Emmanuel Navon. Posted on 05/04/2010 5:43 PM by Nidra Poller
Monday, 3 May 2010
JCall : The European Echo to JStreet, Part II
Paris 3 May 2010
Taking up where I left off, here is a brief summary of the “Be Reasonable” petition--launched by a non-sectarian organization in formation--that you can read in full, in English on the site [www.dialexis.org]. “Be Reasonable” rejects the pretentions of intellectuals and personalities who use their Jewish label as proof of objectivity. Contrary to those pretentions, the Appeal to Reason is neither democratic, moral, nor an expression of Diaspora solidarity with Israel. Israel is held as solely responsible for the impasse, whereas opinion polls consistently demonstrate Palestinian rejection of a peaceful solution of the conflict with recognition of Jewish rights to Jerusalem. Creation of a Palestinian state in the context of enduring hostility in the Arab world would leave Israel in a condition of’ “lethal strategic weakness. “
The “Appeal to Reason” forgets that the Oslo agreement led to an unprecedented wave of terrorism, the retreat from Lebanon to the establishment of Hezbollah, the Gaza withdrawal to a Hamas coup d’État and rocket attacks. If Hamas took control of “East Jerusalem” and the Palestinian state, would those who signed the Appeal to Reason say they’re sorry?
The Appeal to Reason is partial and partisan; it aids and abets the forces that promote anti-Israel boycotts and delegitimization of the State of Israel.
In the face of the existential threat to Israel “Be Reasonable” intend to build a genuine movement within the EU to defend the legitimacy of the State of Israel and combats growing anti-Semitism.
The debate inspired by the JCall initiative cuts across every line of my own crisscrossed itinerary at a point that could be described by my favorite line from Dante: in mezzo camina della vita, sparita… I lived to the age of 37 years in the land of my birth, the United States, with a 3-year interval in London, and have been living in Paris for 37 years. My life is a living debate! Debating with family members in the U.S. who think voting with Israel as a priority is single-issue narrow mindedness and voting for abortion rights and gay marriage is enlightened. With Zionists in France who thought George W. Bush was a lying warmonger. With Zionists in the U.S. who believed cross my heart and hope to die that Obama loves Israel. With French friends who thought Obama was the key to transatlantic reconciliation.
American friends and colleagues were eager to hear me report the evils of anti-Semitic Europe. Then Obama snatched our vast powerful country like an apple on a pushcart. I don’t think the American way—grassroots, talk shows, backing candidates and winning elections—is going to work this time. Something “old world” has happened to the land of my birth, something so heavy, so tragic, so foreign that it calls for a kind of thinking you have discarded. “Make it short and simple” was fine when things were going well and that youthful energy we all admire set things in motion at a dizzying pace. Alas, the dizzying pace is no longer ours. It has been handed over to our enemies.
The reaction to JCall is thunderous and the princes of reason who issued it have deftly integrated that reaction into their discourse: Didn’t we tell you that the problem with Jews is that they get all excited and think you’re trying to exterminate them every time someone … uh… threatens to exterminate them?
I watched the video on the JCall site. Urbane, distinguished, at ease facing row upon row of European parliamentarians this evening they presented and defended their Appeal. Ahmadinejad at the UN, Reasonable Jews at the EU, the wild jihadi addressing the travesty of international understanding, the ultra-rational Jews asking for spiritual guidance from the Eurabian EU.
Latest tally: JCall 3946 signatures Be Reasonable 5081.
In Nîmes today a 78 year-old Jewish man was attacked by three men who sprayed teargas directly into his eyes. He had come out of the synagogue, which is near the train station, to put a package in his car, and was on his way back when they fell upon him. Immediately after the incident members of the congregation saw that an insult had been spray painted on the façade. In gold! It said, in illiterate French, “Nike lé Juif,” meaning “f__k the Jews.”
