The Last Exile

Everyone is all a twitter about the alleged open mic moment between US President Obama and France’s Prime Minister Sarkozy. Sarkozy accused Israeli Prime Minister of being a liar and ‘being fed up with him’ reminds me of what passes for appropriate small dinner time chat among France’s diplomatic corps.

While I have no reason to doubt Sarkozy’s animus towards an Israeli Prime Minister, after all there is a French tradition for that kind of thing- what is far more striking is just just what Sarkozy has against the US President. If anything, Sarkozy’s ‘gaffe’ really smells far more like ‘set-up’ to me. Sarkozy actually leads Obama into making ‘personal’ admissions about the Israeli Prime Minister.

The open mic ‘gaffe’ will hurt the Obama Administration far more with Democratic and Republican voters than it will hurt Sarkozy among his natural constituency in France. But this kind of ‘gaffe’ by Obama, when relations among the White House and the US Jewish community are at an all-time low – and in a lead-up to a major US election cycle for the Presidency…well, Sarkozy just handed Obama a shovel to keep digging his political grave..

There is just something about the French worldview which is wholly unique and – well, French. A forty-five year old woman marries an 80 plus year old man and then keeps him locked up in the laundry while she lives openly with her lover in the family home sounds French enough, but its the outrage for forcing the man to eat stale pastries which guarantees it couldn’t take place in any other country in the world. The Daily Mail.

When police arrived at the couple’s home, the wife initially claimed her husband was abroad, deputy prosecutor Fanny Floquet said. She added: ‘But the wife finally led them to a small laundry room in the house away from rooms used to live in and opened a locked door in front of the gendarmes.’

Local gendarme commander Bruno Arviset said: ‘The victim suffered violence and ill-treatment. ‘The man ate twice a day, mostly pastries that were past their sell-by date.’

Only the French would equate ill-treatment with the forced consumption of pastries after their best before date.

Maybe its my inner cynic asserting herself but I suspect this German effort to reach out to Islamic extremists is doomed for failure…now maybe there would be a chance for a suicide bomber hotline in Iraq, Islamabad or even Kandahar but Germany? Jerusalem Post:

The German government set up a ’suicide bomber hotline’ Monday to aid Muslims who want to quit extremism. The service should not be confused with a standard ’suicide hotline,’ which provides help to individuals who are considering hurting themselves.

The hotline is called “HATIF,” which means “telephone” in Arabic. A statement from the German Federal Constitution Protection Office said “the primary goal of HATIF is to prevent violence in the name of Islam.”

A spokeswoman for the German domestic intelligence agency, who was talking on condition of anonymity in line with agency policy, declined to say how much money had been allocated or how many employees were working for the program. However, she said the agency would guarantee confidentiality to users, and also help with safety measures if people seeking to quit are threatened by radicals. “Our program is an offer for those who want to leave extremism behind,” she said. “Once we find out what their needs are, we will develop the program accordingly.”

One last thought – since there is no actual strategy or plan of action for callers; I kind of have to wonder if someone came up with a rather nifty idea to get the German government to finance research for their thesis topic.

A little over a week ago I had a post up with the video of a Moldovan Priest and his parishioners going postal over a Menorah put up by the local Jewish community in the public square for Chanukah.

It is not often we – the North American descendents of Eastern Europeans – get to see first hand the classic and apparently enduring face of Christian ‘Old European’ styled anti-Semitism in action. The Moldovan Orthodox Church has come in for some heavy criticism internationally and the Moldovan government has been embarrassed publicly among the community of nations for this form of Christian fascism and has promised a clampdown of sorts. Although, I suspect the government won’t easily be re-making the Moldovian Church hierarchy into a silk purse any time soon.

Ynet News:

The Moldovan Orthodox Church on Wednesday blamed the local Jewish community for the recent rally in which a public menorah was torn down and a cross was put in its place. During the December 13th incident, dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova’s capital Chisinau, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah.

The 1.5 meter (5-foot)-tall ceremonial candelabrum was retrieved and reinstalled. The national government said in a statement that “hatred, intolerance and xenophobia” are unacceptable. According to a report, published Monday by the Russian Interfax news agency, the church said in a statement, “We believe that this unpleasant incident in the center of the capital could have been avoided if the menorah had been placed near a memorial for victims of the Holocaust.”

The church said it opposed the form of the protest, and that it respects “the feelings and belief of other cults that are legally registered on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, and expects a similar attitude from their side,” according to the report.

“At the same time,” the statement continued, “we think it inappropriate to put a symbol of the Jewish cult in a public place connected to the history and faith of our people, especially because Chanukah is classified by the cult books of Judaism as a ‘holiday of blessing’ that symbolizes the victory of Jews over non-Jews.”

‘Jewish cult, ‘cult books of Judaism’. Oy vey.

Modern anti-Semitism isn’t just for Muslims and it remains alive and well – in Moldova – among other places. An Orthodox Russian priest and his parishioners practice ‘inter-faith dialogue’ – circa Chanukah 2009. Ha’aretz:

Dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova’s capital, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah, officials said. The 1.5 meter(5-foot)-tall ceremonial candelabrum was retrieved, reinstalled and is now under police guard.

Police said they were investigating but there was no official reaction from Moldova’s Orthodox Church, which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church and counts 70 percent of Moldovans as members.

Let’s roll to the video before You Tube takes it down.

Have I mentioned lately how eternally grateful that I am for my ancestors leaving Eastern Europe decades ago?

I’m off to another late start this morning and haven’t time to really read the papers. I saw this article a few days ago and meant to post it then, but one thing or another came first, and I forgot I had it until this morning. Just chalk this down as another Zionist crime, but take heart all you pompous haters of Zion – the Belgiums won’t let the Israelis get away with this and mean to implement a ban. Ha’aretz:

Belgium’s government has agreed to ban the export to Israel of weapons that “strengthen it militarily,” a Belgian minister said on Thursday. A Brussels-based research group accused Israel of enlisting child soldiers.

The Belgian daily De Morgen quotes Minister Patricia Ceysens from the Flemish regional government as saying: “There’s a consensus [among ministers] not to approve exports that would strengthen Israel’s military capacity.”

Ceysens said this after a discussion on policy regarding weapons exports to Israel following the operation in Gaza. A final resolution has not been passed yet, but Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht already said recently that “given the current circumstances, weapons cannot be shipped from Belgium to Israel.”

(…)According to a recently-released report by the European Institute for Research and Information on Peace and Security on Belgian arms exports to the Jewish state, Israel is the fourth largest importer of Belgian arms in the Middle East. In 2007, Belgium sold Israel weapons (mostly light firearms) to the tune of $5,409,223, according to the report.

The report, which accuses Israel of human rights violations, also says that Belgium’s major weapons clients in the Middle East are Saudi Arabia (69 percent), Jordan (17 percent) and the United Arab Emirates (4.2 percent). The 15-page report does not deal with human rights violation in those countries. Quoting a 2003 amendment to Belgian law which forbids the sale of weapons to armies with child soldiers, the report says that Israel “accepts and arms underage volunteers.”

About those child soldiers of the IDF:

The Israeli Defense Forces’ Gadna program runs a one-week military training session on a base as part of the curriculum at most Israeli high schools. The army accepts volunteers from the age of 17 into non-combat posts.

There is rarely a day which goes by when I am not grateful my family left old Europe.