American Jewish Committee: Good for France, Bad for the Jews
Yes, that is what she has become, their supposed defender. In fact, because of the advantageous position she enjoyed as both Director of AJC/France and Sarkozy mignon, she actually undermined and neutralized France’s Jewish institutions. She was the gatekeeper who limited their access to the French political establishment. She became the person whom Sarkozy consults on Jewish issues. France’s traditional Jewish leadership has become politically irrelevant, thanks to Hoffenberg.
Her malfeasance is well-known. But, she is AJC’s gift to the Jews of France, a gift that no thinking French Jew could want but one that Sarkozy has chosen to do his dirty work for him. AJC has no complaints. Its access, influence, and prestige are only enhanced. Meanwhile, Sarkozy has pursued the anti-Israel policies of Jacques Chirac, but with even greater belligerence and determination than his predecessor while falsely professing to be Israel’s friend.
IRIS (Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques) think tank Director Pascal Boniface — well-known for his anti-Israel advocacy — approvingly says as much in an article: “Sarkozy retrouve les rails de Chirac” (Sarkozy Rediscovers the Path of Chirac). In 2002, Boniface declared that Israel should be placed in the “Axis of Evil.” He has made no objection to Hoffenberg’s appointment. A telling omission. Need I say more?
The resurgence of virulent Jew-hatred in France was spawned during Chirac’s reign on September 30, 2000, when the government-controlled media propagated the Mohamed al-Dura blood libel — the false story that Israeli soldiers deliberately murdered an Arab child in the Gaza strip:
Though the incident was staged, “it was broadcast on French public television station, France 2. Mohamed al-Dura became an icon for all Muslim Children. The story triggered rioting, terrorism, and mayhem throughout the Muslim world; unleashed the Second Intifada; was the pretext for Daniel Pearl’s beheading, and was referenced in Osama bin Laden’s recruitment tapes prior to 9/11.”
Chirac, in refusing to denounce the hoax and correct the record, is directly responsible for the bloody consequences that ensued. Enraged Muslims targeted Jewish communities throughout the world, including France.
The lot of the French Jew has not improved under Sarkozy. The al-Dura hoax persists despite a court victory against France 2, the government-controlled station that sued French citizen Philippe Karsenty for his role in exposing it. And now, Sarkozy has accorded new credibility to the lie by bestowing upon its author — journalist Charles Enderlin, otherwise known as France’s “voice of the Middle East” — the coveted Legion of Honor award.
Meanwhile, on al-Dura, Valerie Hoffenberg and David Harris have been silent — in France — where their voice would have had a significant impact. They have never spoken one word of encouragement to French Jewry to fight for the truth. They have never demanded an apology, a retraction, or an investigation from the government or France 2. In fact, they have never even criticized Charles Enderlin.
If AJC/France is not willing to rouse itself for the sake of Israel’s good name in France, who will do it? Not only did AJC/France not intervene when the French government perpetrated the hoax, or at any time thereafter — despite its celebrated access, influence, and prestige, it actively worked against the person who did. Only one man, Philippe Karsenty, stepped forward to fight this battle alone. Behind the scenes, in government circles, and with Jewish leaders, AJC/France’s Valerie Hoffenberg tried to discredit Karsenty and insisted that Charles Enderlin’s al-Dura narrative was true. Needless to say, neither Hoffenberg nor Harris objected to Enderlin’s Legion of Honor award. The Zionist Organization of America, on the other hand, immediately condemned it, as all Jewish organizations should have done.
Naiveté and wishful thinking compels Jews to conclude that Sarkozy is a refreshing counterpoint to Chirac. But, recall that it was Sarkozy who invited Hezbollah terrorists to Paris only two months after his election, something that even Chirac never dared to do. Libya’s General Ghaddafi was honored with Sarkozy’s hospitality after the release of Bulgarian nurses that the dictator had been holding hostage. Syrian “Axis of Evil” dictator Bashir Assad also benefited from an invitation to Paris, without even a quid pro quo. In 2008, Sarkozy humiliated former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by seating Assad in the first row and Olmert three tiers behind at the annual Bastille Day celebration.
