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Jean Bartel
Well, I live in France and I would like to make profitable use of
this sorry opportunity to enlighten you about some rarely commented
realities on Jews in France. May I precise that I am not Jew myself,
and that I am going to do my best to make this comment as objective
as possible.
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Doctors, Dentists,
and Entrepreneurs
Since my childhood, I
have had countless opportunities to hear people talking about Jews,
much more than opportunities to meet Jews, to talk with them and to
listen to point of view about gentiles. For the French Jewish
community is a tiny minority, actually. Most French Jews are
entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, and work in the health branch. They also
are well represented in the media and communication industry. Many
of them are involved in politics and most of those lasts are
left-leaning persons; a fact that may surprise some since it seems
to contradict a long Jewish tradition of entrepreneurship, and a
religious inspired behavior free of all inhibition about the
pleasures of private property.
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François Hollande And Ségolène
Royale
As a matter of fact, the French
Socialist Party (P.S.) counts numerous Jews in his ranks and the
leader of this party, François Hollande, is of Jewish origin and is
married to the would-be French president, Ségolène Royale, a Jew.
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The Prominence Of Ex-Communists
Anti-Semitism and Jews are taboo
subjects in France. In the French society, at job, during dinners
and most other social customs, talking about Jews is perceived as a
tricky subject very few dare to engage in. Try to engage the
conversation about Jews during a party and you will immediately
notice a general unease around you. The simple fact to pronounce the
words "Jew," or "Jewish," will inescapably make most French feel
uncomfortable, if there are other people listening around. Actually,
the only persons with whom I have been able to talk freely about
Jews and anti-Semitism are of Jewish origin.
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The Holocaust Is Cocktail
Conversation
On the contrary, countless TV
programs, books, and articles on the Holocaust have been, and still
are broadcasted and published, and it is a recurrent topic. The
Israeli-Palestinian question is, by far, the most debated and
commented subject when foreign affairs arise during a news program
on the French TV; much more than it may be in United States.
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The Ultimate Insult
Nowadays, the worst bad adjective
French can attribute to somebody is “Nazi.” This last fact helps
understand why French who don’t like George Bush like to call him a
“Nazi.” There is just nothing worse. Also, French mistakenly
consider that Hitler and his national socialist party belong to the
French far right.
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France Keeps A Close Eye On
Anti-Semites
Even London's mayor is non gratias.
There is even a French law that allows you to sue anyone has uttered
anti-Semitic statements or has displayed –even in an antique store-
artifacts and collectors bearing the Swastika. You would immediately
ostracize yourself and people around you would keep aloof if ever
you attempted to read Mein Kampf on the table of a French café, or
worse, if ever you had the good nerve to order that book in a
bookstore or in a French library. In such last case, all your claims
to be a student in political sciences would meet flat incredulity.
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Whispers Around The Dining Table
But what suggests the aforesaid
reassuring appearances masks a reality one may uncover during much
more private conversations. During those privileged moment shared
with trusted relatives you will hear, at last, about this legendary,
and omnipotent, and omnipresent and centuries-long Jewish power that
secretly governs the world in which you live. You’ll seldom hear
about the Protocol of the Elder of Zion, in revenge. For few French
of the last generations have ever heard of; except some
above-the-average educated persons and other scholars. You’ll hardly
fail to recognize this quick knowing taunting smile on the face of
your interlocutor when you’ll bring conversation about this
shopkeeper, teacher, or dentist in your town named Levy.
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Just Don't Have The
Ashkazian Look
Example: the degree of hostility
accorded to a prominent person of Jewish origin owes to a sizeable
extent to physical criteria. In other words, a Jew whose physical
features do not look “typically” Jew is much less likely to suffer
negative a priori. The actor Paul Newman has been very popular and
considered as a sex symbol in France, because, though of Jewish
origin, his face doesn’t look much Jewish according to the French
standards.
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Beautiful French Women
Other considerations may change
considerably the way French may perceive a Jew. A successful and
rich Jewish businessman, actor, or singer, is much likely to be
sharply criticized with regard to his Jewish origin; while the
Jewish origin of a prominent leftist politician will be pointed out
by those who stand on the opposite political side, in most cases. A
rich and successful Jewish entrepreneur who has a date with a
striking beauty will be well advised to hire a bodyguard, especially
if his Jewish physical features are pronounced and easily
identifiable. A prominent scientist is likely to be criticized or
disliked by French gentiles, owing to his Jewish origin. Between the
two World Wars, Albert Einstein has met some problems of that kind
in France.
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Actually, French anti-Semitism is not at
all the same as expressed by French immigrants of Arabic origin;
meaning, anti-Semitism of Arabic origin finds its motives in political
and religious considerations, while white French anti-Semitism, when it
arise, is mostly supported by envy (about intelligence, success, or
wealth), and also by said-to-be disgraceful physical features and by
this typical go-ahead attitude and less or more off handed behavior
mostly encountered among Jewish Sephardims (Jews of Spanish and North
African origin). As an aside, this last characteristic of the Jewish
behavior is oft cited by Germans anti-Semitics.
Well, now that you know nearly all I know about how Jews are considered
in France, I am going to conclude by this I introduce as a conundrum.
Jews Are The Powerful Minority
In France, political and financial power
is not at all in the hands of a Jewish minority. It is true that you may
find numerous Jews in the ranks of the Socialist party, while less Jews
join the Communist party and all other far leftist minorities, and still
much less are members of the French right wing (even though the French
political right wing is hardly more than the right side of a
left-leaning political class, and that the French far right truly
reflects a left-leaning ideology spirited by nationalism). Actually, few
among the biggest French businessmen are Jews. Last but not the least,
no Jew holds key position in the French defense, and the infamous
Affaire Dreyfus, which happened a century ago yet, still exemplifies
French military feeling towards the Jewish minority.
Those last points are of great
importance since, in France, political power and the army exerts
tremendous influence upon commerce, industry and media (according to a
report published in 2005 in The Economist, at lest 70 percent of the
French media are under less or more official control of the defense
apparatus). So, Jews do not control the media, so far.
Thus, one may wonder why in the hell an overwhelming majority of French
TV casters are Jews and, still more puzzling, why all those persons seem
to have been selected for their pronounced Jewish physical features and
off-handed behavior when we know that, in France, these characteristics
are likely to arouse a peculiar form of resentment we use to call
“anti-Semitism?”
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