According to the oily Villepin (4 mars 2003), 'The American hawks are in the hands of Sharon'. Nothing like anti-Semitic innuendo by a French pol. http://www.proche-orient.info/xjournal_conf.php3?id_article=10394 Speaking of which, a Rabbi reminds us of the deteriorating European situation as of LAST YEAR! “EUROPE’S PANDERING TO ANTISEMITISM OPENS THE FLOODGATES OF HATE –“ BY RABBI ABRAHAM COOPER January 10, 2002 "In between drinks and canapés, [French] Ambassador [to Britain] Daniel Bernard, a close confidant of French President Chiraq, was overheard saying: 'Why should we be in danger of World War III because of these people?' [T]he senior diplomat who previously served his country with distinction at the United Nations was…talking about…, as he emphasized five times…, 'that shitty little country, Israel.' "Almost as outrageous as the slur was the reaction, or more accurately, lack thereof. Absent was the stiff protest from Whitehall to the Quai D’orsay. Neither PM Tony Blair nor FM Robin Cook demanded an apology. They need not have worried--none was forthcoming. The French Embassy merely released the following statement: 'The Ambassador regarded it as a private dinner with friends. He was surprised to have his remarks reported in this way.' "Actually, ***no one should be surprised by Bernard’s expletives. It only reflects the fact that too many of Europe’s elite have come to accept and even embrace antisemitism.*** We one can only imagine the outpouring of righteous indignation from the international community if such a slur had been launched against any Islamic state during the holy month of Ramadan. But this Hanukah, Jews of Europe and beyond know full well that they could expect no words of solidarity and support. "For the sobering truth is that ***a generation after the Nazi Holocaust, the new Europe is ready to stand in silent tribute for dead Jews, but has no time for the living.*** This blasé attitude is manifested in ***the stinging failure of governments to deal forcefully with the largest onslaught against European synagogues and Jewish schools since the 1938 Kristallnacht. Most of the two hundred hate crimes were linked to the current Intifada in the Holy Land.*** Long before the horrors of 9/11, over one hundred of those attacks were launched against French Jewry, while authorities refused and still refuse to deal with the fact that many of these outrages were inspired by Iranian and Libyan-backed extremist Moslem clerics, whose anti-Jewish and anti-American diatribes continue to this day, unabated." [Emphasis added***] http://www.wiesenthal.com/social/press/pr_item.cfm?itemID=4887