Today, Sarkozy harshly condemns Israel for activities that are normal in the life of every sovereign nation. He denies the legality of the Israeli justice system to settle disputes concerning the building, zoning, and dwelling rights of its own citizens. He refers to so-called “East” Jerusalem as a colony, although it was the Arabs who massacred and drove out the area’s Jewish residents in 1948 — desecrating or destroying Jewish holy sites, synagogues, and schools, and barring entry to all Jews until Israel liberated the area in 1967.
He refused to boycott Durban II in March of 2009. Thus, he lent legitimacy to a phony “anti-racism” conference whose only purpose was to condemn Israel. The conference was opened by Iran’s President Ahmadinejad, who regularly calls for Israel’s annihilation and the death of every Jew. Unfortunately, AJC played a role in this debacle. It was instrumental in discouraging a French and American boycott. AJC changed its tune only when Obama decided to keep the United States away at the very last minute.
But Sarkozy has remained silent while a known anti-Semite, Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, is being considered for the directorship of UNESCO, whose headquarters are located in Paris. In 2008, in response to a question raised in Parliament by a member of the terrorist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, concerning the introduction of Israeli books into the Alexandria library, Hosni famously proclaimed:
Burn these books if they are found, I will burn them myself in front of you!
Let’s call an ace an ace and a spade a spade.
Hoffenberg is not only a court Jew, she is a Judenrat. This mantle describes a Jew who knowingly endangers other Jews, seeking power and access as their main goal. The fact that Jews will die due to their betrayals is of NO consequence to them.They would sell out their own mothers for power and access.
The AJC has long since been disqualified (at least by clear thinking people)as a Jewish organization, with Jewish interests at its forefront. It is an organization which curries favor with international players, often diametrically opposed to Jewish strengthening.
When I started earning a substantial business income about a decade ago I had many Jewish organizations come a knocking for contributions. How popular I suddenly became…
Instead of giving willy nilly to anyone who called with the word Jewish inserted into its title I did my due diligence. At the end of the process I decided that ONLY organizations which were true to their titles would get any money. I won’t be played for a fool and contribute to those who take my hard earned money and give it away to those who want to harm my people.
God helps those who help themselves, and as a people we are too few to work against each other.Therefore, those who do should be shunned like pariahs and exposed for what they are!
Stupid is as stupid does.
“Bestowing upon its author — journalist Charles Enderlin, otherwise known as France’s “voice of the Middle East” — the coveted Legion of Honor award.”
I thought my disillusionment with Sakozy was complete, but this just about completes it and to to think we had such high hopes for this man, well time to sell up and leave France.
Hoffenberg has previously worked with the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to develop a multipurpose industrial park in Bethlehem. Of those efforts, Sarkozy said, “You have shown that it is possible to make progress on concrete projects between Israelis and Palestinians
enuff said !
If you’d be really fair you should h’d investigated into the palestinians sites in France, and or into the lefties papers, you would then had read that the Palestinians think that Sarko and Hoffenberg are sold to Sionnists, idem for the lefty papers
the worst thing that happen to Israel is that some Jews, that don’t live there, but in the wealthy and safe NY and or Washington quaters, want to give her a say on how she must conduct her affairs.
Things improved between France and Israel since Sarko is on duty ! but , for you it isn’t enough, you still want that France follows your diktats !
Sorry, but we are still a free and an autonom country, where french “Jews” that are rather French in their way of thinking, feel happy to write and elect what and who they want.
Please keep your money and your associations away from them, we don’t want to become your obligeds, and live in peace in our country, cuz, you are the sort of persons that want to set paranoia among our jewish community !
