Pave: Who To Believe? France Or Those Lying Jews? IX Redux

Le jour 444 de Sarko

Non, la France n'est pas un pays antisémite. ... La France n'accepte pas l'antisémitisme ; elle le combat. Mais elle n'accepte pas non plus les accusations qui touchent à son honneur.

[No, France is not an anti-Semitic country. ... France does not accept anti-semitism; she fights it. But neither does she accept charges that wound her honor.]

Ex-Jack,
then-president of anti-Semite-free France,
explaining how France while battling
French anti-Semitism morning, noon, and night,
cannot, as a point of honor, acknowledge
claims of anti-Semiticsm in France
PALAIS DE L'ÉLYSÉE February 13, 2004
(Élysée/Yedioth Aharonoth)

In June of this year a lone Jewish teenager, identified by his kippa, was brutally beaten by a Parisian gang of 15 to 20 "youths" and left in a coma. What was plain was that the victim was a Jew and, from eye witnesses, the attackers were Maghrébins (North Africans). The tough call for the French media was how to report this savage attack without giving offense or not too much offense or the least offense possible to the Maghrébin community. Ever resourceful in new approaches to the facts the French press conjured up "intercommunitarian strife", a sort of Jewish-Maghrebi West Side Story minus the catchy tunes or dance numbers or the nice Natalie Wood-Richard Beymer love interest.

Now the story was Rudy Haddad, a Jewish gang member with a police record, is caught alone on the turf of a rival Maghrebi gang. Mayhem ensues. [Heads nod knowingly.]

There was only one small fail-point in this everyone's-to-blame fairy tale. [Pause.]

No complementary Jewish gang.

Nidra Poller, perhaps the most intelligent and trusted reporter in France (and here), provides a believable exposition.

HATE

PARIS July 31, 2008 (WSJ) - The brutal mob beating of a Jewish teenager in full view of witnesses at the end of a summer afternoon marks an ominous development in the hate crimes that have plagued France since the fall of 2000.

... As if to camouflage the horror of a brazen aggression, French media framed 17-year-old Rudy Haddad's beating in an incongruous narrative of turf battles between Jewish gangs and African and Maghrebi gangs. Confused accounts of the June 21 fights that ended with the attack against Rudy -- portrayed as a tough guy with a police record -- curiously recall the "cycle of violence" treatment of the Arab-Israeli conflict, where Palestinian terror attacks and Israeli efforts to prevent them are judged as morally equivalent. In Rudy's case, officials and reporters contravened the customary self-imposed gag rule and immediately pinned an ethno-religious label on the "youths" who, according to witnesses, bashed Rudy's skull, broke his ribs, jumped up and down on his inert body with all their might shouting "dirty Jew," and left him in a coma. But every account ended with a line about "intercommunitarian strife" that placed half the blame on the victim. The exact nature of these Jewish gangs was left in the dark...

To reaffirm the good reputation of his district, Socialist Mayor Roger Madec organized a "fraternal gathering" in front of the City Hall on July 3. Reporters were greeted by a press attaché who hastened to inform them that this was not a "purely" anti-Semitic attack -- the Jewish gangs, you know.

With the exception of Richard Prasquier, the president of the Jewish umbrella organization CRIF [Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France] who asked what is being done about the hatred that fired the unspeakable violence against a 17-year-old simply because he is Jewish, the other speakers sang the praises of good neighborly diversity and warned the media not to pin anti-this and anti-that labels on the "regrettable incident." None of these other speakers thought to address Mr. Prasquier's question.

... In France, where racial, religious, national or ethnic breakdown of population statistics is forbidden, and where applying such labels to criminals is taboo, the term "youth" is used to hide the identity of thugs, even when their identity is visible in TV footage. The taboo was exceptionally lifted in Rudy's case to sustain the narrative of intercommunitarian strife. The fortuitous discovery -- or invention -- of Jewish gangs imposed a corresponding African and Maghrebi label.

Since tough laws and improved police work have not put a stop to the harassment of Jews, some young Jewish men are trying to defend themselves. Much was made of Rudy's "police record." In fact, his "record" consisted of an attempt to defend a friend who'd been knocked to the ground by a group of Muslims who came to break up a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony in honor of kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Rudy fought them off with his motorcycle helmet, which became in legal terms an "arm by destination."

... The Rudy Haddad story leaped back onto the front pages on July 10 with the arrest of seven "youths" who turned out to be in their mid- to late 20s. Two have been arraigned and jailed: an African, identified as Sekou M., and a North African, Foued O. The latter, who is a career air force corporal, is accused of bashing Rudy's head with a crutch. Another African, Boubacar C., suspected of involvement in the machete attack, has been charged and released while awaiting trial. The implication of husky, mature men in the attacks that raged that day and culminated in the savage beating of a Jewish teen further undermines the narrative of mere squabbles among youngsters.

And here is a telling anecdote about the rule of law in the very heart of France:

A woman told me she witnessed another violent fight near the City Hall [in Paris's 19th arrondissement] in midafternoon. Fearing someone would get killed -- the (African and Maghrebi) assailants were beating their victims with iron bars -- she asked the policemen on duty to intervene. One of them shrugged and said, "They should all go home."

Worth the full read.

PFFT (What is this?): Everyone go home 5 | Rayonnement français 0 (There is no lower rating)