If the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians were a territorial conflict, and if the EU and the US were as wise as Solomon, the Appeal to Reason would fly like an angel straight to the heavens and return with an inextinguishable olive branch. But if, as I believe, it is not a territorial conflict, it cannot be resolved by a peace process, there will be no demilitarized Palestinian state living side by side in peace with Israel, the performance this evening by Maurice Szafran, Elie Barnavi, Avi Primor, Ze’ev Sternhell, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, and Bernard Henri-Lévy was theater of the absurd.
The message delivered with such elegance, such beautiful phrasing, was too simple for words: give “back” the territories, end the Occupation. It’s the same message the EU has been pounding into our heads for decades, the same message that blares on green banners that fly over keffieh-clad enraged Arab-Muslims stomping through the streets of Western Europe, and the same message that has been endlessly formulated, reformulated, packaged, whistled, sung, cajoled, and repeatedly offered to the Palestinians. Who systematically reject it.
The high point of the presentation this evening before the EU Parliament was offered by Green Eurodeputy Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who began by saying he is a bad Jew who is not circumcised, did not have a bar mitzvah, and doesn’t really care much about Israel. But Cohn-Bendit cares enough to say that Israel has to get out of the territories and the Palestinians have to give up the right of return. Each side has to trim its dream to size so both can realize their dreams. Like France and Germany (Cohn-Bendit who is Franco-German, lives in Germany now). Weren’t we enemies? And now look, we’re friends.
“This logic is the very essence of the fallacious Appeal to Reason! How did France and Germany get to be friends? Was it the Chamberlain Peace Process? What do you call that rather unsightly interval from 1940-45? Oh! Is that when each side trimmed its dream?”
And, I might add, does anyone know how we felt when we saw the banner headlines UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER?
[to be continued]
Posted on 05/03/2010 6:02 PM by Nidra Poller
Sunday, 2 May 2010
JCall: the European Echo to JStreet
May 2, Paris
What follows is the kernel, the beginning, or the false start of an article that will be developed in the coming days. But I wanted it to exist right now in its imperfect state. The creation of a JStreet look alike in Europe might be a ho-hum ripple in a long saga, but it comes as a last straw at a time when the noose is tightening around our necks. This JCall, one more frivolous example of how much we love Israel but just give the Palestinians what they want, whatever they want, is going to be presented to the EU Parliament on May 3rd and meanwhile back at the UN, Ahmadinejad will present his plan for nuclear disarmament… of Israel. With the blessings of Barack Hussein Obama. The JCall Appeal, at a time like this, is so infuriating, that it immediately provoked a vigorous response here in France. A genuine intellectual debate is underway, and I take it upon myself to report it with the fullness it deserves. We are good at this kind of debate in France.
The debate goes to the heart of a conflict that has been brewing in our societies, communities, and families in the first decade of the 21st century. I cannot approach it with any pretense to distance and objectivity. It is the dilemma that occupies my thoughts from morning to night. How do I reconcile my respect for freedom of thought and expression with my conviction that this kind of thinking—call it leftist, progressive, peace nowish—is so harmful that I must combat it? In a fair fight! That’s what I’ll try to explain.
JCall: the European echo to JStreet / Part 1
Let me begin with a prediction before I even explain the tune that JCall is calling: it won’t get anywhere. It’s no JStreet because it has no Obama in the wings, no AIPAC to snipe at, no Soros or Saudi money, and because European Jews are too close to the bone to heed this call.
Friday, April 30, Strasbourg. David Pariente, age 41 and wearing a kippa, was brutally attacked in the center of town at 12:30 in the afternoon as he got off the tramway in a square aptly named “l’Homme de Fer” [Iron man]. A vivid account of the incident by Maylis a 16 year-old lycée student is reported in the local paper--Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace: The victim was attacked by “ …two men in djellaba. One hit him in the back with an iron bar and knocked him down. Then he gave him a terrible kick in the face. I saw his head flung back.” Maylis called for an ambulance, the assailants ran off. One was caught shortly afterward, the other was arrested at his home where police found the iron bar—actually part of a weight lifting apparatus--and the knife. One of the aggressors is allegedly deranged. He said he attacked a Jew because a Jewish doctor sent him to a mental hospital.
