Chirac States That Sharon is not Welcome in France
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Veterans and former deportees display flags at a ceremony to remember victims of racism and antisemitism committed by the French state during World War II, in Paris, Sunday, July 18, 2004. The commemoration was held on the site of the Velodrome d'Hiver, where thousands of Jews were rounded up before deportation.
With France facing a new upsurge in anti-Semitic violence, hundreds of people commemorated Sunday a World War II roundup of thousands of Jews sent to Nazi death camps 62 years ago.
Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and Veterans Minister Hamlaoui Mekachera joined veterans, war deportees and others at the Square of Jewish Martyrs in Paris for the ceremony, one of many around France.
Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe laid a wreath at a monument on the square, which sits on the site of the Velodrome d'Hiver bicycle stadium that was transformed into a transit camp on July 16 and 17, 1942.
On those days, 13,152 Jews were rounded up in the Paris region and 8,160 - mostly children - were held at the stadium before being sent to Auschwitz. In all, about 75,000 Jews were deported from France to Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Only 2,500 survived.
Anti-Semitic acts against Jewish schools, synagogues or cemeteries have risen in France in the last years, coinciding with new tension in the Middle East. Many attacks have been blamed on young Muslims.
"The struggle against vile acts that we hear about in the news ... requires permanent vigilance by citizens along with the responsibility of remembering the past," Mekachera said.
Earlier this month, the Interior Ministry reported 510 anti-Jewish acts or threats in the first six months of 2004 - nearly as many as in all of last year, 593. Racist attacks also rose: There were 95 attacks and 161 threats through June, compared with a total 232 reported in 2003.
France's 6-million strong Muslim community has also faced recent attacks. In a case of suspected arson in March, fire damaged a mosque and destroyed a Muslim prayer hall in the southeast.
Earlier on Sunday, Sharon told a meeting of an American Jewish association in Jerusalem that he has to "advocate to our brothers in France: Move to Israel as early as possible."
"That's what I say to Jews all around the world but there (France) I think it's a must. They have to move immediately," he said while praising the French government for taking action against the "spread of the wildest anti-Semitism".
France, home to Europe's biggest Jewish and Muslim communities,estimated at 600,000 and 5 million respectively, saw the number of racist incidents soaring this year.
The country was gripped by a bout of soul-searching about anti-Semitism last week when a 23-year-old woman initially told police that a gang of six youths had accosted her on a Paris suburban train, slashing her clothes and drawing swastikas on her stomach after mistaking her for a Jew.
But she later admitted to police that she had made up the entire incident and begged forgiveness in a televised apology.
The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France also criticized Sharon's remarks as "adding oil to the fire" and "not corresponding to the facts."
"The Jewish community (in France) is worrying for the future oftheir children, but it knows that the French political authoritiesare doing all to fight against the anti-Semitism. To add oil to the fire in this way (in Sharon's way) is not acceptable," said the council in a statement.
The council also disagreed with Sharon's argument that 10 percent of the French population are Muslim means that the countryis anti-Semitist.
This remark confuses "a strong Muslim population and the fact that most of anti-Semitist came from the Muslim," said the statement, "To link the two is unacceptable."
"France is not an anti-Semitist nation and the French government is trying to do all, but the situation is difficult," it added.
posted by: ansell (reply)
post date: 07.20.04 (8:10 pm)
is america really pro-muslim as you seem to imply with all the frenchie bashing you seem to be so good at.. i think a quote or two from the person that posts all this crap would be appropriate now and again...
since as you seem to be censoring fair views on this stuff by just giving us the views that suit you most
Chirac States That Sharon is not Welcome in France