Now this gaffe by the French foreign minister in Israel would seem to defy belief…
The French satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaine reported in its September 14th issue that during the visit of French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to the new Holocaust museum in Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem on September 8, he asked – while perusing maps of European sites where Jewish communities had been destroyed – whether British Jews were not also murdered. Needless to say, Douste-Blazy’s question was met by his hosts with amazement. “But Monsieur le minister,” Le Canard quoted the ensuing conversation, “England was never conquered by the Nazis during World War II.”
Now please, somebody, tell me this is a piece of gross mis-reporting by Haaretz (not the first time that would have happened). Surely, the foreign minister of France cannot actually be that utterly clueless. It would be funny if it was not so scary to think someone like that can hold high office in a nuclear armed First World nation.
Or could he have been thinking about England in 1190 and just got a bit (ahem) confused about the dates?
Hat tip to the Dissident Frogman for unearthing this gem
Perhaps he had in mind the reknowned Guernsey Ghetto?
This seems like a perfectly valid question to me.
Being French, hating Jews, and knowing that tons of French citizens WILLINGLY helped murder Jews, it probably didn’t occur to him that another nation (a) would have different attitudes; (b) would not take the opportunity of wartime chaos to implement a nice little genocide that they’d dreamed of all along.
Bah.
It seems that Haaretz is spot on (scroll down to C’est trés curieux.)
Jeez, I can’t wait till the BBC and others heap scorn and ridicule on this politician for his ignorance. I mean, they’ve shown with Bush just how willing they are to jump on any display of stupidity, so surely they won’t let this opportunity pass.
Oh please, give our Good Doctor Douste a break. After all, this miserable WWII business can get quite confusing for the average French bureaucrat:
– France, an enemy of Germany, deported thousands of her Jews.
– Bulgaria, an ally of Germany didn’t deport a single one.
And now we learn that the Nazis lost the Battle of Britain, resulting *allegedly* in the Churchill administration *not* deporting Her Majesty’s Jews (yes, but are we really sure of that?).
Eventually, the only thing that’s clear in the French mindset when it comes to who deported who, is that the US government is in the hands of Jewish puppetmasters. That’s at least one certitude in a universe full of unconquered Britains.
By the way, Le Canard Enchainé (although globally a despicable Leftist paper) is *the* specialized organ of the French press when it comes to digging up stories our appaling ruling class would rather see forgotten. That’s actually pretty much their one and only purpose.
Don’t tease by linking to Frogman’s blog, Perry. I thought for a second that he might be posting again.
James,
These days the frogman posts here –
http://no-pasaran.blogspot.com/
For your bookmarks.
Wasn’t it printed in a SATIRICAL magazine? At first glance it looks to me like the time the Chinese antional press quoted The Onion.
B’s Freak, Le Canard Enchaine is not really satirical in the way The Onion is because it has stories that are often true. They are called “satirical” because of the way the poke fun and ridicule the object of their story, but it has a difference sense in French.
“It would be funny if it was not so scary to think someone like that can hold high office in a nuclear armed First World nation.”
Hey, it’s good to see France trying to be a bit more like America. Maybe they’ll stop subsidising their farmers next. Oh – wait, nevermind.
J
Chris:
Must have been in my sleep or during a schizophrenia seizure, because I have no recollection of that. I do know one of the blokes over there, but that’s all.
I *will* be back. I just can’t tell exactly when at the moment.
“Chris:
“These days the frogman posts here –
http://no-pasaran.blogspot.com/”
Must have been in my sleep or during a schizophrenia seizure, because I have no recollection of that. I do know one of the blokes over there, but that’s all.
I *will* be back. I just can’t tell exactly when at the moment.”
Holly cow, I thought the French Media had, somehow, “disappeared” you! I’m sure life sometimes gets on the way of blogging though. When you are ready, we’ll be there.
I believe Jews were deported from the Channel Islands.
Thanks RC, that’s much appreciated.
TJIC: this is the exact thought I had, when I heard on the Israeli radio a couple of days ago that, after being told (very politely) that England was not occupied by Germany, the minister insisted: “Yes, but were the Jews not deported anyway?”, or something along that line.
I have to admit that it was also when I first learned about the Guernsey Ghetto. If I, an Israeli who has been learning about the Holoucast for a good part of my life, did not know about it, it is conceivable that a Frenchman did not either. So, to sum up, I doubt that the French minister was ignorant of the fact that Germany did not occupy England, but he probably was ignorant of the fact that Brits did not deport their Jews (except, maybe, for the Brits and Jews of Guernsey).
Dr Doust-Blazy is sincere, to him being Gay or Iraki is much more important than being Jewish, and stands much higher on the victimedia scale.
And to me, being forced to pay his salary and anybody’s treatments through the compulsory French social security extorsion funds, is far worse.