ADL survey of last february :
Country by Country Findings on Anti-Semitic Attitudes
In responding “probably true” to the statement, “Jews are more loyal to Israel than their own country,” the 2009 survey found:
Austria – 47%, down from 54% in 2007
France – 38%, down from 39% in 2007
Germany – 53%, up from 51% in 2007
Hungary – 40%, down from 50% in 2007
Poland – 63%, up from 59% in 2007
Spain – 64%, up from 60% in 2007
The United Kingdom – 37%, down from 50% in 2007
In responding “probably true” to the statement, “Jews have too much power in the business world,” the 2009 survey found:
Austria – 36%, down from 37% in 2007
France – 33%, up from 28% in 2007
Germany – 21%, unchanged from 2007
Hungary – 67%, up from 60% in 2007
Poland – 55%, up from 49% in 2007
Spain – 56%, up from 53% in 2007
The United Kingdom – 15%, down from 22% in 2007
In responding “probably true” to the statement “Jews have too much power in international financial markets,” the 2009 survey found:
Austria – 37%, down from 43% in 2007
France – 27%, down from 28% in 2007
Germany – 22%, down from 25% in 2007
Hungary – 59%, down from 61% in 2007
Poland – 54%, unchanged from 2007
Spain –74%, up from 68% in 2007
The United Kingdom – 15%, down from 21% in 2007
In responding “probably true” to the statement “Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust,” the 2009 survey found:
Austria – 55%, up from 54% in 2007
France – 33%, down from 40 % in 2007
Germany – 45%, unchanged from 2007
Hungary – 56%, down from 58% from 2007
Poland – 55%, down from 58% in 2007
Spain – 42%, down from 46% in 2007
The United Kingdom – 20%, down from 28% in 2007
ADL commissioned First International Resources to conduct the survey. Fielded in Europe by Taylor Nelson Sofres, it was conducted in the native language of each of the countries among the general population. The margin of error for each country is +/- 4% at 95% level of confidence.
David, you’d preferred Ségolène ? or Marie-George, or…. ?
My Dear Marie Claude,
If you think that the numbers in ADL survey ranging from 27% to 38% are good numbers and bode well for the jewish population in France, I wonder what you would consider “bad ” numbers. Of course if you compare France with the most anti-semite countries in Europe, then of course the
French numbers are good.
This is not paranoia, it is simply seeing the facts. But maybe we need to have actual “French Jewish” blood spilled in greater numbers, for you to think that this is no paranoia…
And true, Sarkozy is way better than Segolene, or Marie George, but that is just an indication of the sorry state of the French Jews in France…
Susquehanna
When will you be satisfied ? when all the jewish population will have flown from all the european countries ?
because you, that don’t live here, are part of the problem !
you know perfectly that the statistics are a given cliché at a given moment, and this thermometer score was taken just after the Gaza crisis
And besides, you’re not the last person who would point on our largest muslim immigrants diaspora in the world wide.
So considering, that, and the events, you could say, that after UK, France results are good
Also ADL, isn’t particulary a favorable site, if you had a look at Pew, the results are much better for us
Why does the behavior of the French suprise all of you? Did you forget that France willing sent thousands of her own citizens to die in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany?
Joe did you forget that your people weren’t concerned by the problem at all ?
marie claude, is israel good for the jews?
if, as per mr dror, all jews must give up their morals to defend israel, is that not an admission that the state of israel was founded and continues to exist in a state of immorality?
was einstein right about zionism? …are zionists nazis? …if all jews become nazis in support of israel, will that be a good thing for jews?
Jewish traitors have been with us since at least the time of Josephus, who chose the fleshpots of Rome over the well-being of his own people. What is different today is that we see not an occasional Jewish turncoat, but a whole class of them. Treason has become the touchstone among self-hating Jews — whose number has increased exponentially since the time of Josephus.
The Talmud could not be clearer on this matter. In the tractate “Sanhedrin” we find these words: “If a group of Jews on a long journey are overtaken by barbarians who say, ‘Give us one of your number or we shall kill you all,’ let all be slain. For no Israelite may deliberately be delivered to barbarians.”
We Jews have been — and are still on — a very long journey, and we have been besieged, once again, by barbarians. There are those among us — all too many — who, in the hope of saving themselves, would deliver one or a few of us to the barbarians. There are even Jews who would deliver the state of Israel itself to the barbarians. This is itself barbaric. And it is so fundamentally unJewish that it should disqualify any Jew who attempts it from membership in the Jewish people.
