FRENCH ALIYAH DOWN UNDER SARKOZY

French aliyah down under Sarkozy (JTA)
French Jewish emigration to Israel has plummeted since Nicolas Sarkozy took office, data suggest.

Tuesday's Ma'ariv published figures provided by Israel's Immigration and Absorption Ministry suggesting that the rate of aliyah from France so far this year has been 42 percent less than in the same period in 2007.

But Jewish Agency for Israel officials in Paris dispute the figures. "Yes, aliyah from France is down and yes, there is a Sarkozy effect," said David Roche, JAFI head in Paris, "but the figures are exaggerated, and don't mean that much in any case."

Roche said according to JAFI figures in Paris, about 300 people made aliyah from France in the first three months of 2008, compared to about 400 last year. "That is a drop of 25%, not 40%," he noted. "And in any case, this time of year is always slow for aliyah compared to July and August, so we really have to wait until then to establish any kind of trend here."

French community officials said the increase in aliyah from France was the result of a rise in violent anti-Semitic incidents committed mostly by North African Arab and African youths, linked to the Al-Aksa intifada. Jews also said they thought about moving to Israel partly because of what they perceived as indifference by the general French population to the violence and the fear it created, especially in suburban Jewish communities.

The expression the "Sarkozy or Sarko-effect" has been used in a positive sense by the French Jewish media to describe the ongoing warming of relations between France and Israel since Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president last May. A drop in aliyah is seen by many people as a potential down side.

FRENCH OFFICIAL FIRED FOR ANTI-ISRAEL DIATRIBE

French Official Sacked for Anti-Israeli Diatribe (AFP)
A French senior civil servant has been sacked for publishing a violent anti-Israeli diatribe on a web site. Bruno Guigue, deputy prefect of Saintes, wrote in an online column this month that Israel was "the only state where snipers shoot down little girls outside their school gates."  Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie dismissed the official after learning of the column.

JEWS FLEEING PARIS SUBURBS

Jews fleeing Paris suburbs
(JTA)
Still living under a sense of siege following the upturn in anti-Semitic attacks earlier this decade, French Jews are moving out of Paris' working-class suburbs and into more heavily Jewish areas where they feel safer. Full Story

SHIMON IN FRANCE

Anti-Peres protesters: Eliminate Israel (JPost)

While the French state welcomed President Shimon Peres in official ceremonies of unprecedented pomp, some Frenchmen were less enthusiastic: Dozens of people in Lyon protested against Peres's tour of the city on Wednesday, holding signs with the slogans "Eliminate Israel" and "Israel is unlawful."

French security forces arrived on the scene and forcibly dispersed the crowd, the report said.

The protest led by Palestinian demonstrators, outside Le musée de la resistance was a dissonant note in a lengthy visit during which Peres was mostly warmly welcomed.

Peres met with President Nicholas Sarkozy, with Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and with Prime Minister François Fillon. Sarkozy reiterated to Peres his commitment to combating Islamic terrorism and his opposition to Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

Fillon told Peres that Israel's security was at the center of the French government's concerns. "France sees eye to eye with Israel on the Iranian nuclear threat and steadfastly opposes Iran arming itself with nuclear weapons," Fillon told Peres.

France Eyes New Israeli Ties - Jamey Keaten
French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to rebuild France's frayed ties with Israel and hosted Israeli President Shimon Peres in Paris this week. "Those who call in a scandalous, scandalous way for the destruction of Israel will always find France in front of them to block their route," said Sarkozy. Paris lined the Champs-Elysees with French and Israeli flags - an image not lost on many French Jews. Sarkozy said at a state dinner that Israel "is not alone" in its concerns about Iran's nuclear program, which will require "a reaction of great firmness."

Sarkozy also said France, during its presidency of the EU later this year, will monitor the planning for the UN anti-racism conference scheduled to take place in South Africa in 2009. He said he "will not stand" for a possible replay of "intolerable deviations" that could mar the so-called Durban II conference. (AP)

FRENCH JEW KIDNAPPED, ABUSED IN POSSIBLE HATE CRIME

French Jew abused in possible hate crime (JTA)
A Jewish teenager was held captive and abused in a possible hate crime in a Paris suburb.

Six men, aged 17 to 25, were accused of locking up a 19-year-old Jew in a storage room and beating him and sexually tormenting him on Feb. 22, French police said Wednesday.

