Guardian journalist shouts anti-Israel slogans at Avigdor Lieberman press conference at EU

BRUSSELS (EJP)---A Irish journalist shouted “Free Palestine” ,“Israel apartheid state” and “Apartheid is a crime” at the start of a press conference by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman with EU officials in Brussels on Tuesday.

Approaching the minister, he shouted: “Mister Lieberman this is a critizen’s arrest. You are charged with the crime of apartheid”.

The man, David Cronin, who writes for several newspapers including The Guardian, The Irish Times and European Voice, was immediately removed from the EU Council press room by security guards.

He reportedly provoked the same kind of incident at a press conference by EU Mideast Quartet envoy Tony Blair at the European Parliament last year.

“If he is a journalist accreditated to the EU, his press card will be confiscated,” one EU official told EJP.

In November, he published a book titled “Europe’s Alliance with Israel: Aiding the Occupation.”

Lieberman attended in Brussels the 10th meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council, the body governing the relations between the two sides.

At the press conference were also Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi, whose country currently chairs the EU, and Stefan Fulle, EU Commissioner responsible for Enlargment and Neighborhood Policy.

Spain, Jews and Israel: 25 years after formal relations, Daniel S. Mariaschin

"While many leaders may appreciate Jewish contributions to Spain, an understanding of the larger Middle East picture is less apparent. Given the choice, Spanish governments have too often chosen to view the Israel-Palestinian issue through a narrow lens, which more often than not does not appear to be objective. The continuing impression is that too often the relationship is with the Arab world to the exclusion of Israel."

(EJP) The history of the Jews and Spain was rocky for centuries, with Spain giving Jews a “choice” of expulsion, forced conversion or death in 1492. But a new chapter opened 25 years ago when Spain and Israel established diplomatic relations on January 17, 1986. It was the first time that Spain recognized the State of Israel, and it was a watershed moment for both nations.

What has happened since? The relationship between Spain and Israel, and Spain and Jews has hit a rocky, but hopefully not irreversible, patch.

In what could be a more than problematic development, Spain upgraded its diplomatic relationship with the Palestinian Authority this last fall, perhaps foreshadowing its recognition of a Palestinian state. That possibility, outside of bilateral negotiations, would undermine and jeopardize an already precarious peace process by removing Israel from the equation.

Another disturbing sign of trouble: the Pew Research Center’s 2008 Global Attitudes Project found 46 percent of Spanish residents held an unfavorable view of Jews. Just three years earlier, 21% held an unfavorable view of Jews in a similar survey. These shocking numbers propelled Spain to the top of the list of European nations with a poor view of Jews.

To be sure, this is a distressing development. But the poll cannot be used only to define the relationship between Spain and Jews and Spain and Israel.  These broadly held attitudes must also be viewed as a teachable moment.

2012 presidential race - anti-Semitism in France under the spotlight

There is nothing surprising in these latest "developments" in France.  Many Europeans believe that Jews are "immigrants" who on the whole have been successful.  Revealingly, Europeans forget that Jews have lived in Europe for many centuries.  But many Jews also agree and are proud to say that they are "well integrated"... thus accepting that Jews are not quite "native" to Europe.  That's the main difference between US and European Jews lies. French historian André Kaspi reckons that by 2080 there will be 600.000 Jews left in Europe.

Source: France 24 (Anti-Semitism in France under the spotlight, by James Creedon)

FRENCH PAPERS, Tues., 15/2/2011: An old French debate has reared its head: is there still a residue of anti-Semitism in France? Le Monde points out that the most popular Google searches for certain politicians like Dominique Strauss-Kahn and François Hollande is their name followed by the world “Jew”. What does this reveal about France’s subconscious?
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French right politicians savage IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Sarkozy's undeclared rival for 2012 presidential race

PARIS (AFP-EJP)--  French President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing allies have launched a full-frontal assault on his potential -- but undeclared -- rival in next year's presidential election, IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Strauss-Kahn's stint at the helm of the International Monetary Fund in Washington does not officially end until September 2012, several months after the scheduled date of France's vote. But the French political world is buzzing with speculation that the man popularly known here as DSK will bring a premature end to his tenure and throw his hat in the ring. And opinion polls suggested he would win the vote if he runs. [...]