The Jews so aptly described in Vanessa Jones’s fine article have embraced the one sin always condemned most vociferously by Judaism: the sin of idolatry. They have submitted to the worship of the self — to self-involvement and self-aggrandizement. Here too the Talmud is pertinent: “Whoever renounces idol worship may be called a Jew.” (Tractate Megillah) Isn’t it only fitting, then, that any Jew who embraces idol woship not be called a Jew”?
if jews like the israeli americans of the PNAC/AEI have abandoned their morals to defend israel, what are the implications?
how would that apply to, for instance, 9/11… seeing as how the PNAC/AEI people said they needed a new pearl harbor in september of 2000?
how would that apply to the fact that these same israelis and israeli americans lied us into the iraq war by manufacturing “intelligence” about iraq’s wmds?
how does that apply to the same people lying about iran’s nuke weapons program?
altalena is perfectly willing to behave immorally in defense of israel, even if israel was founded in immorality and has preserved itself in immorality.
will the immoral behavior of israel and zionist jews benefit all jews?
will jews who refuse to countenance zionist immorality be excommunicated from jewishness?
are we expected to adopt the following way of living…?
wadosy,
You will take any conspiracy theory to justify your stupidity.
4. Marie Claude, Philip De Villiers or Madeline actually, Sarkozy is turning out to be a male version of Royale or doing a Chirac, but yes the other alternatives are far far worse, especially the sickening postal worker…
I find it worrying that there is a large and powerful group of progressives in the UMP who seem to be making the running, you know who I am talking about.
nah, tout ça, c’est Carla !
France had hardly a true right wing government. As all the roads converge towards Paris where is the power since France existed. State power replaced king power, there always have been an important administration, more or less effective, depended on the personnalities at its head.
De Villiers has not enough friends, (and would be some kind of de Gaulle pale imitation, therefore, not too favorable to the anglo-saxon world), he had to rally UMP for the “Regionales”, otherwise he would loose his chances to get elected
On a loupé l’épisode Jospin in 2002, he did quite a fair job as prime minister, and would have been a fair president, even from the left, his friends were a bit anticonformist, like Allègre, he wasn’t in the line of the party, that’s why he got politically killed by his party fellows. (BTW, he wasn’t a catholic but a protestant)
Now, I don’t see interesting personnalities, or they have no access to the medias. Besides the main policies direction are traced from Brussels.
those who choose to be evil shall go by evil.
It never fails, point out Jewish duplicity and some “humanitarian” crawls out of the slime pot to attack everything Jewish rather than notice the damage done.
The world will be a far better place when all the do gooders can actually focus on evil instead of those who suffer from it’s actions.
Marie-Claude is a big dreamer: Let me tell you that Sarkosy is much better than Chirac but he is also an ambiguous guy: jewish roots but no religion (father converted to catholicism). He is the “dirty jew” of the suburb muslims (i mean youth!). He does what he can but in France antisemitism is such deeply rooted that when a jew comes to the US he is amazed to see free jews. Not scared and not ashamed of their identity. I went to the US in 2006 because France stinks, and its arab population has taken over the street and the politicians and some left wing jewish intellectuals try to seduce them like the kapos seduced the nazis before being killed by them.
France is over, Europe is over. It’s a third world continent. Look at the streets, look at the way people are dressed, look at the shops: THIRD WORLD.
And you French have to deal now with your Troyan Horse. Good luck. Watch the example of Lebanon that was at some point the “Middle East-Swiss”: Now: 3rd world and barbary.
I left France with now sorrow and I know that only the weaks and the cowards are still living there. Israel and Los Angeles have the ever fast growing french jewish population in the world. Guess why? No antisemitism yet in the US (at least not as much as in Europe) and a small wonderful country that fights with pride and dignity against a politico-religious system that some try to sell us as a religion of peace: Islam). Marie-Claude is gauche caviar jew (if she knows what a jew is) and she should visit Israel and see how the Israeli arabs live there before opening her big mouth. I remember the pogroms of jews that my gran-father witnessed in Algeria way before Israel was created, perpetrated by the religion of peace followers. Human right organizations were quite discret at that time: It was only a few jews being slaughtered by the same crowd we see today on TV everywhere.
