在线国产一区二区_成人黄色片在线观看_国产成人免费_日韩精品免费在线视频_亚洲精品美女久久_欧美一级免费在线观看

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

Chirac says Sharon not welcome in France
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-20 08:42

French President Jacques Chirac said Monday that the Israeli leader would not be welcome here until he gave a satisfactory explanation for saying Jews should go to Israel to escape anti-Semitism in France.  

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's remarks Sunday produced a storm of rebuke after he said French Jews were under threat by the nation's much larger Muslim community and should leave.

Sharon was considering a trip to Paris, but no date had been set.

"A visit by the Israeli prime minister to Paris ... won't be looked at closely until the requested explanation is provided," a presidential source said on condition of anonymity.

The sharp response by Chirac, the head of the French National Assembly and others caused Sharon to step back, with Israeli officials claiming the remarks were taken out of context. The Israeli officials also praised steps France has taken to stop a surge in violence against Jews.

Sharon's remarks — in which he said France was host to "the wildest anti-Semitism" — were misunderstood, said Jacques Revah, the charge d'affaires of the Israeli Embassy in Paris.

He said Sharon's comments to American Jewish leaders on Sunday in Jerusalem were only a way of telling Jews they belong in Israel. "Mr. Sharon had the same message for all Jews in the world, and if he pointed out France, it was to praise the position and the measures France has taken to combat anti-Semitism," Revah said.

Since the birth of the Jewish state, Israel has encouraged Jews to immigrate there to reclaim their ancestral land. But in the case of France, there is an especially complex interplay of politics and history.

Many Israelis speak French, admire France's culture, and recall the days when it was a close ally; France today, however, is widely seen in Israel as biased in favor of the Palestinians; and the French Jewish community — at 600,000 the third-largest in the world — tends to be strongly pro-Israel, creating friction with a Muslim population of almost 5 million.

France has a history of emblematic instances of anti-Semitism — such as the 19th-century trial of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish army captain framed by anti-Semitic conspirators — and of liberalism: French author Emile Zola's denunciation of that trial, entited "J'accuse," ("I accuse") stands as a watershed attack on anti-Semitism.

On Monday, Sharon's words were widely deemed scandalous and provoked widespread irritation within the prickly French political class.

The Foreign Ministry quickly issued a terse statement calling his remarks "unacceptable" and demanding an explanation. Jean-Louis Debre, president of France's lower house of parliament, went further, telling Europe-1 radio that the words are "inadmissible, unacceptable and, furthermore, irresponsible."

Even French Jewish leaders said Sharon's remarks did nothing to help the situation.

"These comments do not bring calm, peace and serenity that we all need," said Patrick Gaubert, president of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, told France-2 television.

In the past, Israel has castigated the French for not doing more to stem an upsurge in anti-Semitic acts blamed on young French Muslims using the Middle East conflict to justify their violence. The latest French Interior Ministry figures show 510 anti-Jewish acts or threats in the first six months of 2004 — compared to 593 for all of last year.

In response, France has beefed up security at Jewish institutions and enacted tougher punishments against anyone convicted of a crime motivated by anti-Jewish hate. But in a nation where French police files are burgeoning with reports of such crime, a sense of uneasiness and betrayal has some Jews questioning where they belong.

"Maybe I would move, I don't know," said Claude Chiche, a public school teacher in Paris. "It shocks me when I go to a synagogue to see the police officers there with guns. It's a hard thing to explain to my children."

According to Israel's Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, 7,024 immigrants have come from France since 2000 — from a low of 1,160 in 2001 to a high of 2,385 in 2002. For the first half of 2004, 647 French Jews immigrated.

Many Jews here think of themselves as French first and foremost.

"The French government has done a lot for us," said Nessim Barchichat of Paris. "The Jews in France have their space, they are very important here, they have their business, they are part of the country's economy and despite the attachment to Israel, they refuse to leave."

While French Jews were granted equal rights in the 18th century, they have also been subjected to severe persecution — particularly during the dark hours of World War II, when 75,000 Jews were rounded up from France and sent to Nazi concentration camps. Almost all died.

The French government failed to recognize its role in the Nazi extermination program until 1995, when Chirac became the first French president to publicly acknowledge and apologize for France's role in the Holocaust.

France's relations with Israel have been no less problematic.

France provided critical military help to Israel in the first years following independence in 1948, a relationship that hit a high point in cooperation when Israel fought with France and Britain to capture the Suez Canal after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized it in 1956. France was then also a major supplies or arms to Israel.

But relations went downhill with the election of French President Charles de Gaulle, who was anxious to establish closer ties with the Arab world.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

AFC official apologizes for tirade

 

   
 

Intense flood strain builds up

 

   
 

Green policies vital for healthy development

 

   
 

100 foreign banks now offer RMB services

 

   
 

Safety of Chinese abroad on work agenda

 

   
 

EU may lift imports bans

 

   
  Chirac says Sharon not welcome in France
   
  US exploring possible Iran-9/11 link
   
  Miner in Guinea digs up 182-carat diamond
   
  9 killed in truck bomb blast in Baghdad
   
  Big quake to strike Sydney? Scientists wonder
   
  Bomb kills senior Hizbollah member in Beirut
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Sharon urges exodus of Jews from France
   
Prodi says anti-Semitism not at level of 1930s
   
Jewish leaders urge end of Israel's 'demonization'
   
WJC puts shelved EU anti-Semitism study on web
  News Talk  
  Will Saddam Hussein get a fair trial?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美69视频 | 一区二区免费看 | 日韩黄色在线观看 | 免费国产精品视频 | 一级黄色片网站 | 久久99精品久久久久久 | 国产精品自拍小视频 | 成人中文字幕在线观看 | 亚洲精品tv | 四虎影院网站 | 夜夜操天天 | 91av视频在线观看 | 国产精品久久久久久久久久久久久久 | 国模无码大尺度一区二区三区 | 99久久精品一区二区成人 | 日韩福利在线 | 簧片在线免费观看 | 999在线视频 | 免费激情网站 | 四虎成人网 | 欧美成人综合 | 在线视频日韩 | 日韩影音 | 中文字幕免费观看 | 精品国产一区二区三 | 法国极品成人h版 | 欧美成人精品一区二区三区在线看 | 久久精品观看 | 99这里只有精品 | 日韩午夜精品 | 四虎久久| 中文字幕伊人 | 亚洲综合精品 | 国产伦精品一区二区三区视频网站 | 欧美综合在线观看 | 高清不卡av | 国产精品一区二区久久 | 亚洲91精品 | 日韩一级黄 | 国产日韩在线播放 | 亚洲精品一区二区在线观看 |