In recent days, its leading lights have launched virulent attacks on Strauss-Kahn, a Socialist former Finance Minister whom, ironically, Sarkozy backed to become IMF chief.

They dismissed the silver-haired IMF boss as a rich "champagne socialist," a man who has been away too long to still be in touch with France, and a cosmopolitan type who is not "the image of... the France we love."

It was that last charge, by the leader of the UMP in parliament Christian Jacob, that most angered Strauss-Kahn's Socialist allies, who saw in it veiled anti-Semitism.

Socialist deputy Pierre Moscovici said it "resembles a little the rhetoric of the extreme-right between the two world wars" who used such terms to attack French Jewish Socialists. [...]

5th anniversary of murder of young French Jew Ilan Halimi

"... they tortured Ilan with particular cruelty simply because he was Jewish" (Nidra Poller)

Ilan Halimi (11 October 1982 - 13 February 2006)

"This young Parisian Jew was kidnapped by a gang of thugs on January 21st and held captive for three weeks. On February 13th, early in the morning, he was found on the edge of a railway station, naked and handcuffed, his body covered with burn marks from acid and cigarettes. He had been savagely tortured and stabbed in the neck. He was not dead yet when discovered, but he died a few minutes later.

Little by little, information emerged about the crime. There were at least fifteen thugs, maybe more. They had used a girl to seduce Halimi into the trap where he was captured. They knew he was a Jew and they had chosen him for that reason. In his pocket they found the phone number of a rabbi and he was the first person they called, telling him: "We have a Jew. The family has to pay. If the family cannot pay, it will be the synagogue." In succeeding days, they called the rabbi again, howling sentences full of hatred. Later, they called the family, asking for $600,000, before lowering the price to $5,000. They spoke to the mother, to Halimi’s sisters, uncle, and father. When they were not asking for money, they were reciting suras from the Quran. In some of the conversations it was possible to hear Halimi screaming in the background. The thugs sent a videotape showing the young man naked, humiliated, handcuffed, just like on a Zarqawi videos from Iraq. [...]" The Murder of Ilan Halimi, by Guy Millière

Ilan Halimi rests in peace in Israel.

The cry of my conscience about my family's Nazi collaboration, Alexandre Jardin

"To burn down a synagogue and liquidate a few Jews, all you need is a handful of violent sadists. But to perpetrate this on a large scale, a moral discourse must be used of a sort that mobilises a great many decent people, who will be even more efficient. My grandfather, a man steeped in Christianity, was one of those people. [...] And all of a sudden, a large section of the press – accustomed to the notion that crimes are the deeds of bastards – were up in arms."

I have read Alexandre Jardin's book.  It is an important book.  It goes a long way to help us, Europeans, understand Europe's deep-seated hostility towards the Jews and especially against Israel today.  As he says : "Vive la France! The one to come, that is."  I agree.

Source: The Guardian

France is a curious country. You can talk about anything here: about paedophilia, about the most shameful passions, but not about our families' dishonour during the second world war – because that particular past just won't pass. Especially if you argue that to have taken part in the worst atrocities of the Nazi occupation one didn't necessarily have to be a monster.

My novels have been read by hundreds of thousands of people in France over the past quarter of a century. I'm reputed to be a lightweight author, drunk on smiley sentimental literature. And then, at nearly 46 years of age – the age at which my father died – I confessed what my immoderate mirth was hiding all along and published a difficult, irrevocable book: Des gens très bien (Very Nice People). This 300-page crime novel, all of a sudden, sparked a crisis.

