France: bitter opposition to naming a school after Simone Veil

Simone Veil in person intervened to ask the municipality of Mennecy to abandon its project. The Mayor (UMP, conservative), Jean-Philippe Dugoin, gave in to pressure and the name of the Myrtilles school will not change into Myrtilles-Simone-Weil.

The proposal was opposed by a staggering 92% of parents and neighbours and caused a bitter three-week row.

The move had been thought to be consensual because Mrs. Veil enjoys great respect and popularity, she was elected the favourite woman by the French in 2010.

Simone Veil, aged 82,  is a French lawyer and politician who served as Minister of Health under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, President of the European Parliament and member of the Constitutional Council of France.  She is a survivor from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp where she lost part of her family, she is the Honorary President of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah.  She was elected to the Académie française in 2008. 

The Town Hall received e-mails with violent anti-Semitic content and some attacking the law legalizing abortion (her hardest political fight, and the one for which she is best-known). The Mayor Jean-Philippe Dugoin spoke of a "disgusting controversy with anti-Semitic connotations". 

Reacting to the controversy, Mrs. Veil who had welcomed the idea, wrote to ask for the plan to add her name to be dropped.

French paper Le Monde has 'special envoy' with flotilla

Celebrated French newspaper Le Monde is all excited about the flotilla and very supportive of the brave freedom fighters who claim they want to break the Gaza embargo.  Le Monde repeats time and again that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Yesterday the paper carried a so-called debate with no less than five opeds about "an independent Palestine tomorrow":

1. "Israel has to renounce its political doggedness", by Denis Bauchard
2. "A Palestinian State should be welcome with open arms", by Avraham Burg
3. "The good solution: federalism not partition", by Sari Nusseibeh
4. "After the "Arab Spring" the time for peace must come", by Ofer Bronchtein
5. "No to unilateral moves!" by Simone Rodan-Benzaquen
Plus on its website:
6. "Another Jewish voice. Exercices in hope", by Rabbi Gilles Bernheim
7. "Peace on Israel", by Yehuda Lancry.

To illustrate its point, the paper also carried a cartoon by Nicolas Vial depicting a brown, angular, ugly, brick fortress in the middle of the sea with around 30 cannons pointing in all directions.  Fourteen people are standing on a Star of David which covers one third of the fortress ... ten "innocent" boats are sailing past.  The atmosphere is reminiscent of a De Chirico painting!  The sense of isolation and violence is pervasive - there is some red which can be interpreted as blood = bloodbath etc.

Today, there are two anti-Israel articles.

We'll come back tomorrow on Elise Barthet, the special flotilla envoy, revelations about how the flotilla idiots are being prepared by a Swedish activist to confront the mighty and bloodthirsty IDF.

Diplomatic incident: French senator calls MKs 'colonialists'

MK Moshe Matalon: "I asked her if she even recognizes us as a state.  Of course, she didn't answer."

There are an amazing number of European women who are passionate defenders of the Palestinians and passionate haters of Israel.  One never sees them at a demonstrations against the massacres perpetrated by the Syrian government against its own people, but they are always there to criticise Israel.

Diplomatic incident: Senator Ben Guiga attacks Israeli policy during visit by Knesset committee, by Moran Azulay
Members of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee were assaulted by a French senator Tuesday while meeting with a number of senators in Paris. Among other things, she called the MKs "colonialists".

The meeting Monday was friendly until the outburst. MK Shaul Mofaz, who heads the committee, commended President Nicolas Sarkozy for his support of Israel and expressed hope that France would not support the Palestinian statehood bid in September.

Then the MKs received a few minutes each to give speeches, many of which focused on Palestinian issues and kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

But when French Senator Monique Cerisier Ben Guiga [photo] took the stand, later on, she expressed harsh criticism against Israel. She claimed the state was practicing "colonialism" and preventing Gazans from leading normal lives.

Finally, she criticized the decision to impair the prison conditions of Palestinian prisoners, and added a personal tale about witnessing settler violence towards Palestinians while on a visit to Hebron.

MK Shaul Mofaz, in his response to the senator, said he would attempt "not to answer in the same manner in which you are speaking" and to maintain the codes of diplomacy.

