http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/435932.htmlIf in the end it turns out that the stabbing of yeshiva student Yisrael Yifrah in Paris on Friday was criminally motivated; if the investigation reveals that the attacker did not shout in praise of Allah and if it is proved that the knife was not wielded in the name of national conflict - even then the French republic will not be able to turn a blind eye to the heavy cloud of anti-Semitism that has hung over the birthplace of liberty, equality and fraternity for the past two years. Since the start of this year 76 people have been arrested in France on suspicion of committing violent acts motivated by anti-Semitism.
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The expressions of hatred are age-old - from redistributions of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" to racial slurs not heard since the late `30s. Today anti-Semitism blames all of the world's ills on Zionism and the State of Israel, and its proponents are now not just the xenophobic right, but also from the radical left. The French left, which calls for a boycott of Israel and Zionism in the name of enlightened humanism, employs an extreme set of arguments that is blind and one-dimensional.
Its representatives define all of Israel's citizens, and hence all Jews, as a race of thuggish soldiers, and all Palestinians, including terrorist organizations, as innocent victims of Jewish nationalism. It may be supposed that this dialectic, which provides an easy outlet for the frustrations of many Muslims who suffer from racism and discrimination in France, contributes in no small degree to fanning violence against Jews.
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This attitude that is common among philosophers and influential members of academia on the left, pushes French Jews into a corner. An outspoken minority does indeed favor continued occupation and the blunt militarist policies of Ariel Sharon's government, but all the rest, including those who might wish to freely protest against Israel's actions, are helplessly silenced by the infamous mark of racism and Nazism stamped on the Jewish people's legitimate national desires.
Israel's policy warrants harsh criticism, but it does not in any way justify outbursts of hatred. Sixty years after the allied invasion of Normandy, that tremendous operation that marked the beginning of the final rout of Nazism in Europe, Jacques Chirac's France would do well to redouble its efforts to wipe out the violent anti-Semitism that is once again rearing its head.
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