A few years ago the French government took the contentious decision to ‘ban the burka’ – or rather, facial coverings in public. That means no bike helmets if you’re not on a motorbike, no surgical masks if you’re not a Japanese tourist, no balaclavas unless you’re skiing through the Louvre, and no face veils unless you’re… getting married?
More recently, French civil society was forced into a reaction after a Muslim ‘comedian’ decided to use his celebrity to make neo-Nazi hand signals, encouraging others to do so, and fomenting anti-Jewish sentiment nationally.
Unsurprisingly, anti-Semitism has been on the rise in France, and Jewish people are leaving the country at an alarming rate. Many, as the Economist puts it, are “undeterred by the prospect of walking into a war zone” as they head to Israel.
You can see why, when their children are being slaughtered, their places of worship desecrated, and their livelihoods placed under threat by a resurgence of the same kind of fascism that exterminated six million of their co-religionists just over 60 years ago.
But as much as the counter narrative sounds like a sick joke, sadly it is not one at all. Some on the Left, and indeed most people I know of an anti-Israel disposition believe that the above is all happenstance, and completely unconnected to the rise of militant Islamism across Europe. Those ‘Hitler was right’ tweets are, to them, unworthy of comment. Okay, even. Dieudonne M’bala M’bala is simply a funny bloke shaking shit up. And the murders of Jewish children and continued delegitimisation of the State of Israel are just par for the course.
To the people that believe such things, Francois Hollande is a sort of Hitler himself (even though Hitler was right, apparently). To them, France is targeting ordinary Muslims like the Nazis targeted the Jews, by banning the burka, and putting a halt to the increasingly anti-Semitic ‘pro-Palestine’ rallies in the country. Hollande has presided over (allowed for?) the rise of Marine Le Pen and her Front National organisation which is “clearly” on some sort of anti-Muslim crusade. Worse still, he has refused to speak ill of that vicious Muslim killer: Barack H. Obama.
This is the world as they see it – and not for a second could blame lay at the feet of the barbarians who froth at the mouth at the sight of the Star of David. Not for a moment can it be contemplated that those who use civilians as both target and shield should assume the majority of the guilt, and not even a fleeting thought is lent to the notion that blaming Israel, Mossad, or the Jewish people for all things that ail modern Muslims is perhaps no more than a wild conspiracy theory.
All right minded people should be concerned about the prohibition of protest rights. The problem is pro-Palestinian protestors aren’t protesting in favour of Palestine. They’re not even protesting against Israel. Instead, their rallies are wilfully turning into anti-Jewish hatefests, which have a history both recent and not so much, of inciting violence and death against one group. If the English Defence League were doing this in London today, the liberal left would want them banged up faster than you could say “khyber ya yahud“.
But that’s the thing right? It is targeting the “real” evil. So that’s ok.
No, not the Zionists. Regardless of what Mr M’bala M’bala says, we know Hitler wasn’t rounding up only those concerned with the establishment of a Jewish state.
No, no the Israelis either, for there are few Israeli citizens in France (for obvious reasons) and the European Union (and therefore French) policy towards Israel is hardly one of prostration, adoration, or even basic support.
The real evil of course is “the Jews”. Which, I suppose I should hate to say it but I really don’t, makes these ‘pro-Palestinian’ types and their bedfellows the real modern Hitlers. Which sort of suits their cause really. After all… Hitler WAS right, as we’ve been reminded recently on Twitter. So why not model themselves on him? Feel free for sure. But then don’t be surprised when your rallies get banned. The world has sort of had enough of those already.
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