Dermo said:
What would you say is the equivalent in America. No doubt the Ku Klux Klan still attack Jewish people. Therefore by definition the USA is anti-semetic. Where do you get your figures for France - unquoted of course.
If they attacked Jews on a consistent basis by firebombing synagogues, stoning Jewish school buses, abusing Jewish people in the streets to the point where they didn't feel safe to wear the vestiges of the religion, then I would absolutely, postitively say that that the US had a problem, especially if the rate of these were five times higher per capita than today. That's exactly why I say there's a problem in France.
Figures of various sorts have been reported in several places, including by the EU, the French government, Jewish news sources, gentile news sources and by the Israeli government. Here is just a sample (based on attacks, not incidents): "Natan Sharansky, an Israeli minister, said on Sunday: "Last year the number of anti-Semitic incidents in France doubled and 47 per cent of all anti-Semitic attacks in western Europe occurred there." (
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/01/29/wsemit29.xml). Would you say that this is indicative that France, more than any other European country, has an issue? I say so, and have said so consistently. Furthermore, from the same article: "He said that between 2002 and 2003 anti-Semitic incidents around the world fell from 1,979 to 983; in France they rose from 77 to 141." Also, an indication that France itself has a problem disproportionate to the size of the country or to their Jewish population. Those attacks doubled again in the first half of 2004: "More than 300 anti-Semitic attacks have been reported in France so far this year, which is more than in all of 2003." (
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/19/france.sharon/). In case you're losing count, that's roughly 1 attack for every 2000 Jews in all of France. But no, there is no problem there. How about "The latest French Interior Ministry figures show 510 anti-Jewish acts or threats in the first six months of 2004" (
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/world/main632610.shtml), which assuming no increase puts France on pace for 1224 hate crimes against Jews for this year, which will only be slightly lower than the US's pace, which should end up about where it did last year based on the trend. This rate, once population figures are equalized, puts France in the same sort of state as if the US had more than 6000 incidents.
There is nothing worse than the hysterical argument that Europe is under the grasp of "rampant anti-semitism". Yes there are incidents but no more than in the US
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/4243_12.asp .
France has 1/5th the population of the US, and and 1/10th the Jews, but by your own admission, the same number of attacks. There is nothing hysterical at all to say that makes for a very much worse problem with anti-semitism than the US.
But you say Europe is rampant. Looks like France is a healthier place than the US.
How do you figure? When was the last time that a bus full of Jewish schoolchildren was stoned in the US?
You bring nothing to the table but your own ignorance
I would suggest investigating the meaning of the term "ignorance" and then re-evaluation of the last sentence. Considering you only brought a single report, now two years data while France has been on a major upswing in anti-semitic incidents, it would suggest that you either were unaware that the statistics of 2002 were no longer representative for France (cursory searching would have told you that) or deliberately trying to mislead. I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt that you just didn't know as well as Chirac, who has publically admitted the problem, and actually seems to be trying to do something about it, although with obviously mixed results.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/17/1069027055312.html?from=storyrhs&oneclick=true