JCall will solemnly present its “Call to Reason” to the European Parliament in Brussels on May 3rd. The Belgian government has fallen apart, the small French-Flemish nation is on the verge of splitting, and the population of Brussels is 1/3rd Muslim. What could be a more reasonable venue? EU parliamentarians flustered by the Greek economic tragedy might find it relaxing to lend an ear to reasonable European Jews who know on what side their peace is buttered. The two state solution by jove! If it works for Israel-Palestine it might work for Belgium. If those intelligent European Jews can impose law and order on their unruly Israeli brethren maybe they know how to get the enraged Greek populace off the streets and back to work.
What then is the reasonable call to be soon heard ‘round the world?
[A full English version of the Appeal is posted at www.jcall.eu] The JCallers, speaking as pro-Israel Jewish citizens of Europe, fully aware that Israel is in danger from outside enemies, believe it is also endangered by “the occupation and the uninterrupted pursuit of settlements in the West Bank and in the Arab quarters of East Jerusalem.” Occupation and settlements, they declare, are “a political mistake and a moral transgression.”
The four-point program of the Appeal can be summarized as follows:
1. Israel’s future depends on the two-state solution. The alternative would be a single state with a Jewish minority or a dishonorable regime that will lead to civil war.
2. The EU and the US should put pressure on both parties for a rapid reasonable settlement.
3. The final decision is up to the sovereign state of Israel but Diaspora Jews demand they make the right decision. “Systematic alignment [of Diaspora Jews] with the policy of the Israeli government is dangerous because it is against Israel’s true interests.
4. We want to create a European movement that will be able to make the voice of reason heard by everyone. Our ambition is to work for the survival of Israel, which depends on the creation of a “viable sovereign Palestinian state.”
To date the Appeal to Reason has garnered 3361 signatures.
Authorities have moved quickly on the Strasbourg incident. An Algerian, age 38, who unashamedly declares that the Jews are the cause of all that’s wrong with the world, has been charged with attempted murder aggravated by anti-Semitism and incarcerated. The man who accompanied him but did not participate in the attack was released.
Much remains to be learned about the genesis of JCall, its connection with JStreet, the EU, and other groups, parties, and backers. It was reportedly hatched in the Centre Communitaire Juif Laïque [Secular Jewish Community Center] in Brussels, under the guidance of Elie Barnavi, historian, and former Israeli ambassador to France. Teasingly called the “playboy intellectual,” Barnavi is the kind of Israeli French leftists love to appreciate. He is joined in the Appeal by star philosopher Bernard Henri-Lévy and Euro-greenie Daniel Cohn-Bendit, hero of the 1968 Revolution, who dug deep in his pockets and found his Jewish credentials for the sake of Reason. But the most surprising signature is that of Alain Finkielkraut, the brilliant philosopher and writer who, in the first five years after the outbreak of the “Al Aqsa Intifada,” was cherished by the Jewish community for his perceptive, articulate, profound analysis of the situation. Like a secular rabbi, he spoke from his conscience to ours.
At the first notes of JCall two esteemed Jewish intellectuals—Raphaël Draï and Shmuel Trigano—swiftly drafted a response, “Raison Garder / Be Reasonable.” [Posted in both English and French versions at www.dialexis.org ] To date their petition has garnered 4027 signatures, 666 more than JCall. The JCallers who blithely criticize Israel are terribly offended by criticism of their movement. This is understandable. If your manifesto is a heartfelt expression of an opinion you are not surprised when others opinion back at you. But JCall is presented as Reason with a capital R. There can’t be another reason more reasonable. “Be Reasonable” is far more precise, detailed, and forthright than the JCall Appeal. It seems as if JCall deliberately attempted to hide its game behind vague evasive excessively bare statements. When those who have signed the Appeal speak out to defend it, they are far more loquacious and harsh.
Dialexis, the non-sectarian organization hat launched “Be Reasonable,” rejects the pretentions of intellectuals and personalities who use a Jewish label as proof of objectivity. Their Appeal is the opposite neither democratic, moral, nor an expression of Diaspora solidarity with Israel.
