Jews in France fear wave of attacks

[cbayer]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/religion/20121008_ap_jewsinfrancefearwaveofattacks.html

Posted: Mon, Oct. 8, 2012, 9:11 AM

LORI HINNANT
The Associated Press


SARCELLES, France - The gunshots outside a synagogue and the grenade that shattered the windows of a kosher grocery spread fear into the streets , but caused little surprise.

Jews across France say anti-Semitic threats have escalated since a deadly assault on a Jewish school in the southwestern town of Toulouse this spring. The attack on the grocery store in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles came several weeks ago, and the synagogue in nearby Argenteuil was this weekend.

In all cases, police suspect Muslim extremists. The Toulouse attacker was a Frenchman trained by Islamist paramilitaries. And anti-terrorist police killed one man and arrested 11 in raids this weekend against an Islamist cell suspected in the Sarcelles attacks.

French Jews believe the danger comes from radical messages that appeal to young Muslims in France who are unemployed, angry, alienated and looking for someone to blame.

more at link

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. This has been going on for decades (article 2003)

Anti-Semitism in France, an Assessment
Forewarning events occurred in the past two decades: the terrorist attacks on the Copernic synagogue in 1980 and on the Goldenberg restaurant in 1982, both in Paris; the desecration of the Jewish cemetery of Carpentras (South of France) in 1990; the rise of the extreme right-wing in Europe and in France itself with the party of Jean-Marie Le Pen since the early Eighties; changes occurring within the French society itself trying to absorb with great pain a large Arab Muslim community; the discovery by the French of their true history of World War II, of the war of Algeria and of the end of colonization; the revival of anti-Semitism clad in new dresses and the denial of the Holocaust.

Many reasons brought to the current situation in France and in Europe, leading to anti-Semitic attacks. I want to highlight the fact that the revival of the new Intifada and the attacks against the Jewish community on the eve of Rosh Hashanah occurred almost simultaneously in September 2000. Synagogues, community centers and Jewish schools were attacked and a great number of buildings were destroyed or burned down.

These attacks occurred in the suburbs of large cities, mainly in the Paris region and in other areas subjected to daily violence.

[Peepsite]

2. Centuries rather, and not just In France, IIRC

[Agnosticsherbet]

3. But in France, particularly in the post war period...

this current stream of anti-semitism isn't new.

It isn't exclusively Muslim, either, so it is difficult to educate away or to deal with.

[ZombieHorde]

4. Scary. nt

[dimbear]

5. France has a long long history of religious intolerance.

The massacre of the Huguenots (St. Bartholomew's Day) comes to mind. As a side note, some sources now believe the execrable "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" stems from France at about the time of the Dreyfus affair, which see also. This wretched forgery is enjoying a new popularity in Muslim circles.

Fie. Or, for our French friends, fi donc!

[onager]

6. "Protocols" not exactly a "new" popularity

Over 20 years ago when I worked in Saudi Arabia, I saw the "Protocols" for sale in nearly every bookstore I visited. It was usually displayed in the same section with the Korans, hadiths, Xian Bibles and other sacred books.

I happened to be working over there when the First Gulf War blew up. One bookstore hung up huge posters in its windows - a very ugly cartoon caricature of the stereotypical "hook-nosed Jew," wearing a US Army uniform and a yarmulke with the Israeli flag embroidered on it.

Man, I need reading material like Rush Limbaugh needs cheeseburgers. But I never set foot in that frigging place again.

When I lived in Egypt (2005-09), a lavish, coffee-table edition of the "Protocols" was published in Arabic. That damn thing was sold all over the place, even in Carrefour (a sort of Wal-Mart megastore that sold everything, based in France). I flipped thru that one a few times. It was illustrated with pictures of the usual suspects - Karl Marx, Rothschilds, etc.

The price was cheap for such a big book, I remember. So I'm guessing somebody...cough*SaudiArabia*cough...subsidized the printing and distribution.

For those who couldn't afford that edition, every little newsstand in Alexandria sold cheap paperback copies of the "Protocols." Also books in Arabic featuring cover boys like Osama bin Laden, Hitler, etc. Though to be fair I could only guess at the contents.

[dimbear]

7. Wow.

The horrid thing has a bizarre history, and it's been exploded time after time, but it just keeps coming back like a zombie.

I recall it was shown to be partially plagiarized from some long-ago Italian.