The incident occurred in Bagneux, the same town in which 23-year-old Ilan Halami was brutally attacked, tortured and killed in 2006 in an anti-Semitic crime.

The teen, identified only by his last name, Roumi, was lured to an apartment by assailants he knew, who who accused him of stealing, according to the report. They then handcuffed him to a radiator and abused him for more than nine hours, forcing him to swallow cigarette butts. They scrawled "dirty Jew" and "dirty faggot" on his face.

The case is being investigated as a hate crime. French Jews are pointing to the attack as a sign that Jews in the country should remain vigilant.

"The fact that the victim of the attack is a Jew played a role in this confinement accompanied by acts of violence and humiliation,” Richard Prasquier, head of the umbrella group of French Jewish organizations, CRIF, told reporters.

The six men, who are varying racial origins, were arrested on Feb. 27 and held for several days before being formally charged.

BALLISTICS REPORT: IDF DID NOT KILL AL-DURA

Independent Ballistics Report: IDF Didn't Kill al-Dura (BACKSPIN)

Haaretz quotes from an independent report by ballistics expert Jean-Claude Schlinger. Last week, Philippe Karsenty presented the report to a French court examining France 2 TV's footage of Mohammed al-Dura:

In his report, Schlinger wrote, "If Jamal [the boy's father] and Mohammed al-Dura were indeed struck by shots, then they could not have come from the Israeli position, from a technical point of view, but only from the direction of the Palestinian position."

He also wrote, "In view of the general context, and in light of many instances of staged incidents, there is no objective evidence that the child was killed and his father injured. It is very possible, therefore, that it is a case [in which the incident was] staged." . . .

This is the first time that an independent ballistics expert, not representing the State of Israel, undertook to examine Karsenty's claims.

SARKOZY REACHES OUT TO JEWS, ISRAEL

Sarkozy reaches out to Jews, Israel (JTA)
Nicolas Sarkozy said he would shun world leaders who do not recognize the State of Israel.

"I won't shake hands with people who refuse to recognize Israel," the French president told Jewish leaders in Paris on Wednesday.

Fulfilling the promise that he made almost a year ago, Sarkozy inaugurated an era of renewed warmth between the French government and the Paris Jewish community, when he became the first French president to speak at the annual CRIF Jewish organization dinner.

Addressing a crowd of over a 1000 Jewish leaders and politicians from the political right and left, Sarkozy vowed to combat anti-Semitism, and predicted 2008 would be crucial for the newly reconciled relationship between France and Israel.

Among his goals for this year, Sarkozy insists that a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians is "absolutely possible," and that France's upcoming position as leader of the European Union means, "Israel can count on a new dynamic to its relationship with the EU."

Sarkozy, whose election as French president last year significantly warmed ties between Paris and Jerusalem, called for U.N. Security Council sanctions against Tehran to be stepped up until it abandons its nuclear program.

New era for France-Israel ties? (JTA) In an unprecedented speech to France's Jewish umbrella organization, French President Nicolas Sarkozy heralded a new era in France-Israel ties, pledged to fight anti-Semitism and talked about the Torah. Full Story

SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR FRENCH NAZI APOLOGIST

Suspended sentence for Nazi apologist (The Australian)
FRENCH far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen was handed a three-month suspended jail sentence for describing the Nazi occupation of France as “not especially inhumane”.

Le Pen, 79, was found guilty of denying a crime against humanity and complicity in condoning war crimes, over the remarks made in an interview with a far-right magazine in 2005. The veteran National Front (FN) chief was also fined $A14,500 for his remarks. Le Pen was not in court to hear the verdict but his lawyer said there was a “100 per cent chance” his client would appeal.

Le Pen told Rivarol magazine that “in France at least the German occupation was not especially inhumane, even if there were a number of excesses - inevitable in a country of 550,000 square kilometres.”

“If the Germans had carried out mass executions across the country as the received wisdom would have it, then there wouldn’t have been any need for concentration camps for political deportees.”

He also partially exonerated the German army over a 1944 massacre of 86 people in the town of Villeneve d’Ascq, saying it was the work of a lieutenant “mad with rage” over the death of comrades in a resistance attack, and that it was the Gestapo who intervened to stop the killings.

This version was disputed in court by the mayor of Villeneuve d’Ascq and by prosecutor Anne de Fontette, who said it was like calling the Gestapo “the blue berets of the 1940s”.