Switzerland: enjoy a BBQ and a beer while killing Jews

Anti-Semitic Poster Shocks Geneva Jews - A poster showing a Jewish figure shot by an arrow is spurring outrage in Geneva.

The ad for a Swiss national day party planned for Aug. 1 by the extremist group GNC shows a doll wearing a skullcap and an Israeli flag with an arrow in its forehead, evoking the legend of William Tell, with the slogan, “Save Switzerland: Shoot Straight!” in French. "This is a call for the murder of Jews," Jonah Gurfinkel said.

A GNC (Genève Non Conforme) member said the ad was directed against the Israeli government, not Jews.  Jewish groups say they are considering a lawsuit.
____________________________________________
Figure 1 - not antisemitic according the Swiss group:

Figure 2 - after charges of antisemitism, the group made two alterations - it is not anti-Jew, it's anti-Israel:

The poster for the party scheduled for August 1, the national day, promises "music, roasted [!] food, beer and much more": 

The poster as it features now on the association blog.

France: anti-Semitic Dieudonné shooting first "popular comedy on the Holocaust"

Only in France ... "The antisemite", the first popular comedy about the Holocaust.

The film poster shows French comic actor Dieudonné, dressed in military uniform and hilarious, feeding a tiny portion of food [is it food?] to a hungry man dressed as a concentration camp prisoner begging for something to eat. The subtitle of the film refers to "the first popular comedy about the Holocaust". According to the poster, the film has been preemptively banned from cinemas and video outlets in France. It will be sold through Dieudonné's website.

Dieudonné ran for the presidential elections 2009 under the label of the "anti-Zionist party".

According to L'Express magazine, the comedian, who is still very popular in France, claimed in a press conference that the goal of the film is to highlight the role of Zionism in slavery in Europe.

Source : Gentside via CICAD

French public station journalists' prize to American Israel-basher Joe Sacco

"What is so shocking is not so much that nowadays graphic novels are used to denounce Israel, that's freedom of art, but rather that Sacco's book (Gaza) describes the Israelis as Nazis and inhuman and the Palestinians as locked up in a concentration camp, and the fact that the book is displayed next to Maus, which denounces Nazi camps where Jews were herded... the circle is now complete." (A reader)


Source: Publishing Perspectives (Is Joe Sacco the World’s Greatest Graphic Noveliest/Reporter? The French Say “Oui”, Jan. 2011)

The Maltese-born American cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco has just won the public news radio station France Info’s 2011 news and comic book prize for the French edition of his 400-page graphic novel Footnotes in Gaza.

This is the second time Sacco has won the France Info prize—he was awarded the prize in 1999 for his graphic novel Palestine.

Sacco’s work is well known in France, where graphic novelists are worshipped and considered stars. He is very pleased, he said in a recent radio interview, with the French edition. [...]

Sacco will be present at the prestigious 4-day Angouleme International Comics Festival, which kicks off January 27 where Footnotes in Gaza is also in the official competition. [he won a prize there too...]"
_____________________

Time line:

- December 2009 - Footnotes in Gaza comes out in the U.S.
One month later (it is typical for Israel-bashing books to be translated very quickly by French editors):
- January 2010 - French translation published by Futuropolis (+ 400 pages) 
- August 2010 - shortlisted at the Ouest-France/Quai des bulles prize
- Novembre 2010 -  shortlisted at the Grand prix de la critique (Blois)
- Janvier 2011 - public news radio station France Info’s 2011 news and comic book prize for the French edition
- janvier 2011 - awarded le Fauve at the festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême ("the American author tells the Khan Younis and Rafah massacres like few journalists nowadays can or know how to tell. A valuable memory work.") 

A reader sent us these two pictures taken at the FNAC (a French retail chain) in Geneva:

He remarks:
"What is so shocking is not so much that nowadays graphic novels (comic books) are used to denounce Israel, that's freedom of art, but rather that Sacco's book (Gaza) describes the Israelis as Nazis and inhuman and the Palestinians as locked up in a concentration camp, and the fact that the book is displayed next to Maus, which denounces Nazi camps where Jews were herded ... the circle is now complete."  [French Arte TV does this too...]

