Should Sharon apologize to Chirac?
July 20, 2004 ~ 12:43 p.m.
A diplomatic row between France and Israel has been brewing since Sunday. French President Jacques Chirac became incensed at Ariel Sharon, after the Israeli Prime Minister had apparently called on French Jews to emigrate to Israel immediately to escape �the wildest anti-Semitism.� The comment by Sharon was made during a speech to Jewish leaders in Jerusalem on Sunday. An upset Chirac declared Sharon unwelcome in France, thereby delaying a planned visit to Paris by the Israeli PM.
Sharon, however, maintains that there was a misunderstanding, an explanation that both countries are now willing to accept, but France wants an apology all the same.
France feels slighted by Sharon�s speech in which the government asserts that he did not highlight the efforts that French police and lawmakers have made to fight anti-Semitism.
�The comments questioned the very principles (of equality) of the ... French republic,� French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said. �As for the relations we want to preserve with the state of Israel and the Israeli people, who are our friends, we must take time to understand one another better,� he said.
There is anti-Semitism in France and, like most anywhere else in Europe, it has deep roots. The Dreyfus Affair of 1894 is one notorious example of French anti-Semitism�however, Emile Zola, a prominent French author at the time, condemned Captain Dreyfus� discharge from the military, penning �J�accuse.� Most French backed Zola�s view.
Whereas in the days of the Dreyfus affair, anti-Semitism was propagated by the far Right and the Catholic church, the pro-Palestinian, Leftist politics alive and well in Europe are responsible for today�s anti-Semitic sentiment. Late in 2001, the French Ambassador to the U.K. shocked those present at a Labour Party soiree, opining that Israel, �that shitty little country,� was responsible for the world�s problems: "Why should the world be in danger of World War III because of those people?"
So far this year, there have been more attacks on Jews in France than the sum total of anti-Jewish attacks for the whole of last year. And even if the latest high-publicity incident of an anti-Semitic train attack was a hoax, it was a thoroughly believable hoax as Blogcritics.org �Straight Up� columnist Jan Herman points out. For all the outrage expressed at Sharon by the French Jewish community, most of whom consider themselves French first, Jewish second, and are of the mind that the Israeli leader should mind his own business, 2,556 French Jews emigrated to Israel last year, and there are some French Jews who are nervous about the current situation in France.
Because France contains Europe�s largest Jewish and Muslim communities, there is bound to be friction. �Since the Jewish and Muslim communities are both the largest, it is not surprising that misinformation and lack of education can lead to anti-Semitic hate crimes in France,� says Laila Al-Qatami, spokesperson for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination League.
Part of the reason why some French Jews may deny anti-Semitism in the country is because they are well-established and accepted in French society, while Muslims in France are regarded with fear and suspicion. The 5 million strong French Muslim community, with its high rates of unemployment, ghetto residences and social stigma, regards the relatively successful French Jewish community of 650,000 with intense resentment and partly explains the anti-Semitism in France.
Other factors include, of course, militant Islam practiced by some Muslims in France, and what is generally accepted as a pro-Palestinian position adopted by the French government which most French citizens either agree with or are neutral about.
France and Israel have made it clear that they want business-as-normal between their respective countries to resume. But Sharon, justifiably stubborn, still has yet to rescind his remarks. At the moment, he is simply insisting that they were misunderstood.
Is Chirac right to be so upset? I am inclined to say yes. Although I once bashed France, in the heat of pro-war anger, as rabidly anti-Semitic�actually, I did so twice�I do agree that the French government has been trying to combat anti-Semitism and, although, let me make very clear, they could do more, the steps they have taken have shown progress. France appears to take the reality of anti-Semitism seriously.
Mr. Sharon should speak to Mr. Chirac and make clear his concerns. That is the only way forward in terms of resuming French-Israeli relations, as far as I can see it. Mr. Chirac should receive his apology, but Mr. Sharon should also receive the strongest possible assurance that France will continue to combat anti-Semitism.
The ultimate �desperado?�
Linda Ronstadt, in an interview she gave to the Las Vegas Review-Journal before her most recent�and last�appearance at the Aladdin casino, said, �I keep hoping that if I�m annoying enough to them, they won�t hire me back.�
So, one wonders if her praise of Michael Moore and his latest propagandistic work, Fahrenheit 9/11 , was a guaranteed attempt to get herself fired from the Aladdin. It worked. The casino�s president, British-born Bill Timmins, escorted Rondstadt off the premises and vowed she would never play there again.
�As long as I�m here, she�s not going to play,� Timmins said, very angry at the accomplished singer. �[Rondstadt] spoiled a wonderful evening for our guests and we had to do something about it.�
After performing an encore rendition of �Desperado,� Rondstadt told the audience of 4,500 that Michael Moore was �a great American patriot, someone who is spreading the truth,� and urged everyone to see F 9/11.
Most of those in the audience booed and jeered, stormed out, tore down concert posters, threw cocktails and demanded their money back from the box office.
Now, Rondstadt is a liberal, no doubt, but even some of those on the Left aren�t totally enamored with Moore at the moment, agreeing that his intentions to vilify Bush go too far. Was Rondstadt really endorsing Moore or was it merely the assurance she needed that she�d be let go by the casino as she appeared to want? We don�t know the answer to this question yet, as the singer�s manager was unavailable for comment.
It is, nonetheless, right to feel contempt for Rondstadt because she purposely aggravated an audience that had paid good money to see her. Ronstadt let many of her fans down, fans who never expected and certainly�as they made clear from the near-riot that ensued�didn�t want the pro-Moore diatribe she delivered during her encore.
For this reason alone, Ronstadt deserved every boo, jeer and heckle she received, and Timmins was well within his rights to fire her.
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
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