Le Pen said at the time he felt absolutely no guilt and claimed he was a victim of persecution, after his remarks were unanimously condemned by French politicians and campaign groups. ...

Le Pen, who founded the FN in 1972, has been convicted of racism or anti-Semitism on previous occasions. In 1987 he described the Nazi gas chambers as a “detail of history”.

SARKOZY STANDS BY ISRAEL AGAIN

Sarkozy backs Israel after Dimona attack (JTA)
France stands by Israel in its fight against Palestinian terrorism, Nicolas Sarkozy said.

The French president sent Israel a letter of support following Monday's suicide bombing in Dimona.

"On my behalf, and on behalf of the French nation, I would like to send you my sincere condolences after the horrible terrorist attack which was once again aimed at the Israeli people," read the letter, a copy of which was released by Israeli President Shimon Peres' office. "My thoughts are with the victim's families and with the wounded.

"Terror activities are unacceptable and France condemns them and will always condemn them in the most firm way," Sarkozy said. "I would like to assure you that France remains on your side and will continue to do so in the battle against terror. My country will provide Israel with every support necessary to assist with your efforts to make the peace process succeed."

FRENCH ENVOY CONDEMNS IRAN STATEMENTS ON ISRAEL

French Envoy Condemns Iran Statements on Israel (AP)
French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani confirmed Monday that France's ambassador to Iran, Bernard Poletti, had been summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry to protest France's policy toward Iran's nuclear activities.

Andreani said Poletti took advantage of the summons to protest "unacceptable" comments Ahmadinejad made last week during a speech in Bushehr implying that Israel would be destroyed.

Poletti reiterated the French position that "the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Israeli-Lebanese relations cannot serve as a pretext to question Israel's right to exist," Andreani said.

Last week, France's Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to Paris, Ali Ahani, to protest Ahmadinejad's comments.

ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACK IN PARIS

French Jewish Group Denounces Anti-Semitic Attack In Paris (The Yeshiva World)
The French National Bureau of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism has denounced a reported violent anti-Semitic aggression last Shabbos in Paris.

According to the EJP, a 17-year-old Jewish man wearing a Yarmulke was waiting for someone to open the door of the building where he lives, when approximately twenty young people described as being of North African and Black origin attacked him violently.

One of the aggressors, was a raid-haired man who did not cease swearing on the Koran while beating his victim.

The victim was saved by a Jewish neighbor who went out from his home at the same time.

A witness called police which arrived quickly on the spot and tried in vain to chase the aggressors.

The victim was brought in shock to the hospital with wounds at the face and several bruises on the body.

“We ask police to quickly identify and arrest the authors of this anti-Semitic attack,” the Bureau of Vigilance, which monitors anti-Semitic acts in the country, said in a statement yo the EJP.

Last month, it has organized a meeting on this issue with the Paris police head and the CRIF, the umbrella group of Jewish organizations in France.

SARKOZY: ANTI-SEMITISM MUST BE CONFRONTED HEAD ON

Seamless denial of anti-Semitism must be confronted and attacked (JTA)
EAST SUSSEX, England (JTA) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy, during his recent visit to Washington, stated in widely reported remarks that the resurgence of anti-Semitic propaganda and associated violence around the world should not be minimized or explained away, but attacked head-on.

Addressing the American Jewish Committee, Sarkozy recalled being aghast to hear a Gaullist minister dismissing recent anti-Semitic violence in France with the throw-away line, "Yes, there are synagogues burning, but there are also cars burning."

Fighting anti-Semitism, Sarkozy said, involves agreement on what constitutes it.

"We cannot fight against what is denied," he said. "Unless you agree on a diagnosis, you cannot find the remedy."

FRANCE SHOULD BRING BACK SARAH BERNHARDT

Bring Back Sarah (Contentions)
The legacy of France’s Nazi occupation is manifold and enduring. In culture, nowhere is it more central and blatant than in the very name of a major public performance space in the heart of Paris, the Théâtre de la Ville, facing the famed Châtelet theatre. Operating on an annual budget of 13 million euros, of which around 11 million come from the municipal government, the Théâtre de la Ville attracts 220,000 audience members to evenings of music, dance, and theatre. Originally called “Théâtre Lyrique” and later “Théâtre des Nations,” the theatre was then renamed “Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt,” after the fiery, majestic actress who starred there, beginning in 1899. Bernhardt (1844-1923), who was partly Jewish, was admired for her artistic daring, despite being castigated in French anti-Semitic books like Les Femmes d’Israël (1898) for being “neither more nor less than a Jewess and nothing but a Jewess.” When the Germans arrived in 1940, the “Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt” was renamed the “Théâtre des Nations” and later, “Théâtre de la Ville.”

