Israel Matzav

Bad for the Jews?

A couple of disturbing points from a post by Sultan Knish about France's Presidential race, which was won by Socialist Francois Hollande (Hat Tip: American Power).

During the debate, Hollande did take care to affirm his Republican credentials, there would be no tolerance for veils or gender segregation. But French Jewish leaders have been warning against voting for Hollande in a country in which such preferences are rarely openly expressed by Jewish leaders.

...

Months before Hollande began making his trip to the banlieues, ANELD, the National Association of Elected Local Diversity, a mainly Muslim group asked the Muslim tyrant family of Qatar for a bailout for the banlieues. Qatar, in addition to taking a bite of European towers of finance, including the venerable Barclays and Credit Suisse, will be pouring 50 million into the banlieues. The only candidate who seems concerned about this is Marine Le Pen.

The cash won't start flowing until after the elections are done, to avoid making them a partisan issue, but who can really object? The banlieues are a disaster and if the Al-Thanis want to blow some dough on them, that's money the Republic doesn't have to spend on them. Close observers might wonder if Qatar might not want to do to France, what it has already done to Egypt and Tunisia, not to mention Libya and Syria, but those observers are invariably dismissed as paranoids.

...

Hollande, the likely beneficiary of the French public's dissatisfaction with Sarkozy, is a placeholder for the long fall of the republic into night. The Qataris are buying up France and the banlieues are swelling because of the malaise leading to the fall. They are the phlegm and sputum that show the presence of the illness, but the illness is there in the body of the nation. The short term debates over economic growth will define the election, but the long term future will be defined not by elections, and not even by demographics alone, but by the soul of a nation.

France, like the rest of Europe, like America, is falling into its own dark night and only a revival of its national values can save it.

Ouch.

UPDATE 12:22 PM

YNet reports that 93% of French Jews living in Israel voted for Sarkozy. That percentage is higher than the percentage of American Jews living in Israel who voted for McCain four years ago.

Meir Masri, another French national, said the Right's loss in the French election "puts the Jewish community there in an uncomfortable situation, because the vast majority of French Jews, including those who live in Israel, support the Right – and Sarkozy in particular.

"He was the first French leader to fully understand Israel's situation and supported it. France's Jews considered him a pro-Israel leader."

Sarkozy's loss also disappointed Cannes resident David Ben-Naim: "He always supported Israel and the Jews. His connections with the local Jewish community were well-known. Hollande is not as close to the Jewish community and Israel. Personally, I don’t expect anything from him."

Hmmm.

Labels: Emir of Qatar, France, Francois Hollande

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:41 AM