More on how Israel is relentlessly demonised in France's intellectual and progressive circles:
- Jewish group calls Paris exhibition on mutilated people in Gaza 'propaganda work'
and the infamous Al-Durah affair (When it Comes to Al-Dura, Journalists Are Against Free Speech, by John Rosenthal)

EU Parliament President invites Palestinian NGO with Hamas links

The Chairman of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek (Poland)met in March 2010 Mr Arafat Shoukri, Executive director of  the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) et chairman of the European campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, an umbrella organisation for 30 European NGOs.  Arafat Shoukri was also the guest of Javier Solana (Spain)!

We deeply regret that the head of the European Parliament finds that Arafat Madi Shoukri is a reliable interlocutor, considering that he is involved in organizations with links with Hamas and Hezbollah.  We further regret that none of the 736 European law-makers voiced disapproval about such a meeting.  Sadly, this is just becoming the norm.  It turns out that Belgian Euro-parliamentarian Véronique De Keyser has met with him recently. One can imagine the uproar that such an invitation would cause were he to be invited by the President of the U.S. Senate...  Not in Europe.

Source: Harry's Place (London Hamasniks and Interpal, by Habibi, 06/03/2009)

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) is a London-based group dedicated to the return of Palestinian refugees to their families’ old homes in Israel.
Everyone who has followed the negotiations over the years knows that this is a deep red line for Israel. Just as it would be for any Muslim countries asked to compensate Jewish families expelled in the past for their losses, or to grant Jews return to their old homes, should any be so bold as to do so.
Nor will Israel be defeated on any battlefield at home any time in the foreseeable future.

In other words, the PRC’s position amounts to a guarantee of decades of frustration, anger and strife.

So it is hardly surprising to learn that the PRC was established in the 1990s by Abu Sitta, a Palestinian exile, to raise opposition to the Oslo peace process. Nor to see that Mr Sitta frequently uses “Israelis are Nazis” rhetoric fit only for racist haters. As for the Geneva Accord, he dismisses it as the work of Mossad.

Today the PRC’s trustees are Majdi Akeel, Majed Al Zeer, Zaher Birawi, Ghassan Faour, and Mohammad Hamed.

The PRC remains on message: it is very keen on Hamas. In the picture below, in November 2008 PRC director Majed Al Zeer (left) shares a platform in Damascus with Khaled Mishaal (right), a top Hamas hardliner. The man to Meshaal’s right is former Malaysian leader and notorious anti-Semite Mahathir Mohamad. The man to al Zeer’s left is Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pur, an Iranian cleric and former diplomat and minister who played a key role in the build-up of Hezbollah.

The Damascus conference issued a statement and open letters that are quite pungent. Some examples:

The Congress reaffirms the need to popularize the culture of resistance and its practice as the option of resistance is the best and shortest way to realize the return of the refugees to their homes. It calls for the safeguarding of this option and its fortification on the national, patriotic, Islamic and international fronts.
…
They reaffirm their support for the national, patriotic and liberation stand of Syria and the steadfastness of its people under the leadership of Dr Bashar Al Asad in the face of all forms harassment, threats and aggression the last of which was the abhorrent American attack on Syrian territory.
…
They regard support for the Iraqi resistance and safeguarding of the unity and Arab identity of Iraq an important step toward the restoration of the Palestinian people of their land and rights.
…
The participants in the Arab International Congress for the right of return convinced of the longstanding and current danger of the Zionist role in the plots to dismember Sudan and undermine its national unity, Arab, African and Islamic identity and halt its role as a bridge between the Arab ummah and its strategic and civilizational depth in Africa declare their firm support for the people of Sudan in their struggle against all forms of colonial intervention, dubious internationalization and provocative initiatives.

This was hardly the first time the PRC associated itself so closely with terrorists. In 2007, it hoped to invite Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to a conference in Rotterdam. The Dutch authorities refused to issue a visa to Haniyeh. So another Hamas minister was dispatched. He managed to get a visa but was stopped at the airport in Brussels and turned back when the Dutch realised they had made a mistake and alerted the Belgians. For the PRC’s Al Zeer, refusing entry to a member of a proscribed terrorist group was nothing less than a “humiliation of the Palestinian people”.

In 2006, Sweden was more Hamas-friendly than the Netherlands: it allowed another Hamas minister to attend a PRC conference.