From 1945 to this day, no French politician has dared to advocate returning the theater’s name to its former dedicatee, “la divine Sarah.” The reasons for this are complex and peculiarly French, as may be gathered from the well-documented study from Yale University Press, Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama by Carol Ockman and Kenneth E. Silver, which accompanied a multifaceted 2006 exhibit at New York’s Jewish Museum. These are only two instances of the ever-burgeoning interest in Sarah’s captivating mystique and legend—everywhere except in her native Paris.

DURA DISCREDITED

Dura Discredited (BackSpin)

HonestReporting together with Take-A-Pen covered this afternoon's hearing in France where raw footage of the Mohammed Dura was publicly screened for the first time. HonestReporting/Take-A-Pen's Alain Benjamin, who saw the video in court, discussed by phone the proceedings with MediaBackspin editor Pesach Benson.

What did the raw footage show?

We can definitely say that nobody can say who was shooting at who. Charles Enderlin said in court that the Palestinians started shooting first, but in the end, there's no way we can say what happened that day. You can't tell who did what. The assertion from Charles Enderlin, that the Israeli army killed the boy, is totally wrong. The least he could've said was that the boy was killed--but we don't know by who.

There was a dispute over how much footage was to be screened. Was the full video shown?

Charles Enderlin submitted 18 minutes of footage. The judge, without any prompting from Philippe's lawyers, asked what happened to the 27 minutes. Enderlin said on record in court that he had to manipulate some footage that was not relevant to that day. He said he transferred the footage onto DVD for the court. That was amazing.

So she asked if anyone in attendance had seen the full footage. Luc Rosenzweig was there, stood up , and said he saw a tape that was more than 20 minutes long. Richard Landes also stood up. He saw the footage at Enderlin's office. He said the timer he saw was at least 21 minutes long. The judge basically let that issue rest, but there was serious doubt hanging over the room that the footage was tampered or doctored.

After the hearing ended, how did people react to what they saw?

Not one person believed that the version of France 2 was right. Some people maintained that the footage was staged. Others think the footage was real. Clearly, nobody believed that anybody died.

Does the footage vindicate Karsenty?

Everyone was going, "Wow" and talking about whether he'll take action against France 2 for trying to swindle the court. He can wait for the verdict, or sue France 2 for tampering with the tape. He has quite a few options. Clearly, the judge wasn't convinced by France 2's version. The judge's verdict is to be given on February 27.

How did the France 2 people react after the hearing?

France 2 left immediately. They just ran out and left. They didn't want to speak to anyone.

Some people were concerned that reviving the footage would harm Israel's image.

There's absolutely no reason to be concerned for that now.

How was the media turnout?

Very large. There were four or five TV crews, 30 journalists from TV, radio and print. Only a third of the journalists and public could get in to the courtroom to see the footage. The whole thing was delayed because of the crowd. They came from all over. At one point, I saw Philippe being interviewed by Kuwaiti TV.

What's the most important lesson to take from today?

One guy stood his ground for four years. It's a lesson in perseverance.

Israel should take a cue from this trying to pursue the truth rather than put what they can under the carpet quickly. If Israel's P.R. people had pursued all these different things that showed this wasn't Israel's fault, things would've turned out differently.

The other lesson sheds a light on a process very wide spread in the region. People don't realize that Palestinians get their jobs as journalists because they're sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. They're out to push an agenda. It's up to the news services to disclose that they're using local TV personnel to capture breaking news.

POLITICS: LINK DUMP

Ron Paul's support for the PLO and anti-Israel conspiracy theories revealed.

Sarkozy Reaches Out to America, and to Its Jews

FRANCE TO HOST PALI DONORS CONFERENCE

France to Host Palestinian Donors Conference (AFP/Yahoo)
France will hold a special conference of donors for the Palestinians at the end of the year which will be co-hosted by Mideast Quartet special envoy Tony Blair and Norway, it was announced in Paris on Wednesday.