Francois le juif qui a émigré aux US et qui va à la synagogue le Shabbat sans avoir peur de se faire taper dessus par des “jeunes”.
François, ah you came from Algeria, I’m not surprised of your statements now ! The Chinese government is learning a bit late that religious persecution tends to increase religious fervor rather than decrease it.
Alright, but perpetred by whom ? cuz Algeria Jews got the french citizenship during Napoleon III eras. Ah, that were of Berbers ! not in the history book though ! you are a nightmare maker!
but François ain’t a jewish nickname !
Cher françois, I have plenty of french jewish journalists followers, and guess, they are not saying the same so characterised words that I can only read on sites like PJM and alike sites.
D’ya know they even went on a cabal against Hortefeux, OK, they are lefty Bobos, Tiens Jacques Attali, is a Jew from Algeria, Sarko’s adviser now for micro-investments in surburbs enterprises. D’ya know, he isn’t saying what you say, he is trying to help the patry, while you flied away !
Al right France stinks because of her muslims, not Algeria when you were on the side of the far-rightist OAS, ah how comes your family stayed such a long period in algeria, d’ya know there were 90 % of stincking muslims around
Do you have a patry BTW ?
please choose anther nickname, you do not deserve françois
“I remember the pogroms of jews that my gran-father witnessed in Algeria”
That was the sentence that should have shown !
OK good luck in LA, you’re soon be a target from the Latinos ! (especially if you hold such a racist discourse)
I’m sorry to contradict you for Israel, CIA studies are saying that 2 millions Jews will fly away in the next decade !
@ french renegat,
je vais te rappeler des bon souvenirs, “vive l’Algérie…” :
http://www.rue89.com/lignes-de-fronts/2009/09/12/guerre-dalgerie-benjamin-stora-revisite-le-choix-de-de-gaulle
Marie Claude,
no I will not be happy when all the Jews have left France, and I know exactly what I am talking about, because I am a French Jew of Moroccan descent, born and raised in France.
I have left France in 2002, because I felt that France, my country, had betrayed me and I was feeling more and more uncomfortable raising my three little kids there.
France is not a safe place for Jews to live anymore, because it has betrayed its Jews by not wanting to acknowledge the rising anti-semitism, that has become so strong that it led to horrific acts of pure anti-semitic hatred like the murder after 21 days of torture of Ilan Halimi, just because he was a Jew.
The French governments do not want to recognize anti-semitism for what it is, and prefer to refer to it as simple “neighborhood violence” that just (by chance) happens to be directed to Jews.
So no I am not happy that Jews are leaving France in droves to emigrate either to Israel or to the US.
I will be happy when the Jews come back to France because it has become a safe country to live in like it was 30 years ago, when the shame of WWII had made anti-semitism unacceptable.
Right now the French political class has chosen the 8 million muslims over the 500 000 Jews, who can blame them, do the math! And thus, the muslims are unchecked in their anti-semitism, and feel emboldened to act against the Jews.
In the meantime, the French Jews, who have voted for Sarkozy for the most part, are more and more disappointed by his position on anti-semitism in France, and by his position towards Israel. Still despite this disappointment, Sarkozy is just the lesser of two evils.
He is however only continuing the “politique arabe de la France” that De Gaulle initiated against “ce peuple fier et dominateur”, so nobody should be surprised about it.
France needs its oil, and has a massive muslim immigration, so they have to bow to the Emirs.
What is surprising is to see that there still are some Jews, that for their personal benefit, are ready to serve as his “alibi”, and thus are putting other Jews in danger.
Those will meet the fate they deserve, like all the turn-coats of history have.
J’aimerais beaucoup lire cet article en français.
Merci.
Cordialement
Sarah Frydman
Sarah Frydman-
You’re talented enough to write this story in French and publish it.
I’d be glad to read it.
Marie Claude is highly representative… of her very own self. And nothing or nobody else.
Approximative English can hardly be considered as distinctly French, just as selective information use is neither exclusively French nor Left.