Boycott – Shmoycott

For some years there have been anti-French emails circulating from the United States, some even advocating a boycott of French products. For reasons unknown to me, certain circles in the US wish to proclaim France as somehow one of the most anti-Semitic states in Europe, while the contrary is the case. Here are some facts:

[1] France has had several Prime Ministers and Presidents who were Jewish or of Jewish extraction; the United States has never had a Jewish President, and as far as I can tell will never have one in my lifetime. Even the Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, an international scholar on Europe, had to pretend that she never knew that she was Jewish and feigned ignorance of her own family connections - in order to attain high office. President Sarkozy, on the other hand, made a great play of his Jewish origins before the election – and was elected President anyway.

[2] France is the only country in Europe (even in the world outside Israel?) which has Town Halls emblazoned (to this very moment) with "Liberez Gilad Shalit" posters (see my blog http://allan-kingsolomonsblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/presidents-and-prisoners.html )

[3] Has there ever been the equivalent of the Rashi mail stamp, commemorating 900 years of the birth of the great Jewish scholar, in the United States - or anywhere else outside Israel? This was the standard Airmail stamp in France some years ago.

[4] Recently when a minor French functionary published an anti-Israeli article in a paper, the current French Minister of the Interior instantly dismissed him. Where else in Europe would that happen? Or the United States?

[5] France is home to the largest Jewish population in Europe, third largest in the world after Israel and the US. French Jews represent that country’s cultural, political and intellectual elite. Jewish artists, actors, singers, comedians, tele-pundits play very much the same pre-eminent role in France as they do in the US.

BUT

France is also home to the largest Muslim population of Europe. The younger members of this group have played a disproportionate role in the rise of anti-Semitism in France since 2005
( see http://allan-kingsolomonsblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/coming-to-suburb-near-you.html )

The nation of France has suffered from this element – do not blame the French themselves, as no other government has been more robust in its fight against anti-Semitism, and I include in this assessment even Jacques Chirac, who was no lover of Israel.

So: Continue to enjoy your French wine – and, if you insist on Kosher wine, the majority of Kosher wine types come from France! And don’t forget that pâté de foie gras was invented by French Jews too!