MARCEL MARCEAU, MIME, JEWISH SURVIVOR, HERO IS DEAD

Marcel Marceau dead at 84 (JTA)
Marcel Marceau, who escaped deportation to a Nazi death camp and went on to become a mime legend, has died.

His former assistant, Emmanuel Vacca, announced Marceau's death on French radio Sunday but did not provide details. Marceau had died the day before in Paris at the age of 84.

Marceau was born Marcel Mangel to Jewish parents in Strasbourg, France. He changed his name to Marceau to hide his Jewish origins when the Nazis marched into eastern France and he fled with family members. His father was sent to Auschwitz in 1944 and did not survive. Marceau and his brother Alain worked with the French Resistance to protect Jewish children.

As a mime, Marceau was best known for his onstage persona Bip, a sad and chalk-faced clown who wore a stovepipe hat adorned with a red flower. Among his many other characters were a peevish waiter, a lion tamer and an old woman knitting.

His inspiration was Charlie Chaplin, and Marceau would inspire countless performers, notably Michael Jackson, who borrowed the "moonwalk" from the mime's "Walking Against the Wind" sketch.

FRANCE: "NOW NOT THE MOMENT TO TALK WITH HAMAS"

France: "Now Not the Moment to Talk with Hamas" - Hilary Leila Krieger
The West should not be talking to Hamas at present, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told the Jerusalem Post in Washington. In the run-up to the international meeting the U.S. is convening on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Kouchner said efforts to reconcile Hamas and Fatah would be a months-long undertaking that would set back the conference plans.

At the Center for Strategic and International Studies Kouchner defended Israel's alleged nuclear program after a protester in the audience called for a nuclear-free Middle East and suggested that Israel's nuclear capabilities should be neutralized as a way to create stability in the region. "Israel is threatened by Ahmadinejad," Kouchner said. "There is a real danger." When a threat is made, "we have to react, we have to defend our views," he said. "We have to defend democracy." "To those who say that we should handle Iran with kid gloves, since it could destabilize the region, I say this: look at its adventurism today and imagine what it would be like if Teheran thought itself one day protected by a nuclear umbrella." (Jerusalem Post)

GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF A HOAX

French Judge Orders Court Screening of Al-Dura Video Footage
An appeals court judge in Paris ordered France 2 TV to show the court 25 minutes of raw video footage shot on Sept. 30, 2000, in Gaza in which the Palestinian boy Mohammed al-Dura apparently was shot and killed in an exchange of gunfire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants. Al-Dura's shooting death became an icon for Palestinian suffering, but the Israeli army concluded after an investigation that the boy could not possibly have been hit by Israeli bullets. When Philippe Karsenty, director of the media watchdog group Media-Ratings, called France 2's exclusive video of the incident "a hoax," he was found guilty of slander. He appealed the decision, and on Wednesday the appeals judge ordered that the video be released. Several French and U.S. journalists who have seen the raw footage have indicated the shooting might have been staged by Palestinians. (JTA)

SIGN THIS PETITION

Sign the Al Dura Petition (Roger L. Simon)
I imagine most readers of this site are familiar with the Mohammed Al Dura Case. If you're not, I'm sure the photogrpah of young Mohammed Al Dura being shielded from Israeli bullets during the Intifada is seared indelibly in your brain. The image went round the world, but there is strong reason to believe it is fake.

But why resurrect now this seemingly long-ago pre-9/11 event? Well, as the Father of All Fauxtography, it set a trend in media misrepresentation (and worse) that has not be fully adjusted to this day. Although organs like Reuters and The New York Times have sometimes admitted their mistakes, France 2, the promulgator of this video, has never released its "rushes," which I am told tell a very different story from the one that has been told.

Now, in the era Sarkozy, there is a chance to get the truth. Sign the petition for France 2 to release the tapes.

MORE: For those interested in the case, Pajamas now has a compendium of interesting Al Dura links, including recent trial coverage by Nidra Poller.

RELEASE THE RUSHES (HonestReporting)
France2 still refuses to release the unedited video tapes ("rushes") that its Palestinian cameraman, Talal abu Rahmah, sent them on September 30 and October 1, 2000 from Gaza that became the footage used to allege Israel's deliberate murder of Mohammed al-Dura. As this issue is played out in the French courts, you are invited to add your signature to a petition calling for the release of the France2 rushes.