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France and Anti-Semitism
As Not Me noted yesterday, the stories about the attack on the French mother outside Paris are coming into serious doubt. CNN reports that surveillance cameras show no images of anyone fitting the attackers' description running from the station. No witnesses have come forward and, despite the initial report that passengers just watched the attack, there are doubts as to whether anyone else was even on the train. The alleged victim has reported being violently assaulted several times before.
Interestingly, the alleged attack happened on the day that French ministers were meeting to discuss how to respond to the rising problem of racist, and particularly anti-Semitic, crimes. France has Europe's largest Muslim community (5 million). It also has Europe's largest Jewish community (600,000). The alleged attack was widely condemned by officials throughout the French government.
Despite all this, I think the Wahhabi Repubs were absolutely right to take the supposed attackers as indicative of the nature of France overall, and of the French government in particular. After all, 60 years ago one portion of France helped the Nazis slaughter Jews. In the same vein, the rest of the world would be absolutely right to see American skinheads and Klansmen as indicative of the nature of America overall, and of the American government in particular. After all, 140 years ago a portion of America enslaved people of African descent, and more recently another portion of Americans pursued the genocide of Indians.
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