Politic?

The Honour and the Glory That is France

"[Here is an action plan to transform the battle against hatred into] a great national cause."
"We are at war with terrorism, jihadism and Islamist radicalism."
"Racism, anti-Semitism, hatred of Muslims, of foreigners and homophobia are increasing in an unbearable manner in our country."
"French Jews should no longer be afraid of being Jewish and French Muslims should no longer be ashamed of being Muslims."
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls

Police officers storm a kosher grocery to end a hostage situation in this image made from TV in Paris, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Photo by AP

Equal treatment for all. Isn't that, after all, fair? That second statement above, the one that reads: "We are at war with terrorism, jihadism and Islamist radicalism", was emoted feelingly and with passion after the kosher-supermarket and Charlie Hebdo attacks in January. At that time, with outrage and emotion at high pitch, there seemed to be no trouble in recognizing reality.

At that time, there was a fear expressed that the threat of French Jews fleeing France would leave the country culturally diminished, part of its heritage extirpated.

Now, what is being targeted for extirpation is racism and hatred, as though it exists as an equal threat targeting homosexuals, Muslims and Jews. More or less the real issue is the Muslim quotient within French society being the cause of hatred of Jews and homophobia. This is a level of capitulation reflected in all European countries that have opened their doors to an influx of Muslim migrants. Only to witness the slow decay of civility in their populations.

And the very real fear that now exists of rousing their increasingly aggressively-entitled Muslim populations to anger and ultimately violence. The demands broached by the Muslim collectives that their religious rights and rites be recognized and catered to, that Sharia law be incorporated into Western values, that it be recognized that not the law of the land that has accepted Muslim migration, but Sharia will regulate Muslims, is paramount to Islamist pride.

Sarcelle riot — **The riot in Sarcelle, a suburb to the north of Paris, in July 2014. Photograph: Pierre Andrieu/AFP/Getty Images**

Where with the arrival of North African Muslims among whom anti-Semitism is endemic, that fundamental hatred of an ethnic/religious group became well entrenched from the 1980s forward. A social pathology of racist hatred that official France preferred to ignore, since it is so far removed from French values of equality and fraternity. It became policy to overlook anti-Semitism, since its root was in the Muslim presence, rather than "throw oil on the fire" of Muslim rage.

The world is familiar with 'Muslim rage', it surfaces in the blink of an eye whenever word goes the rounds that somewhere in the West someone insulted Islam, someone drew a cartoon figure of the Prophet Mohammed, someone criticized the Koran. But these outrages also occur in the world of Islam, as when a mob of illiterate Afghan men took a half-hour out of their day to tear apart a Muslim woman whom a mosque seller of trinkets accused of setting fire to a Koran.

Muslims excel at hatred, particularly the type known as anti-Semitism, and they aren't too fond of critiques of Islam. The victimization of French Jews by French Muslims has led to a crisis of hate in France. A French poll released its findings in November of 2014 respecting the levels of anti-Semitism amongst French Muslims as "tolerance for violence targeting Jews among a rather significant percent of the population".

The Paris-based head of the American Jewish Committee, Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, observed that most Muslims are anti-Semitic, its level rising with the degree of religious orthodoxy. That hatred represents all ages, socio-economic levels, educational status, and districts within France. She expressed herself to be pessimistic with respect to Muslim Judeophobia in her country: "It is possible that it is too late", she lamented, for France to take steps to ensure the safety of French Jews.