Semsem
07-13-2005, 12:23 AM
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/598729.html
French Jews' status falls as Muslims' rises
The status of the French Jewish community has declined in recent years in direct proportion to the rise in status of the Muslim community, the JPPPI report maintains.
The authors say the outbreak of the 2001 intifada accelerated a process by which Islam was absolved by the media and political elites, while the Jewish community was stigmatized for supporting Israel. This process, begun under former president Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s, is ascribed to post-colonial guilt. Criticism of Islam became politically incorrect and was redirected at Jews, who were accused of tribalism.
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The French hostages affair in Iraq that ended at the end of last year, marked a new high point in the Muslim community's move to the center of consensus and the Jewish community's ouster. The French Foreign Ministry took the unprecedented step of officially appealing to the heads of the Muslim community for help with obtaining the hostages' release - in contravention of France's policy of the separation of church and state. "It is hard to imagine that the Jewish community could expect similar political treatment," the report says.
On the other hand, the report's authors point to the fierce campaign against anti-Semitism that French authorities have waged in the past two years as one of the factors responsible for the drop in anti-Semitic incidents in recent months.
However, in the authors' view, anti-Semitism has taken on indirect forms of expression in France, the most striking example being last year's harsh responses to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's call to French Jews to move to Israel.
According to the JPPPI report, the affair revealed latent anti-Semitism among the French government elite, on the one hand, and criticism against Sharon by some members of the French Jewish community that exposed its shaky standing and unity, on the other. (Amiram Barkat)
French Jews' status falls as Muslims' rises
The status of the French Jewish community has declined in recent years in direct proportion to the rise in status of the Muslim community, the JPPPI report maintains.
The authors say the outbreak of the 2001 intifada accelerated a process by which Islam was absolved by the media and political elites, while the Jewish community was stigmatized for supporting Israel. This process, begun under former president Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s, is ascribed to post-colonial guilt. Criticism of Islam became politically incorrect and was redirected at Jews, who were accused of tribalism.
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The French hostages affair in Iraq that ended at the end of last year, marked a new high point in the Muslim community's move to the center of consensus and the Jewish community's ouster. The French Foreign Ministry took the unprecedented step of officially appealing to the heads of the Muslim community for help with obtaining the hostages' release - in contravention of France's policy of the separation of church and state. "It is hard to imagine that the Jewish community could expect similar political treatment," the report says.
On the other hand, the report's authors point to the fierce campaign against anti-Semitism that French authorities have waged in the past two years as one of the factors responsible for the drop in anti-Semitic incidents in recent months.
However, in the authors' view, anti-Semitism has taken on indirect forms of expression in France, the most striking example being last year's harsh responses to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's call to French Jews to move to Israel.
According to the JPPPI report, the affair revealed latent anti-Semitism among the French government elite, on the one hand, and criticism against Sharon by some members of the French Jewish community that exposed its shaky standing and unity, on the other. (Amiram Barkat)