Why? Because it speaks of the blindness of my family and of our whole nation. Because it evokes the guilt of the upright, morally endowed people who collaborated with nazism and who, definitively, allowed the extermination of the Jews. Because it says that my grandfather was both a fundamentally decent chap and an accessory to utter evil – something our modern brains have a hard time grasping. Because it cries my shame at possessing the genes of a man who collaborated at the highest level.

At 17 I understood that on the day of the Vél d'Hiv roundup, when around 13,000 Jews were arrested in Paris (almost all of whom were exterminated), my grandfather Jean Jardin was the chief collaborator to the most collaborationist of French statesman (Pierre Laval, head of government under Marshal Pétain). At the time, he was the chief of staff in Vichy for the man who wished for "German victory". He was Laval's eyes, his right hand, his mouthpiece – if not his conscience.

EU fumbles as Egypt and the Middle East erupt in violence and unrest

Source: Newsletter of the European Coalition for Israel (a Christian initiative promoting European-Israeli cooperation)

The European Union has found no clear line of policy as Egypt and the rest of the Middle East seem to be sliding deeper into chaos and unrest. The same EU leaders who for years have hailed the Egyptian leader Mubarak as a strong ally and friend have switched allegiance overnight and are now pressing for an immediate toppling of the president without having any clear idea of what may follow if Islamic fundamentalists take over the country.

The hypocrisy and naivety of the EU and the Western world is nothing new. The Iranian revolution had support from Europe. Also the developments in Turkey, where Islamic forces have taken over the government, have been supported by EU pressure for more democracy. Only a few years ago EU support for the Fatah-ruled Palestinian territories was steadfast and any accusation of corruption or mismanagement of funds was clearly rejected by the European Commission. Everything changed overnight when Hamas came to power. Then the EU suddenly blamed it all on ’the corruption of the previous government’. EU policy in the Middle East has sadly proved to be a complete failure.

(The commissioner responsible at the time, Chris Patten, who fervently opposed any transparency in the EU funding of the Palestinian territories, is today an active campaigner against Israel and one of the initiators of the letter written to the EU mentioned in the last issue.)

Today the same EU leaders who criticise Mubarak for non-democratic rule are apparently happy to support the Muslim Brotherhood which openly promotes a world caliphate.

When European leaders criticise Islam Israel-bashing comes next

After British P.M. David Cameron speech about multiculturalism (i.e. Islam), British Foreign Minister William Hague has harsh words against Israel.  This pattern is repeated time after time.

"The British and other European governments would be well-advised to put more real effort into improving the situation on the ground instead of just taking the backseat and leaving Israel, the only democracy in the region, alone. Talk is cheap, but action is what we need." (Ronald Lauder)

(EJP) --- The World Jewish Congress expressed disappointment about comments made this week by British Foreign Minister William Hague on the Middle East and Israel, calling them "one-sided".

In an interview with The Times in London, Hague said Israel should tone down what he tered its "belligerent" language amid the revolutionary tide sweeping the Arab world, when he was asked to comment recent statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the situation in Egypt.

In a meeting earlier this week with a visting delegation of European parliamentarians, Netanyahu spoke of the possibility that the Islamists in Egypt would exploit the situation in order to gain governance over the country and lead it backwards, in fact warning that Egypt could become a new Iran. He said Israel had to be prepared for "any outcome" in Egypt and "to reinforce its might".

William Hague was quoted by the British newspaper as saying that "this should not be a time for belligerent language".

"It's a time to inject greater urgency into the Middle East peace process," he added.  He also demanded that the Obama administration give a timetable for bringing "greater urgency into the peace process" and for a peace settlement to be based on the borders prior to 1967.

On Wednesday World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder issued a strong statement on Hague’s comments. "Putting undue political pressure on Israel alone, completely neglecting its vital security interests, is counterproductive and unhelpful,” he said, criticizing Europe's political leaders "who on an almost daily basis go around the Middle East lecturing the Israelis about what they should do, and that they should do it now."