[to be continued]
Posted on 05/02/2010 5:37 PM by Nidra Poller
Monday, 13 July 2009
Breaking: French Justice Minister to Appeal Verdict for Gang of Barbarians
Justice Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie announced that she is instructing the Procureur Général (more or less equivalent to the state’s attorney, public prosecutor, or the Bench) to appeal the verdict in the Gang of Barbarians trial. Details will follow. Members of the CRIF (Jewish umbrella organization) and other Jewish organizations are meeting with the Justice Minister this afternoon. The demonstration scheduled for 7 PM this evening to protest the verdict will now be held as a silent display of solidarity with the Halimi family and tribute to the victim of the Gang of Barbarians. Hopes are raised that the retrial will be public.
And we might add our hopes that the leaders of Jewish organizations convened to meet with President Barack Hussein Obama today will be as effective in representing the interests of the Jewish community, which—if it must be stipulated—are not contrary to the interests of the United States. It is far more difficult for Jewish leaders to counter Islamic pressure in France than for their American counterparts to stand up against the blatant anti-Zionism of the current American administration.
While commentators, community leaders, and simple citizens were quietly expressing their dismay at the court’s clemency in the Ilan Halimi murder case, the media were reporting a whole range of protests of another sort. Workers at a sub-contractor for automobile parts are threatening to blow up the factory if each worker is not awarded a 30,000 euro severance package (in addition to normal unemployment benefits). To make their threat palpable they have lined up gas canister around the premises. Friends of a kid who got killed speeding through a police barrage on a toy motorcycle (technically prohibited on the road) are threatening to give their town the same treatment meted out to the small town of Firminy, smashed and torched because a 22 year-old arrested for extortion hung himself while in police custody. Comoreans have been on the warpath ever since the crash of a Yemenia Airlines plane serving the final leg of a Paris-Monroni flight crashed killing all but one passenger. When the government arranged for an all expense paid Paris-Monroni voyage of bereaved families, voices in the Cormorean community were raised to deplore the stinginess of the gesture. “We mourn for 45 days!” they exclaimed, indignantly. Milk producers are furious at a drop in prices. Fruit growers are outraged by supermarket chain profit margins that leave them with nothing. French NGOs are screaming mad because the government is asking them to concentrate their activity in regions where French soldiers are active; the government is hoping to win hearts and minds, the better to protect our soldiers from terrorists embedded in local populations.
A 22 year-old was shot in the head last night in the St. Ouen quarter on the fringes of Paris (near the famous flea market). He died this morning, victim of tribal gang fights that go on day and night in France.
And yet, talkbacks on newspaper articles reporting dissatisfaction with the lenient verdicts for the Barbarians are flooded with vitriolic comments attacking the CRIF, the Halimi family’s counsel, and the whole Jewish community, accused of making a big stink just because “one of theirs” got hurt. Accused of manipulating the government, undermining la République, persecuting non-Jews…accused of everything but shooting the young man in St. Ouen.
All of this confirms the need for a new trial, a public trial that will speak to society and teach it how to distinguish right from wrong. Posted on 07/13/2009 8:12 AM by Nidra Poller
Saturday, 11 July 2009
French Justice Goes Easy on the Gang of Barbarians
The verdict in the trial of the Gang of Barbarians, accused of the atrocious anti-Semitic murder of 23 year-old Ilan Halimi, held hostage and tortured for 24 days, was pronounced after 10 PM on Friday, at the start of the July 14th holiday weekend. Youssouf Fofana, self-named “Brain of the Barbarians,” sentenced to what the French call life in prison, will be eligible for parole in 22 years. Sentences for his accomplices ranged from 6 months suspended to 18 years. Yalda, the young lady who lured Ilan Halimi into the well-prepared death trap, received a lenient nine years; she could be released for good behavior two years from now.
The victim’s mother and sisters, who are observant Jews, were not present to hear the verdict pronounced after the beginning of the Sabbath. Their counsel, Maître Francis Szpiner, adamantly urged the Ministry of Justice to appeal the sentences, which fell short of the already modest recommendations of the Avocat Général.
Was the timing accidental? Three years of investigation, two months of hearings, and a verdict that falls when the media are glued to the Tour de France and holiday goers stuck in traffic jams? State-owned France 3 TV unashamedly admitted that the verdict was announced during Shabbat in order to avoid incidents.
Meanwhile, in the small town of Firminy, enraged Muslims rioted for three nights, torching cars and buildings after a 22 year-old arrested for extortion hung himself while in police custody.
The press began to gather in the Palais de Justice late Friday afternoon. The buzz was that the verdict would be pronounced before nightfall. By 8:15 most of the Jewish people who had hoped to attend gave up. Around 9:15, journalists were herded through several checkpoints and crowded into the cramped courtroom. Another long wait. The defendants are barely visible inside a rectangular glassed enclosure, with a row of policemen at their backs. Their lawyers, pressed up against the opening, seem to be whispering sweet nothings to their nonchalant defendants. The atmosphere is more cocktail party than courtroom. Around 10 PM the jury and judges enter.
Absolutely nothing in that courtroom corresponded to the crime that had been judged. Nothing audible, nothing visible, nothing in the procedure conveyed the meaning of the crime and the reason for the punishment. The particular pain of the Jewish community, target of endless attacks by the likes of these barbarians, was deliberately muzzled.
The presiding judge reads off the verdict like a railroad official announcing the stops on a New York to Los Angeles train…but with less emotion. From where we are seated we can hardly see the defendants, hardly hear the judge, and barely understand the verdict. She intones: “To questions 1 to 137 the answer is yes except for questions 98 and 99 considered non applicable…” She goes down the list of stair-step sentences from life in prison to acquittal (18, 15, 13, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 3, 2…). It sounds more like grades for the baccalauréat than punishment for a heinous crime.
Ideally blind justice is held to distinguish truth from falsehood and right from wrong. In this case, justice was apparently moved by the accomplices’ human interest stories. Responsibility for the horrible ordeal inflicted on Ilan Halimi was diluted in their consternation and sideswiped by their hopes and plans for the future. They said they never thought it would end this way, they aren’t anti-Semitic and didn’t even know he was Jewish, they tried to alleviate the punishments meted out by Fofana. The truth is, they worked as a team. None of that would have been possible without their loyal cooperation.
We are pushed out of the courtroom as family members move toward the enclosure. Downstairs in the main hall cameramen rush from lawyer to lawyer. Most of their footage will sleep forever in the archives. All is calm outside the courtroom. The riot policemen have left. Revelers come and go from Left Bank to Right Bank unaware of the ominous decision that has been made in the Palais de Justice.
Choosing a Jew because he is Jewish, torturing a Jew day and night for 24 days while purportedly negotiating for ransom, seeing a young man reduced to nothing, beating him, starving him, tormenting him--or knowing about it and not tipping off the police--letting the whole mess degenerate, preparing the creature to be finished off by Fofana…well, in the eyes of the court, it’s no big thing.
The accomplices were at home in their banlieue, at home as the verdict was pronounced, and it looks like they will be at home in jail. Youssouf Fofana, who shouted Allahu Akhbar at the first hearing, repeatedly insulted the victim’s family, and proudly admitted he stabbed Ilan five times, poured flammable liquid over him, and set him on fire, will have endless opportunities in prison to exercise his charismatic charm and train new barbarians.
Various Jewish organizations have called for a gathering in front of the Ministry of Justice on Monday evening. The plaintiffs cannot appeal. Their last hope lies in the new Justice Minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie. Two men who played a decisive role in the kidnapping are still on the loose. In three years of investigation, the police have not been able to get their names from Fofana or his accomplices. Alliot-Marie was their boss, as Minister of the Interior, until the recent cabinet shuffle. Posted on 07/11/2009 8:05 AM by Nidra Poller
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